The cruiser Houston was the first warship named for the Bayou City, and the ship proved a favorite of the city for which it was named. It was also a favorite of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who traveled on the Houston no fewer than four times. Houston was twice the flagship of the US Navy's Asiatic Fleet. In the opening days of World War II, it battled the Imperial Japanese Navy, culminating in its midnight loss at the Battle of Sunda Strait. The Cruiser Houston tells the story of this magnificent ship and the city of Houston's reaction to its namesake's loss.
The Battleship Texas
9781467123938
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The USS Texas was built when dreadnought battleships were kings of the seas. It was the world's most powerful battleship when first commissioned in 1914, and for over a century it fought many battles. Some took place while the Texas served as a warship in the US Navy in World Wars I and II. Since becoming a museum ship and war memorial in 1948, it has fought a longer and more difficult struggle as it combats the ravages of time for its very survival. Throughout its existence, the Texas has made history, leaving a wealth of fascinating stories in its wake.
Laughlin Air Force Base
9781467107099
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Today, Laughlin Air Force Base is one of the busiest pilot-producing bases in the world. Named after Jack Thomas Laughlin, the base traces its history back to 1942. During World War II, the base was called Laughlin Field and trained bomber pilots in the B-26 Marauder. The base closed in 1945, after the war, but reopened again as an Air Force base in 1952 to train fighter pilots for the Korean War. It then took on a Cold War mission from 1957 to 1963. During this time, the base was home to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which flew the U-2 spy plane. The 4080th played a key role in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. From 1961 onward, however, Laughlin has served primarily as an undergraduate pilot training base, helping hundreds of brave men and women, every year, earn their wings as military aviators.
Fort Bliss
9781467129152
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Established as one of many frontier Army posts in 1849 following the Mexican-American War, Fort Bliss, Texas, has endured as an Army installation when most other frontier posts have faded from memory. From a small collection of adobe buildings, it has seen growth, decline, two closures, and ultimately survival as the major Army maneuver post that it is today. The post, named for West Point math prodigy and soldier William Wallace Smith Bliss, has served many roles in America's conflicts and has seen the march of technology in war fighting. Its role today includes training for the Army's only armored division, known as 1st Armored Division; training for major Army air and missile defense forces; serving as a mobilization platform for Army soldiers and civilians to deploy to support America's missions overseas; and testing of major equipment to be adopted for military use.
Galveston and the Civil War
9781609492830
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On the eve of the Civil War, Galveston was a jewel of the Gulf Coast--a booming city with a fine natural harbor and all the commerce, culture and improvements that attended it. Galveston was also home to the largest slave market west of New Orleans and a hotbed of secessionist sentiment. Once the war started, Galveston became the focus of Union efforts to take Texas and Confederate efforts to defend it. Through the voice of its people, this lively book relates the interesting and important role the Island City played during the war, including the story of the Union naval blockade, the dramatic Battle of Galveston, Unionists, dreadful epidemics of yellow fever, the surrender of Galveston as the last major port still in Confederate hands and the bondage and liberation of the island's enslaved African Americans.
Warships at Seawolf Park
9781467102629
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The summer of 1944 was the turning point of World War II. Operation Overlord, the landing at Normandy, had begun, and naval battles raged on in the Pacific. In the midst of the war, the USS Cavalla, an attack submarine out on its initial patrol near the Philippines, became the only submarine to gain revenge on a Japanese carrier that attacked Pearl Harbor. The destroyer-escort USS Stewart protected Allied convoys from German U-boat wolf packs patrolling the North Atlantic. Today, these heroic and historic American warships continue to serve side by side, predator and protector, at the American Undersea Warfare Center at Seawolf Park in Galveston, Texas. For nearly 75 years, stories abound about these warships that served to preserve our liberty in World War II, provide technology improvements postwar, and battle time and weather as they educate our youth.
Fort Sam Houston
9780738596167
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Fort Sam Houston has been San Antonio's Army post since 1845. Originally located in the city, elements of the post began moving to Government Hill in 1876. Fort Sam Houston became one of America's most important military installations, witnessing the end of the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the birth of military aviation, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. "Fort Sam" contributed more than one million soldiers and airmen to the defense of the United States, including many of its most distinguished leaders. Its contributions to the nation merited its designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1974. More than 800 historic buildings are within its boundaries--more than at Colonial Williamsburg and the largest collection on any installation within the Department of Defense. Images of America: Fort Sam Houston portrays the fort during its first hundred years on Government Hill.
