Wyomissing salutes, remembers the fallen at parade, ceremony
World War II veterans are honored during the Wyomissing Memorial Day Parade and Remembrance Ceremony on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)The Reading Buccaneer Alumni march during the Wyomissing Memorial Day Parade and Remembrance Ceremony on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)World War II veterans are honored during the Wyomissing Memorial Day Parade and Remembrance Ceremony on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)The Berks County Chapter of the Harley Owners Group rides during Wyomissing Memorial Day Parade and Remembrance Ceremony on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)Kaleb Kistler, 3, of Bernville waits to watch his dad Kevin march with the Sons of Liberty during the Wyomissing Memorial Day Parade and Remembrance Ceremony on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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USA Today
10 hours ago
- USA Today
Where is Camp Mystic, the Christian girls camp hit by flooding in Texas?
Severe flooding hit Camp Mystic, a 99-year-old private nondenominational Christian camp for girls in the Texas Hill Country. More than 750 girls were at the camp, which is located along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, where rain of up to 12 inches an hour fell, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a press conference Friday afternoon. Flash flooding occurred as river waters rose 29 feet rapidly near the camp, officials said. At the time, about 20 girls were missing, Patrick said. Parents and relatives have been posting on social media as they have learned about the deaths of young family members who had been attending the camp. At least three girls have died, based on reports from family members. Live updates: Texas flooding death toll rises to 27; children among the dead What is Camp Mystic? Camp Mystic for Girls was founded in 1926 by Edward "Doc" Stewart, who was the football and men's basketball coach at the University of Texas, according to an Internet Archive's capture of the camp's website (much of the site was overwhelmed with traffic on Saturday). The camp has been in operation since then. However, during World War II it served as a "rehabilitation and recovery camp for army air corps veterans," according to the site. "Campers and counselors join together to sing songs, listen to scripture, discover ways to grow spiritually, and learn to apply these lessons to their daily life at camp and back home," according to the site. Religious activities include: Bible studies, Saturday evening Catholic Mass, Sunday morning devotionals along the river, Sunday evening Vespers services, and, once during each two-week or four-week term, a sunrise communion service. Other activities include cooking, dance, basketball, horseback riding, lacrosse, swimming, soccer and yoga. Where is Camp Mystic in Texas? Camp Mystic for Girls, is in Texas, about six miles south of Hunt, Texas, in Kerr County. That's within Texas Hill Country, about 80 miles northwest of San Antonio. The original camp and a second camp, opened in 2020 near Cypress Lake, is bisected by Cypress Creek. YouTube videos show the camp facilities nestled within the tree-filled landscape at the two camps, one along the Guadalupe River and the newer camp near Cypress Lake. Contributing: Reuters Mike Snider is a reporter on USA TODAY's Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@ What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
Buzz Feed
13 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Real WW2 Stories: Families Share Hidden Histories
My Grandpa Russ was an Air Force pilot during World War II, but like many men of that generation, he rarely talked about what he saw. Recently, my dad and I went through his journal from that time period, and what really struck me were the personal anecdotes, like hanging out with his buddies and his efforts to learn French to flirt with European ladies (Nana wasn't in the picture yet). There were also horrifying details, like an account of watching his buddy die as their plane crash-landed in Switzerland. That's Gramps looking studious in a photo we found tucked into his journal. So when I came across this thread of people sharing their family stories from WWII, I was instantly hooked on these incredibly human stories that show the day-to-day reality of living through this turbulent historical period. Here are some of the most fascinating stories that made history come to life before my eyes: "My grandpa on my dad's side was in the Navy. Served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as a steamfitter. Got himself a war bride from England, returned to Canada, and became a boilermaker at a paper mill. He died when I was a young teen, so I never heard any stories. His wife, the British war bride, was a WREN [Women's Royal Naval Service] and worked in Army intelligence. She actually worked on the world's first computer, part of Alan Turing's Enigma-cracking group, although she didn't realize it until well after the war, when the information was finally declassified." "All she knew was that she had to watch cylinders turn and then, when they stopped, take a reading, pass it on up, and reset a new cylinder. She had no idea what any of it meant."