Veterans Chronicles

Sydney Levit was 17 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Like most kids his age, he was eager to serve. In 1943, Levit was drafted into the U.S. Army and he soon had ...

Ralph Gastelum grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and never experienced much of a winter before joining the U.S. Marine Corps. His first real winter would be spent in Korea in some of the...

Handlon Tim "Bear" Handlon wanted to serve in the military after seeing the 9/11 terrorist attacks unfold on television. There was just one problem. He was only in eighth grade. Af...

Edward Byers became fascinated with the military - and Navy SEALs in particular - through books and movies in his younger years. He joined the U.S. Navy and, just a few months afte...

Vaughn Collicott spent the first year of his life traveling in a covered wagon. Before he was 21 years old, he was helping to fire the guns of a Navy destroyer at German positions ...

Joe "Peppy" Sciarra was drafted into the U.S. Army the day after he graduated from high school. All four boys in his family served during World War II. After basic training, Sciarr...

Joseph Picard was a teenager when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Unlike some of his peers, Picard was neither excited to join the service nor dreading it. He ...

Don Graves tried to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps the day after President Franklin Roosevelt declared the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor a day of infamy. Since he was only 16 ye...

Ed Hiner had no intention of joining the military until a friend's father forced him to help a military family in need. During that experience, Hiner met a Navy SEAL, learned about...

Patrick Zilliacus was born in Finland and came to the U.S. when his father became the Finnish military attache in Washington, primarily to procure weapons for Finland's war with Ru...

Ltt Gen. Marc Sasseville was born into an Air Force family and that played a significant role in his decision to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy and become an Air Force officer. ...

Andrew Card served more than five years as White House Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush. Less than eight months into Bush's first term, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four...