East Texas in World War II
9780738584645
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Texas made a remarkable contribution to the American war effort during World War II . Almost 830,000 Texans, including 12,000 women, donned uniforms, and more than 23,000 Texas fighting men died for their country. America's most decorated soldier, Lt. Audie Murphy, and most decorated sailor, submarine commander Sam Dealey, both were Texans. Texas A&M, an all-male military college, placed 20,000 men in the armed forces, of which 14,000 were officers--more than any other school in the nation, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe, was born in Denison in northeast Texas. Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, was born and raised in Texas. Almost 1.5 million soldiers, sailors, and fliers trained at scores of Texas bases. Texas oil fueled the Allied war effort, while Texas shipyards and defense plants provided a flood of war machines and munitions during the war effort.
Nacogdoches in World War II
9780738579733
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Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, has a long and colorful history starting in 1716, when the first mission, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches, was founded. The people of this rich area have since come together countless times to survive challenges. During World War II, patriotism brought everyone closer as the young men of the area left to fight for their country. College enrollment declined drastically until a masterstroke by its president brought the nation's first WAC school to the campus. An unexpected ice storm killed valuable timber, bringing Nazi POWs to the area to harvest the pine trees. On the home front, everyone got involved in the war effort. They knitted, rolled bandages, collected scrap metal, bought war bonds, grew victory gardens, and participated in rationing and blackouts; but most of all they sacrificed their sons. They came together during those years and still come together today to celebrate the historic town's past and to honor its veterans of all wars.
Frontier Forts of Texas
9781467128599
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With its vast size and long frontier period, Texas was the scene of more combat events between Native American warriors and Anglo soldiers and settlers than any other state or territory. The US Army, therefore, erected more military outposts in Texas, a tradition begun by Spanish soldados and their presidios. Settlers built blockhouses and even stockades, the most famous of which was Parker's Fort, the site of an infamous massacre in 1836. Successive north to south lines of Army forts attempted to screen westward-moving settlers from war parties, while border posts stretched along the Rio Grande from Fort Brown on the Gulf of Mexico to Fort Bliss at El Paso del Norte. Texas was the site of the first US Cavalry regiment employed against horseback warriors, as well as the experimental US Camel Corps. From Robert E. Lee to Albert Sidney Johnston to Ranald Mackenzie, the Army's finest officers served out of Texas forts, and 61 Medals of Honor were earned by soldiers campaigning in the Lone Star State.
Fort Davis
9780738579863
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Established and named for US secretary of war Jefferson Davis in 1854, Fort Davis was key to the eventual settlement of the Davis Mountains' rich grasslands. Camels once grazed at the fort. It served as home to the African American regiments known as the Buffalo Soldiers, and Lt. Henry Flipper, the first African American to graduate from West Point, was court-martialed at this post. Present-day visitors to the town of Fort Davis can gaze at the stars and imagine the immensity of the universe at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, stay the night at the Civilian Conservation Corps-built Indian Lodge at Davis Mountains State Park, or visit with a living-history volunteer or park ranger at Fort Davis National Historic Site.
Camp Bullis
9781467127493
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For more than a century, soldiers have marched, ridden, driven, and flown to Camp Bullis to practice tactics and marksmanship. Camp Bullis was established in 1906 because the modern artillery and small arms could not be fired safely within Fort Sam Houston. The camp expanded during both world wars to accommodate even more powerful artillery and the tens of thousands of troops being mobilized. Between these two wars, the movies Wings, The Big Parade, and The Rough Riders were filmed there. The Army's changing needs would transform the type of training conducted at Camp Bullis. Today, soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines still go to Camp Bullis to practice not only tactics and marksmanship on state-of-the-art ranges and simulators but also lifesaving medical techniques, demonstrating once again that a good range is essential.
Goodfellow Air Force Base
9781467104340
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Goodfellow Air Force Base is one of the oldest installations in the US Air Force. It was the first of scores of flying training fields established across Texas and Oklahoma during World War II. What qualified San Angelo as the site for the first of the new fields did not, for the most part, distinguish it much from its neighbors. The clear skies and flat, forgiving terrain so desirable in the training of pilots were regional qualities. But San Angelo also had Bob Carr, a former military aviator who spearheaded a local effort to provide land, an important railroad spur, and key utility connections if the new pilot school were built nearby. Over the next eight decades, nurtured by a special relationship between city and base, Goodfellow has distinguished itself by training more than 400,000 pilots, intelligence operators, and firefighters for all the armed forces of the United States.
Fort Clark and Brackettville
9780738520636
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The story of Fort Clark and Brackettville began with a quiet pool of water, Las Moras Spring, named by the Spanish conquistadors for the mulberry trees lining its banks. The discovery of gold in California and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo precipitated the opening of the Lower Road from San Antonio to El Paso. To protect the spring and the travelers on the road, the U.S. government established a fort on the high ground above the spring. The town of Brackettville grew with the fort, and the area soon played host to an honor roll of American heroes. Revealed in some 200 images, many never before published, are some of the fort's most famous alumni, including Stuart, Longstreet, Sheridan, Sherman, Bullis, Patton, and Wainwright, in addition to the little-known Medal of Honor recipients buried there. Captured here are the deeds of a legion of unsung heroes, as well as the fort and town's historic past, highlighting the Indian War era, the Seminole Scouts, and the quiet time between the World Wars. Culled from the collections of the Library of Congress, the National Archives of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and pioneer photographer Eugene O. Goldbeck, this book is a testament to American soldiers throughout the country.