—KnoWanUKnow2 "My father quit high school and enlisted in the Navy before his 18th birthday late in the war. To quote him, he was afraid the war would end without him. He really wanted to fight Nazis (we are Jewish), but he ended up in the Philippines. I knew he drove a landing craft, but the worst story I ever heard was when the washing machine on his ship tore skin off his hand, and he needed a skin graft. When Saving Private Ryan came out, I mentioned the opening scene and asked how realistic it was." "My grandfather (born 1906) participated in WWII, as a German soldier, and yes, he was a Nazi. At to the early stages of war. He had some real 'are we the baddies' moments that made him change. And he did not talk to my father about what stuff he had done out of shame, but shortly before killing himself in his high 90s, he talked to me about what he did. And explained to me why he lived his whole life long in fear that either Americans, 'the Jews,' or the Russians would get him in revenge." "After the war, he went full SPD (left-social Democratic Party), supported my father being a full-blown antifascist, and the same for me. He was ashamed until his self-chosen death because of his stupidity. He explained to me what led to that, but also told me that this could never be an excuse to switch off one's brain and actively vote for a guy who told the world before in a book what he would do if he rose to power."—Llewellian "My dad was in the North Pacific in WWII. He never talked about it. We finally asked him why when we were old enough to realize how horrible it must have been. He answered direct questions but volunteered little. One story we all loved was him standing in line as weapons were being assigned when they got off the boat. The guy handing them out had a huge bazooka and was eying my 6'2" dad down the line. He did NOT want to lug that thing all over Asia. Another officer went by asking if anyone could type. Dad had been in business college, yay! He spent most of his time in a tent with a typewriter after that." "My mom (96 now) fled from bombs dropped in Tokyo in 1942. So yes, she 'participated' as a Japanese citizen." —CanAny1DoItRight "Both of my grandads pushed the Germans out of France. They didn't talk about it, but they did tell me about how important it was that they did the job for the sake of humanity. And they had very compelling arguments about how the armed conflicts the US took part in after WWII were not worthy in most ways (up to around 1998). Knowing their views and learning their thoughts, I'm sure both Grandpa and Popo are furious that the world isn't fighting harder for Ukraine, financially and militarily." "My dad was in WWII. He was a dancer and comedian and was in a group with Melvyn Douglas, Peter Gennaro, and other entertainers. They traveled around entertaining the troops. When he wasn't doing that, he worked as a cook." —Bitter_Face8790 "My dad was in the Army. He fought the Japanese. He remembers every morning, the Japanese pilots would bomb their camp at 5 a.m. They'd get into a foxhole with trees covering them. They could hear the shrapnel hitting over their heads. One guy in his company completely lost it. He killed himself in his bed. They were all given a cyanide pill in case they got captured by the enemy." "My nonno (grandfather) fought on the Italian side. Before he met my nonna and had my dad and aunt, he had a wife and two young children — a boy and a girl — who were killed in an American carpet bombing raid. He came home and found his village leveled and his family dead. He just started over again." —baitbus666 "One grandfather was too old by a few months to be drafted. The other one went. The only time he ever spoke about it was when he was in the hospital, dying. His dementia made him think it was many years earlier. So occasionally, some military things slipped out." "Both of my grandfathers served in the military: My maternal grandfather was in the Infantry and fought in, among other things, the Battle of the Bulge. My paternal grandfather served in the Army as a photographer for the Department of War; he carried a gun but never fired it." "My maternal grandfather loved telling war stories. I think he processed his trauma by framing his experiences as an adventure. He had grown up in rural Maine and was an outdoorsman who loved hunting and fishing, and he thought his early experiences in the woods helped him survive the war. He absolutely had PTSD and had nightmares his whole life.""My paternal grandfather did not like talking about the war, and so far