James Francis Cagney Jr. was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances.
Alfred Joyce Kilmer was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Catholic faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. At the time of his deployment to Europe during World War I, Kilmer was considered the leading American Catholic poet and lecturer of his generation, whom critics often compared to British contemporaries G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) and Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953). He enlisted in the New York National Guard and was deployed to France with the 69th Infantry Regiment in 1917. He was killed by a sniper's bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918 at the age of 31. He was married to Aline Murray, also an accomplished poet and author, with whom he had five children.
William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan was an American soldier, lawyer, intelligence officer and diplomat. He is best known for serving as the head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), during World War II. He is regarded as the founding father of the CIA, and a statue of him stands in the lobby of the CIA headquarters building in Langley, Virginia.
Jeffrey Lynn was an American stage-screen actor and film producer who worked primarily through the Golden Age of Hollywood establishing himself as one of the premier talents of his time. Throughout his acting career, both on stage and in film, he was typecast as "the attractive, reliable love interest of the heroine," or "the tall, stalwart hero."
The Brécourt Manor Assault during the U.S. parachute assault of the Normandy Invasion of World War II is often cited as a classic example of small-unit tactics and leadership in overcoming a larger enemy force.
William Joseph Patrick O'Brien was an American film actor with more than 100 screen credits. Of Irish descent, he often played Irish and Irish-American characters and was referred to as "Hollywood's Irishman in Residence" in the press. One of the best-known screen actors of the 1930s and 1940s, he played priests, cops, military figures, pilots, and reporters. He is especially well-remembered for his roles in Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and Some Like It Hot (1959). He was frequently paired onscreen with Hollywood star James Cagney. O'Brien also appeared on stage and television.
The 69th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. It is from New York City, part of the New York Army National Guard. It is known as the "Fighting Sixty-Ninth", a name said to have been given by Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. An Irish-American heritage is attributed to the regiment, which is also nicknamed the "Fighting Irish" – a tradition mentioned in Joyce Kilmer's poem "When the 69th Comes Back". Between 1917 and 1992 it was also designated the 165th Infantry Regiment. It is headquartered at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan.
Jonah Edward "Eddie" Kelley was a United States Army soldier who received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War II.
Francis Patrick Duffy was a Canadian American soldier, Catholic priest and military chaplain.
Sergeant William Lloyd Nelson was an American combat soldier who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration for valor, for his actions on April 24, 1943, during World War II.
Cornelius H. Charlton was a soldier in the United States Army during the Korean War. Sergeant Charlton posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his actions near Chipo-ri, South Korea on June 2, 1951.
John Albert Pittman was a soldier in the United States Army during the Korean War. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on November 26, 1950, during the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River.
George Peterson was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.
Oscar Godfrey Johnson Jr. was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.
George John Hall was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.
Stephen Raymond Gregg Sr. was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.
Bugles in the Afternoon is a 1952 American Western film directed by William Cagney and starring Ray Milland, Helena Carter, Hugh Marlowe and Forrest Tucker, based on the 1943 novel by Ernest Haycox. The story features the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
"Rouge Bouquet" or "The Wood Called Rouge Bouquet" is a lyric poem written in 1918 by American poet, essayist, critic and soldier Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918). The poem commemorates an intense German artillery bombardment of an American trench position in the Rouge Bouquet wood near the French village of Baccarat on 7 March 1918 that resulted in the loss of 19 American soldiers with the 165th Infantry Regiment, of 42nd Rainbow Division.
Rouge Bouquet is a part of the Forêt de Parroy near the village of Baccarat, France. It was the site of a German artillery bombardment of American trench positions on 7 March 1918 at 15:20 on the Chausailles sector of the Western Front during World War I. The bombardment resulted in the burial of 21 men of the 165th Infantry Regiment, 42nd Rainbow Division of whom only a few survived. The 22 men, including their platoon commander 1st Lieutenant John Norman, were assembled in a dugout when a German artillery shell landed on the roof of the dugout. Major William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan quickly began a rescue attempt to dig the men out, but the effort were hampered by mud-slides and continued enemy shelling. Two men were rescued and five dead were recovered before efforts had to be halted. The voices of other men could be heard for a while, but the remaining fifteen men died before rescue efforts could resume. Donovan was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his actions during the attempted rescue.
Emmett St. Clair Watson, Jr. was an American illustrator whose works appeared in popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Judge, Collier's, and Life, and also in pulp magazines such as Argosy, Railroad Stories, and Detective Fiction Weekly.
