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There’s no day like Opening Day!
It was a social event that allowed boys to develop confidence and discipline while playing a competitive game. We gathered on the field...

Bob Ford
5 min read
![The Doolittle Raid: Giving America a needed lift [Part 3 of 3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
![The Doolittle Raid: Giving America a needed lift [Part 3 of 3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_296,h_222,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
The Doolittle Raid: Giving America a needed lift [Part 3 of 3]
My mother came to dread family radio hour, “There was never any good news, we were losing, it seemed on all fronts!”

Bob Ford
5 min read
![Doolittle delivers Roosevelt’s message [part 2 of 3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
![Doolittle delivers Roosevelt’s message [part 2 of 3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_296,h_222,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
Doolittle delivers Roosevelt’s message [part 2 of 3]
Emperor Hirohito and Army Commanding General Tojo had promised the Japanese people an assault on mainland Japan was impossible.

Bob Ford
4 min read
![For everything America stands for, we must attack! [Part 1 of 3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
![For everything America stands for, we must attack! [Part 1 of 3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_296,h_222,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
For everything America stands for, we must attack! [Part 1 of 3]
There was disbelief in Washington D.C., too, as President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed war on Japan the day after the attack...

Bob Ford
4 min read


We should name our new mouse, Mortimer…Walt, let’s talk about it!
The Disneys were coming back on a train from a bad business trip in New York City where Charles Mintz, Walt’s distributor, basically...

Bob Ford
4 min read


Excelsior Springs: It must be what’s in the water!
And then there’s the story of President Harry S. Truman’s famous night at Excelsior Spring’s premiere hotel the Elms.

Bob Ford
4 min read


Island Mound: A small skirmish with massive ramification
The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment was recruited by Jim Lane before he had proper authority to do so. Lane asked Washington

Bob Ford
4 min read


You can’t get there from here until Ike paved the way!
Worried about the Army's ability to move men and equipment between military bases, an Army convoy was ordered to travel coast to coast...

Bob Ford
4 min read
![When in doubt, send in a General from Missouri to save the world [part 2]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
![When in doubt, send in a General from Missouri to save the world [part 2]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_296,h_222,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f3654d78982c43ae85bf5d4ae91f18b6~mv2.webp)
When in doubt, send in a General from Missouri to save the world [part 2]
The Americans joined the war after President Wilson and Congress concluded now was the right time to step in and assist in saving the Allies

Bob Ford
5 min read
![Missouri's Six-Star General [part 1]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f6390c5bc0df419eb0233bc3dcd99d20~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f6390c5bc0df419eb0233bc3dcd99d20~mv2.webp)
![Missouri's Six-Star General [part 1]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_f6390c5bc0df419eb0233bc3dcd99d20~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_296,h_222,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_f6390c5bc0df419eb0233bc3dcd99d20~mv2.webp)
Missouri's Six-Star General [part 1]
One notable assignment was as a Lieutenant with the 6th-colored cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers. They were sent to Cuba in support of Teddy...

Bob Ford
4 min read


Look up in the sky, it's a balloon!
Living in 1783 Paris, the Montgolfier brothers are considered the Yuri Gagarin of ballooning. Their family owned a paper manufacturing...

Bob Ford
4 min read


Quote from 'The Raven' and Dan Sickles: 'Nevermore!'
Seeing a little higher ground, the Peach Orchard, a couple hundred yards out, he decides, without orders, to move his troops. Big mistake...

Bob Ford
4 min read


Amelia's impact
Not to be deterred, back in Atchison, Amelia, Grace and her favorite uncle secretly built their own roller coaster off the roof of the...

Bob Ford
3 min read


A Christmas truce: Peach on Earth
Kaiser William II of Germany, for morale, decided to send hundreds of Tannenbaum trees to his troops who were in deep trenches enduring...

Bob Ford
4 min read


Mustangs unseat Cowboys, Beavers devour Trees, they give a Dam!
Minor league baseball has some of the great wacky names and mascots: The Hartford Yard Goats, Lansing Lug Nuts, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimps..

Bob Ford
4 min read


Day two at the Battle of Shiloh: A rebel nightmare
That night both sides realized the enormous cost of the day's fighting. The dead and dying still littered the field as medical teams did...

Bob Ford
4 min read


With Abe Lincoln's new proclamation, citizens rejoiced and turkeys scattered
To remind Americans how fortunate they were even when the country seemed to be falling apart with many families having a loved one on...

Bob Ford
4 min read


Day one at the Battle of Shiloh: A Yankee nightmare
On April 6 and 7,1862, two armies fought on the banks of the Tennessee River in a bloodbath that saw as many casualties as the Battle of...

Bob Ford
5 min read
![Irena Sendler: Truly an amazing hero [part 2]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_bd2bfb937af14c449e46eace93d1df58~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_bd2bfb937af14c449e46eace93d1df58~mv2.webp)
![Irena Sendler: Truly an amazing hero [part 2]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_bd2bfb937af14c449e46eace93d1df58~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_296,h_222,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_bd2bfb937af14c449e46eace93d1df58~mv2.webp)
Irena Sendler: Truly an amazing hero [part 2]
Even in Poland, Irena’s story had remained dormant and forgotten until the girls showed new light from a different generation...

Bob Ford
3 min read
![Irena Sendler: Truly an unsung hero [part 1]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_1dd6ac6241814396963fb5cf26e71d93~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_1dd6ac6241814396963fb5cf26e71d93~mv2.webp)
![Irena Sendler: Truly an unsung hero [part 1]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d906d_1dd6ac6241814396963fb5cf26e71d93~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_296,h_222,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/0d906d_1dd6ac6241814396963fb5cf26e71d93~mv2.webp)
Irena Sendler: Truly an unsung hero [part 1]
Warsaw, Poland, had the largest population of Jews in Europe. In September of 1939 after swiftly conquering Poland and employing perverse...

Bob Ford
3 min read
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