The War Archive

There are 1582 men still Missing in Action from the war in Vietnam.
Some are from small teams and cross border missions where they got into firefights and some or all could not be extracted.
They died alone and stayed buried by time not by ceremony.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 35

The War Archive

Rusting on the cliffs of Kiska Island in Alaska, this Japanese Type 96 anti aircraft gun remains a silent witness to one of the most remote and forgotten battles of World War Two.
In 1942, Japanese forces occupied the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska, marking the only time enemy troops set foot on American soil during the war. The harsh winds and freezing fog of the North Pacific turned the islands into a brutal front where nature was as deadly as any weapon.
For more than a year, both sides fought in isolation, enduring bitter conditions, disease, and relentless air attacks. By 1943, American and Canadian forces launched an operation to reclaim Kiska, only to find the Japanese had secretly evacuated. What remained were rusted guns, bunkers, and the haunting stillness of an abandoned battlefield.
Today, this corroded Type 96 still looks out over the mist covered bay, a reminder of the courage and endurance shown by all who served in one of the most unforgiving corners of the Pacific war.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 22

The War Archive

Two decades ago, Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy led a four man Navy SEAL reconnaissance team deep into the mountains of Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Their mission was to locate and observe Ahmad Shah, a Taliban commander responsible for repeated attacks on United States and coalition forces. Murphy’s team included Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer Second Class Matthew Axelson, and Petty Officer Second Class Marcus Luttrell.


The team was inserted under the cover of night into the rugged slopes of the Sawtalo Sar mountains as part of Operation Red Wings. Their goal was to establish an overwatch position above Shah’s suspected location.


Not long after the mission began, three unarmed local goat herders discovered their position. Following the rules of engagement, Murphy made the moral and difficult choice to release them. Within an hour, between thirty and fifty heavily armed enemy fighters surrounded the SEALs from higher ground. The team was outnumbered, outgunned, and trapped on steep rocky terrain.


The fight that followed became one of the most intense battles in modern special operations history. Murphy directed a fighting withdrawal down the mountain, ordering his men to leap off cliffs to find cover while continuing to fire back. Each of the four SEALs was wounded by bullets and shrapnel, yet they refused to give up.
When communications failed and the team was cut off, Murphy took an extraordinary risk. He moved from cover, climbed to an exposed ridge, and called for help using a satellite phone while under heavy enemy fire. He calmly reported their location, the size of the enemy force, and requested immediate support. During that call, he was hit by gunfire. Despite his wounds, he completed the call and returned to fight beside his teammates until he was killed.


Murphy’s call brought the Quick Reaction Force into action, with eight Navy SEALs and eight Army Night Stalker crew members aboard an MH47 Chinook helicopter. As the helicopter approached, it was struck by a rocket propelled grenade and exploded, killing all sixteen men onboard.


On the ground, the remaining SEALs continued the fight with extraordinary bravery. Danny Dietz was mortally wounded while returning fire. Matthew Axelson and Marcus Luttrell fought on until Axelson was separated and later killed. Luttrell, though severely injured, survived after being sheltered by local villagers who protected him from the enemy until U.S. forces rescued him days later.
Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy’s valor and selfless leadership became a symbol of the warrior spirit. His decision to expose himself to enemy fire to make that call for help embodied the highest ideals of duty, honor, and sacrifice. His courage ensured that one of his brothers would live.


For his actions, Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the first Navy recipient of the award for service in Afghanistan. He was laid to rest with full military honors at Calverton National Cemetery in New York.
We remember his legacy not only as a Navy SEAL but as an American whose courage continues to inspire generations. Freedom endures because of men like him who gave everything for others.


🇺🇸 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”



#NeverForget #AmericanHero #NavySEAL #OperationRedWings #HonorAndSacrifice

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 24

The War Archive

Hue Citadel captured during the Tet Offensive Vietnamese New Year this was a surprise attack al over South Vietnam.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 12

The War Archive

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the harbor became a graveyard of steel, fire, and oil. Among the wreckage, brave divers descended into the dark, toxic waters to recover bodies and clear the remains of sunken ships. This photo captures one of those men as he emerged from the oil filled ruins of a battleship.



The air was thick with fuel and death, and visibility underwater was almost zero. Every dive was a mission of courage and heartbreak. These divers faced suffocating oil, twisted metal, and unseen dangers while searching for fallen sailors trapped below. They worked in silence, often guided only by touch, bringing closure and honor to those who could no longer return home.



Their sacrifice is less remembered but equally heroic. They were not fighting enemies in battle, yet they risked their lives in the aftermath of devastation to restore dignity and hope. This image stands as a haunting reminder that heroism does not end when the guns fall silent.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 17

The War Archive

Lest We Forget...
US Marine Corp, Lance Corporal Casey Casanova, 22, of McComb, MS was killed in action along with 3 other Marines on Saturday, May 3, 2008.
The road near the town of Karmah, Iraq, had been quiet for months. But shortly before midnight on May 3, 2008 a roadside bomb killed four Marines, making it Anbar province’s deadliest attack in nearly nine months. Casey joined the US Marines in 2006, where she became a Radio Communications Field Operator. Casey believed she was doing something meaningful and important with her life and told her family about the appreciation of the Iraqi people for the freedoms the US was giving them.
Casey was scheduled for promotion to Full Corporal next month. She was due to return home in September, at which time she was to be married to Marine Corporal Brandon Henderson.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 29

The War Archive

Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller was the most decorated Marine in American history, a hard-charging, gravel-voiced legend whose career spanned from the banana wars to the frozen hell of the Korean War. Born in West Point, Virginia, young Puller tried to enlist in 1916 to fight in the Border War with Mexico but ended up at Virginia Military Institute instead. World War I ended before he saw combat, so he took a commission in the Marines in 1919 and spent the next decade chasing rebels through Haiti and Nicaragua.
There he earned his first two Navy Crosses leading outnumbered Marine and Guardia Nacional patrols against sandal-wearing guerrillas in the jungle, cultivating the fearless, lead from the front style that would define him. By the time World War II erupted, Captain Puller was already a living embodiment of the Corps’ “first to fight” ethos.
In the Pacific theater and later Korea, Puller turned desperate defenses into legend. At Guadalcanal in 1942, as a battalion commander, he held the line against wave after wave of Japanese assaults, earning his third Navy Cross. On Peleliu and Cape Gloucester his Marines followed him through some of the war’s most brutal fighting, and then came Chosin Reservoir in 1950—temperatures plunging to −35 °F, surrounded by seven Chinese divisions where Colonel Puller’s 1st Marine Regiment fought its way out of encirclement while he famously growled, “We’re surrounded. That simplifies the problem.”
A fifth Navy Cross, the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross, and promotion to brigadier general followed. Retiring as a lieutenant general in 1955 after thirty-seven years of service, Chesty left behind five Navy Crosses, a chest full of ribbons matched by no one else, and an enduring mantra still barked by drill instructors at Parris Island: “Good night, Chesty Puller, wherever you are.” To generations of Marines he remains the gold standard of courage under fire and unbreakable loyalty to the men he led.
This hero passed away on October 11, 1971.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 18

The War Archive

Marc Lee died on August 2, 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq. He was the first Navy SEAL killed in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom. His bravery in the line of fire saved the lives of his teammates.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 14

The War Archive

M106 mortar track (unknown unit) LZ Sherry Vietnam.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 6

The War Archive

Soldados alemanes junto a una ametralladora MG-42 en Stalingrado (1943).

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 9