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This week I led a pre-Memorial Day tour to Cypress Hills National Cemetery. It was the first time I had ever visited the gravesite of Private William D. Roberts, Confederate soldier, in Grave 3254. I’ve written in the past about the 500 Confederates buried in Brooklyn. And a book about the World War One war dead. But Private Roberts’ story is unique, so I’ll share it for Memorial Day. As a prisoner of war who Continue Reading →
There has not been a U.S. flag in Battery Park next to the World War II memorial for six months. The Battery Park Conservancy, who is supposed to be maintaining the park, has not repaired the broken rope on the flagpole. It is dragging its heels on correcting this problem. I’ve been tweeting about this issue for several weeks. The Battery Park Conservancy has said they are studying what to do. I am saying today Continue Reading →
The only National Cemetery in New York City is in Brooklyn. Visit the beautiful and historic Cypress Hills National Cemetery, the final resting place for 21,000 veterans and dependents from the American Revolution to the Vietnam War. The cemetery was opened in 1862, and is older than Arlington National Cemetery. Take a walk to visit the graves of 24 Medal of Honor winners and soldiers from more than 200 years of American History. See the Continue Reading →
I travelled to the New Jersey-Delaware border to take part in a Great War day at a historic fort. I saw some of the best living history I’ve ever experienced inside a restored 1902 Army structure. The best part was meeting a lot of reenactors who share the same passion I do for World War One. The Great War exhibition at Fort Mott State Park, Pennsville, New Jersey, was held on May 5, 2018. The Continue Reading →
I am really happy my friend Michael Cumella has pushed Woodlawn Cemetery to finally put a gravestone on the final resting place of singer Nora Bayes. The unveiling is Saturday, April 21, at noon at the landmark cemetery in the Bronx. A nice New York Times story explains the whole rigmarole about why the famous singer never got a stone when she died 90 years ago. But this is just the first of a number Continue Reading →
Discovering the Southwest Florida Military Museum and Library was an incredible find on a recent trip. Located in Cape Coral, at 4820 Leonard Street, this museum defines off the beaten track: it’s not listed in guidebooks and is tucked away inside a former supermarket nearby auto repair shops and big box stores. But to walk inside the doors is to be transported back in time to see tens of thousands of artifacts from every military Continue Reading →
I made my debut last week on the Travel Channel on Mysteries at the Museum. The episode is Season 19, Episode 6: “Italian Sherlock Holmes, King of the Airwaves and Texan Takes Moscow.” My part was the expert to describe the wreck and rescue of U.S. Navy submarine O-5 in 1923. It went down in a collision outside the Panama Canal. The story concerns two sailors trapped underwater and the daring rescue to save their Continue Reading →
I was interviewed for a French-German TV documentary on the USS Recruit, the WWI battleship that was in Union Square. The episode is in French, but I think the guy sounds like me. It aired on Arte, the travel documentary Invitation Au Voyage. For WWI, the focus of Navy and Marine Corps recruiting was Union Square. On Memorial Day, May 30, 1917, the Navy “launched” the battleship USS Recruit, made entirely of wood, on Broadway. Continue Reading →
It is a huge honor for me to announce that I was awarded my first-ever literary honor on Monday. My book World War One New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War (Globe Pequot Press) took home the Apple Award given by the Guides Association for New York City. The awards category my book was nominated in and won is Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction New York City Book Writing (Published Continue Reading →
Last Sunday was the second annual World War I “swap and sale” I helped organize in the Bronx. Our group of reenactors, the East Coast Doughboys, gathered for a flea market of WWI uniforms, equipment, ephemera, and photos. It was a lot of fun. A great journalist from NY1 came and shot a short piece on the event. You can watch it here.