The Quadrangle
9781467128667
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Designed by Q.M. Gen. Montgomery Meigs and built in 1876 as a quartermaster supply depot, the Quadrangle evolved into a major regional headquarters. The Quadrangle has become synonymous with Fort Sam Houston. It has been immortalized in the art of Porfirio Salinas and the jewelry of James Avery. In Texas, the Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston stands second only to the Alamo in historical significance. Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974 for its military contribution to the defense of the United States through the Indian Wars, the war with Spain, and both world wars as well as Korea, Vietnam, and the global war on terrorism, the Quadrangle continues its role as an active participant in national defense as the headquarters responsible for the land defense of North America. For almost 150 years, military activities have been conducted in the Quadrangle, and many of America's greatest soldiers and airmen have served within its walls--Ranald Mackenzie, Tasker Bliss, Frederick Funston, John J. Pershing, Billy Mitchell, Walter Krueger, and Jonathan M. Wainwright.
Randolph Field
9781467132336
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Once touted as the "West Point of the air" in the pre-Air Force Academy years, Randolph Field/Air Force Base is famous for its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, its iconic Administration Building (nicknamed the "Taj Mahal"), and its rectangular layout. Allowed by the Army hierarchy to design its own installation from the ground up, the Army Air Corps hit a home run in design uniqueness and functionality. When the Corps of Engineers built the base, working from 1928 to 1931, it was its biggest project since the Panama Canal. Randolph has been a popular assignment location for Air Force members for over 80 years and is currently home to the 12th Flying Training Wing, the Air Education and Training Command Headquarters, and the Air Force Personnel Center. Thousands have passed through Randolph's gates as students and permanent personnel, and many have chosen to live in the San Antonio area after discharge or retirement. Carefully landscaped with trees and shrubbery from the very beginning, Randolph is the "showplace of the Air Force."
Beaumont's Civil Air Patrol in World War II
9781467106207
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During World War II, Beaumont and Port Arthur were leaders in oil refining, which literally kept the Allied wheels moving toward victory. The Germans recognized the importance of Texas oil and sent submarines to sink American ships carrying the valuable cargo. Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Coastal Base No. 10, located at the Municipal Airport in Beaumont, Texas, in 1942-1943, helped alleviate the submarine menace by logging over 14,000 hours in the air over the Gulf. CAP was unconventional. As a part of the Office of Civilian Defense, CAP's members were civilians, many of whom were too old for the military. Other members owned airplanes or had experience flying to help go on missions patrolling the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico searching for enemy submarines or survivors of sub attacks. Although the men had training in military protocol, they remained civilians and often returned to their homes after completing their missions.
South Plains Army Airfield
9781467131339
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South Plains Army Airfield in Lubbock, Texas, was a major training base for US Army Air Force glider pilots during World War II. Approximately 80 percent of the roughly 6,000 pilots trained to fly the combat cargo glider received their advanced training and were awarded their "G" Wings at SPAAF, as it was known. The base was conceived, built, used, and then closed in a short five-year period during World War II. Today, little remains to remind one of the feverish and important military training program that once took place on the flat, featureless South Plains of Texas. During World War II, American military strategy and tactics included a significant airborne component. Major invasions, such as D-Day at Normandy, were preceded by huge aerial fleets carrying paratroopers and their equipment. These airborne invasion fleets sometimes exceeded well over 1,000 Allied gliders. The American airborne forces depended upon an ungainly looking aircraft, the CG-4A glider, to carry the vehicles, munitions, and reinforcements needed to survive. The pilots who flew them learned their trade at South Plains Army Airfield.
The San Marcos 10
9781467141277
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On November 13, 1969, ten students at Texas State University were suspended for participating in a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War. They had kept vigil in front of the Huntington Mustangs, bearing signs that read, "Vietnam Is an Edsel" and "44,000 U.S. Dead, For What?" while an increasingly hostile anti-protest crowd chanted, "Love it or leave it!" and "Let's string 'em up!" It was a day after news of the My Lai massacre broke. Part of a coordinated, nationwide Vietnam Moratorium effort that confounded and infuriated the Nixon White House, the "San Marcos 10" challenged their suspension, taking their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Author E.R. Bills offers this fascinating glimpse into the 1960s antiwar movement in Texas, the extraordinary measures to quell it and the broader social activism in which it participated.