as I know, told stories about it only once, when my brother asked to interview him for a school project. He also absolutely had PTSD and had nightmares his whole life.""Both my grandmothers also participated in the war effort as civilians. My maternal grandmother went to work for the FBI as a file clerk in Washington, DC.""My paternal grandmother had grown up in the deep south with parents who'd very much scripted out her life for her (and it was going to involve some genteel women's college followed by marriage to someone respectable); when the war broke out, this meant suddenly her life opened up in ways she had not expected. She patriotically went north to work at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where she met and fell in love with my grandfather (a Yankee son of an immigrant, pretty much the son-in-law of my great-grandparents' nightmares). They settled back down in Dayton, Ohio, after the war. Sadly, she died in her early 60s and I didn't get to know her very well."—SignedUpJustFrThis "Both my folks were in the war. My Dutch mother went through the Nazi occupation and carried messages for the underground on her bicycle. After the war, she was a Red Cross interpreter in the refugee camp where I was born in '47. My American dad was an Army soldier who was in Europe from '43 'til '53. He went through D-Day all the way through to the camps." "My father's father wanted to fight, but he worked at a munitions factory, and they wouldn't let him go sign up. He was considered an essential home front worker. He was always a little bitter about it, but my grandmother once told me that she was so thankful that he was needed and that he couldn't go. My mother's father served, but he never saw active combat. He did ship repair in the Navy and was stationed out of the Port of San Francisco." —MaggieMae68 "My dad was stationed in Australia during WWII, where he got married and divorced within two months to an Australian woman. Meanwhile, my mom was doing her part from home by writing letters to several GIs in Europe. We found their letters to her after she passed away in November. They were quite flirty. She also went to dances and things here in the US with military guys before they shipped out. My parents met and married in the 1950s." "My mother, who was 13 at the time, and her parents were interned in Weihsien, a Japanese prisoner of war camp in north China. While it was fairly miserable, they were not treated as harshly as captured Allied soldiers. My mother would talk about life in camp occasionally." "My father was also a teenager, and he refused to be evacuated from London during the Blitz. He would also talk about surviving the bombing and rationing sometimes."—jlzania "My father served in the Coast Guard in WWII. When we asked him what he did, he said 'nothing.' About a year before he died, he started to tell us about driving landing craft to islands under attack, dodging bullets, and bringing back dead and wounded to the Navy ship he served on. He and his friend, who served under Patton, never talked about the war except with each other. 'No one else would understand.' They kept their trauma to themselves." "My maternal grandfather was killed in a live grenade training camp accident at Fort Benning just weeks after getting drafted into the US Army in July 1945. My mom was 4 years old. My paternal grandfather was a private in the US Army and was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries suffered during the Battle of Aachen in December 1944." —revo2022 "My grandpa was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. I had the luxury of returning with him many years ago. He was a bomber pilot and managed to escape in his plane despite still being slightly drunk from the party the night before." "My stepdad was in the British Army. He had polio as a kid, so he had short legs, so he got to be a tank driver. On his first day out, there was a huge bang, and the tank stopped. He got out of his seat and looked back, and there was no turret. He was the only survivor." "The next day, he was in another tank. That night, everyone slept under the tank for protection. There was no room for him as he was the new guy, so he had to sleep beside the tank. It rained that night. The next morning, the tank had sunk into the mud. Everyone was asphyxiated except Dad, since he wasn't under the tank. He was the only survivor.""No one wanted him after that. They joked about giving him a German uniform and sending him to the other side."