December 2005

This issue is sold out.

Patton’s ghost army

The army General George Patton fielded for the 1944 Normandy Invasion was unlike any other. It was a complete and unabashed fake. By Brian John Murphy. Full story

Christmas under the gun

World war II changed the way Americans celebrate their winter holidays. But those holidays of light also changed the dark experiences of war. By Terry Burger. Full story

Merry or not

It took a bit of imagination, but WWII Americans were determined to make their wartime Christmases merry and bright–and they did! By Jim Kushlan

Web Extra: Footage

World War II Christmas

Travel back to the 1940s and taste the bittersweet experience of wartime Christmas at the front and on the American home front.


The kissers

Did the sailor and the nurse in the famous V-J Day kiss scene know each other? No, they didn’t. Do we know who they are today? Well, maybe… By Tom Huntington. Full story

The littlest warbirds

World War II’s mighty bombers and fighters shared the sky–but not the spotlight–with humble, hardworking liaison planes, workhorses with wings. By Drew Ames

T o top it off, hit the ground running at the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, discover some of the best new books about World War II, and find out how Americans on the home front helped win the war with hoes, trowels, and seeds.