Joe Harris, 108, Dies; Thought to Be the Oldest World War II Paratrooper

Joe Harris, 108, Dies; Thought to Be the Oldest World War II Paratrooper

Joe Harris, who as a sergeant with an all-Black infantry unit during World War II parachuted into forest fires across the Pacific Northwest set off by bomb-laden Japanese balloons, and who was believed to be the oldest surviving U.S. paratrooper, died on March 15 in Los Angeles. He was 108. His death, in a hospital, … Read more

To Him, Americans Were Always Heroes. He’s Not So Sure About Today’s.

To Him, Americans Were Always Heroes. He’s Not So Sure About Today’s.

For eight decades, Henri Mignon has viewed Americans as heroes. They twice liberated his tiny Belgian hometown, Houffalize, from German occupation — the second time, he said, when he was 8 years old, mere hours after shrapnel from shelling had killed his father. The image of U.S. troops handing out gum to local children is … Read more

As Children, They Fled the Nazis Alone. Newly Found Papers Tell Their Story.

As Children, They Fled the Nazis Alone. Newly Found Papers Tell Their Story.

When Hanna Zack Miley boarded a German train in July 1939, she did not know that the journey would permanently change her life. She was 7 at the time, about to travel to Britain without her parents. She remembers saying goodbye to them on the platform of the train station in Cologne, Germany. “They told … Read more

A $300 Million Art Trove and the Labyrinth of Nazi-Era Art Claims

A $300 Million Art Trove and the Labyrinth of Nazi-Era Art Claims

A new chapter has opened in a bitter 17-year battle for the Guelph Treasure, one of the most valuable art troves claimed by the heirs of Jewish victims of Nazi rule, after the discovery of documents in a German archive indicating that its sale in 1935 was made under duress. The trove, estimated to be … Read more

John A. Hemingway, Last Survivor of the Battle of Britain, Dies at 105

John A. Hemingway, Last Survivor of the Battle of Britain, Dies at 105

Addressing the British House of Commons in August 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the pilots of the Royal Air Force who were staving off an impending German invasion of the British Isles in what would be known as the Battle of Britain. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much … Read more