—astcell "My Oma lived in Germany, my Opa was in the Army, and brought her home with him. I interviewed my Oma for a WWII report once in high school, and she didn't say much. Her parents died in the war. I don't know how her father passed, but I know her mother died in the attempted assassination of Hitler. A bombing in a restaurant, if I remember correctly. My Oma was 11 at the time. Hitler attended the funeral (it was a group funeral with all of the victims). I got a really great grade on my paper, my Oma's interview, and the photos of her with Hitler at my great-grandmother's funeral earned me extra credit." "My grandfather fought in the Pacific theater. He didn't talk about it often, but I know he was proud of his service. When he died (a bit over 20 years ago), there was a display with several medals. I can't recall exactly what was said, but it was something along the lines of, 'If I go to my grave without anyone knowing how I won these medals, I'll have done my duty.'" —SlightlyTwistedGames "My uncle was in the Air Force and flew on bombing raids over Europe. From what I have seen in movies, that must have been terrifying, but the only stories he told me were funny. He told me one story about a gunner on his plane and how he got a Purple Heart." And finally, "My late father served in the Pacific. Very proud Marine. He talked more about the people he met in China as part of the peacekeeping force after the war was over. But then, when Windtalkers came out, he said, 'I guess I can talk about it now.' He was sworn to secrecy. He guarded one of the Navajo code talkers!" —1rarebird55 Do you have a story to share about your family from World War II? Tell us about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
Business Insider
16 hours ago
- Business Insider
What it's like to spend the night aboard a combat-tested US Navy destroyer
Business Insider recently spent a night aboard a US Navy destroyer sailing from England to France. Our reporter got an inside look at daily life for sailors on USS Thomas Hudner. Sailors explained what they like about being on the ship, as well as some of the challenges. ENGLISH CHANNEL — About a year and a half before Business Insider stepped aboard the US Navy destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, the ship was battling hostile drones in the Red Sea. Kill marks can be seen painted on the warship, which recently found itself again wrapped up in the violence in the Middle East. BI's stay aboard the powerful warship at the tail end of May and into June was significantly quieter by comparison. The roughly 24 hours spent aboard the Thomas Hudner as the ship crossed the English Channel from England to France to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day invasion offered a glimpse into what life is like for the warship's sailors as they handle missions while grappling with the grind of daily Navy life. Setting sail, two tugboats pulled the 500-foot-long Arleigh Burke-class destroyer away from the pier and into a crowded harbor. Sailors in their dress blues stood manning the rails as people on the shore looked on with great interest. Getting the warship underway at Portsmouth was a whole-of-ship effort, with sailors from the bridge to the combat information center and from the flight deck at the stern to the bow all playing a role. Cmdr. Cameron Ingram, Thomas Hudner's commanding officer, told me that each of the 300-plus sailors aboard has a "vitally important" job keeping the ship operating smoothly. "We're one big complex machine, and I am just a single component within it," he said. "A ship needs a captain, yes. But a ship needs lookouts, and a ship needs folks to do laundry, a ship needs people to do maintenance on weapons systems and damage control systems, and to stand watches." "As much as the crew needs me to do my job, I need them to do their jobs every single day, because I cannot do my job if they aren't doing theirs," Ingram added. Dinner that evening came early and consisted of pizza, pasta, and Brussels sprouts. I ate with officers in the wardroom, where the World War II film "Saving Private Ryan" was playing on a TV in the background. Considering the purpose of the destroyer's voyage across the English Channel, the famous Steven Spielberg movie was a fitting choice. It's recognized as one of the most realistic portrayals of the Allied invasion of Normandy ever recreated in film, capturing the horrors of the daring operation to secure the foothold needed to break Nazi Germany. The warship I was on was churning the same waters that the massive D-Day fleet had sailed 81 years earlier, thousands never to return home. Following dinner, the ship's skipper delivered a lengthy announcement over the ship's announcing system praising the crew and offering a preview of the coming D-Day events. He ended the broadcast by playing a song over the loudspeaker from the musical "Les Misérables," a nod to the visit to France. I spent the evening wandering around the ship, observing sailors as they did their jobs and listening to them talk about life on the destroyer and in the Navy in general. Life aboard a destroyer is demanding. Sailors operate in tight quarters, sharing berthing spaces and working long hours to keep up ship operations. Daily routines center on watch rotations in areas like the bridge, CIC, and engineering spaces to ensure the