Stories of the suffering, and attempts to celebrate Christmas among soldiers at the front during war, including the 1914 “Christmas truce,” remind us of the blessings of Christmas even in the worst of times. But one Christmas stands out for sheer desperation.
After the public announcement of the armistice ending hostilities between Italy and the Allied powers on September 8th, 1943, the Italian navy fled its ports in a desperate bid to reach the safety of Allied forces, even as German forces, carrying a terrifying new weapon, sought to capture or destroy them.
On August 26, 1980, some men wearing jumpsuits drove up in a white Dodge van and rolled a large box into a Casino in Stateline Nevada, saying that they were delivering a copy machine. It wasn’t a copy machine. Thus began what the Federal Bureau of Investigation described as “one of the most unusual cases” in the bureau’s history.
In 1943 the Yorktown, Virginia, Naval Mine Depot manufactured explosive ordnance and loaded it onto ships in the York River bound for the battlefields of WWII. On November 16th, a massive explosion rocked the Depot, leaving enormous craters and shattering glass for miles around.