vessel stays mission-ready. Despite the challenges, such as limited personal space and time away from family, sailors value bonds with crewmates, the service and sense of purpose, the resilience fostered aboard the ship, and the opportunity to travel. "I've been all over the world," Petty Officer 1st Class Anna Watson, who manages the computer infrastructure for the ship's combat systems, shared. She came to Thomas Hudner, a ship homeported in Mayport, Fla., from the Navy's 7th Fleet, the command that oversees the Indo-Pacific region. "I've been to Japan, Thailand, South Korea — places like that — and now I get to see Europe," she said. "Definitely one of the benefits of being in the Navy, and being on a ship in the Navy, is you get to see most of the world. So that's pretty cool." Some sailors BI spoke with that night pointed to the opportunities for professional growth that come with a deployment and working on a ship. Chief Petty Officer Olaf Sampson, the head electrician, said being in the Navy and serving on a deployed warship is "a great stepping stone for young people to get into," where they can establish independence and learn a skill or trade. Petty Officer 3rd Class Aiden Grimes, who works with the warship's embarked helicopters, finds the problem-solving aspect of his job very appealing. "You don't have a lot of people to go to, so you have to figure it out yourself, and I like doing that," he said. Lt. John Wacker, who flies an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, has previously deployed with a littoral combat ship and a cruiser, but this was his first time doing so on a destroyer, which he described as the "main force" of the Navy's fleet; the service has 74 DDGs, the most of any ship class. He said it was "cool" to watch how the crew operates on the ship. The experience isn't easy, though. Deployments mean months away from family and friends, with port visits few and far between. And the requirements and scheduling can also change on a dime and give way to a high tempo of operations that can be stressful. In the fall of 2023, for instance, the Thomas Hudner became one of the first American warships to engage in combat against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who had just started their attacks on Israel and international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. Those battles marked the start of a prolonged campaign for the Navy, which sent multiple aircraft carriers and warships, like Thomas Hudner, to the Middle East to fend off Houthi attacks. The Pentagon even extended some deployments, putting additional stress on crews with a difficult mission. More recently, not long after the ship participated in D-Day events in France, the Thomas Hudner was dispatched to the Eastern Mediterranean along with four other destroyers to help shield Israel from Iranian ballistic missile attacks. The Navy warships collectively scored multiple interceptions. The Houthi and Iranian engagements underscore the need for sailors to always be ready for the possibility of a new mission. That high state of readiness, however, can take its toll. Military roles come with different pressures compared to life in the civilian world. When it came time to rest that night on the destroyer, I retreated to the stateroom I had been assigned, which resembled a small command center with a pull-out bed and an en suite bathroom. It was my second time spending the night on a Navy ship. Last year, I embarked overnight on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower during a Red Sea combat deployment. The room was on the colder side, and I didn't sleep more than about an hour, though that had more to do with my insomnia than anything else. Without WiFi or cell service, I played games on my phone just to pass the time until breakfast, which was pancakes, eggs, corned beef hash, and a few much-needed cups of coffee After breakfast, I made my way up to the ship's bridge to watch as we approached the scenic French coastline and my final stop, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The destroyer sailed slowly into the port, accompanied by tugboats, and methodically pulled up alongside the pier. The following process of dropping the anchor and using the massive lines to secure the destroyer in place — the reverse of what the crew did in Portsmouth — was as intricate and lengthy as it was in England. It involves tough, manual labor, but for some, that's part of the appeal of serving on a ship. "There's also something kind of majestic, if you will, about pushing a gigantic piece of iron war machinery through the water," shared Chief Petty Officer Chris Miller, who is responsible for the destroyer's self-defense systems. "It takes a lot to make this thing move, and there are a lot of moving pieces to it." "It's very intricate in design and very sophisticated, but it's also very powerful," he added, summing up his thoughts with: "It's awesome."
