Stars on Wings

historicalawesomeness:

Hannah Szenes (often anglicized as Hannah Senesh; Hebrew: חנה סנש‎;Hungarian: Szenes Anikó; July 17, 1921 – November 7, 1944) was one of 37 Jews fromM andatory Palestine parachuted by theBritish Army into Yugoslavia during the Second World War to assist in the rescue of Hungarian Jews about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz.

Szenes was arrested at the Hungarian border, then imprisoned and tortured, but refused to reveal details of her mission. She was eventually tried and executed by firing squad. She is regarded as a national heroine in Israel, where her poetry is widely known and the headquarters of the Zionist youth movements Israel Hatzeira, a kibbutz and several streets are named after her.

Szenes was born on July 17, 1921, to an assimilated Jewish family in Hungary. Her father, Béla Szenes, a journalist and playwright, died when she was six years old. She continued to live with her mother, Catherine, and her brother,György(Giora).

She enrolled in a Protestant private school for girls that also accepted Catholic and Jewish pupils; most of those of the Jewish faith had to pay three times the amount Catholics paid. However, Senesh only had to pay twice the regular tuition because she was considered a “Gifted Student”. This, along with the realization that the situation of the Jews in Hungary was becoming precarious, prompted Szenes to embrace Zionism, and she joined Maccabea, a Hungarian Zionist students organization.

Szenes graduated in 1939 and decided to emigrate to what was then the British Mandate of Palestinein order to study in the Girls’ Agricultural School at Nahalal. In 1941, she joined Kibbutz Sdot Yamand then joined the Haganah, the paramilitary group that laid the foundation of the Israel Defense Forces. In 1943, she enlisted in the British army in the Woman’s Auxiliary Air Forceas an Aircraft woman 2nd Class and began her training in Egyptas a paratrooper for the British Special Operations Executive(SOE).

On March 14, 1944, she and colleagues Yoel Palgi and Peretz Goldstein were parachuted into Yugoslaviaand joined a partisan group. After landing, they learned the Germans had already occupied Hungary, so the men decided to call off the mission as too dangerous. Szenes continued on and headed for the Hungarian border. At the border, she and her companions were arrested by Hungarian gendarmes, who found her British military transmitter, used to communicate with the SOE and other partisans. Hannah was taken to a prison, stripped, tied to a chair, then whipped and clubbed for three days. The guards wanted to know the code for her transmitter so they could find out who the parachutists were and misdirect others. Transferred to a Budapest prison, Hannah was repeatedly interrogated and cruelly tortured, but she only revealed her name and refused to provide the transmitter code, even when her mother was also arrested. They threatened to kill her mother if she did not cooperate, but Hannah held firm (and probably saved her mother’s life as a result).

While in prison, Szenes used a mirror to flash signals out of the window to prisoners in other cells and communicated using large cut-out letters that she placed in her cell window one at a time and by drawing the Magen David in the dust. She tried to keep their spirits up by singing, and through all the things Szenes went through she still kept her spirit high and stayed true to her mission.

She was tried for treason on October 28, 1944. There was an eight-day postponement to give the judges more time to find a verdict, followed by another postponement, this one because of the appointment of a new Judge Advocate. She was executed by afiring squad. She kept diary entries until her last day, November 7, 1944 when she was executed by a German firing squad. One of them read: “In the month of July, I shall be twenty-three/I played a number in a game/The dice have rolled. I have lost,” and another: “I loved the warm sunlight.”

Her diary was published in Hebrew in 1946. Her remains were brought to Israel in 1950 and buried in the cemetery on Mount Herzl,Jerusalem. Her tombstone was brought to Israel in November 2007 and placed in Sdot Yam.

During the trial of Rudolf Kastner, Hannah’s mother, Catherina Senesh, testified that during the time her daughter was imprisoned, Kastner’s people had advised her not to obtain a lawyer for her daughter. Further, she recalled a conversation with Kastner after the war, telling him, “I don’t say that you could have saved my daughter Hannah, but that you didn’t try - it makes it harder for me that nothing was done.”

After the Cold War, a Hungarian military court officially exonerated her. Her kin in Israel were informed on November 5, 1993.

(via fyeah-history)

fyeah-history:

Dead Japanese soldiers, killed assaulting United States Marine positions, lie on the sandbar at the mouth of Alligator Creek, Guadalcanal after the battle on August 21, 1942
The Battle of the Tenaru, sometimes called the Battle of the Ilu River or the Battle of Alligator Creek, took place August 21, 1942, on the island of Guadalcanal, and was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between Imperial Japanese Army and Allied (mainly United States Marine) ground forces. The battle was the first major Japanese land offensive during the Guadalcanal campaign.

—Okay darling try not to blush!
—You look like a paratrooper! 

(via fuckyeahthepacificships)

Haha, fooled you! WE’RE NOT REALLY COLLIDING. >D 

(This is how most of astronomy works. XD)

expose-the-light:

Spectacular View of Two Seemingly Colliding Galaxies Captured By Hubble

Hubble has captured this beautiful new view of NGC 3314, two spiral galaxies located in the constellation Hydra, between 117 and 140 million light-years away from Earth. But they are not really colliding. If they were, they would look like this.

It’s an optical effect: NGC 3314A (on the foreground) and NGC 3314B (on the background) are just overlapping, separated “ten times the distance between our Milky Way and neighboring Andromeda galaxy.”

I just like to think they are in love and smooching. [NASA]

(via n-a-s-a)

Source:

fyeah-history:

Cat Crossing a street carrying kittens, 1925

usnatarchives:

For these dogs of the Marine Corps during World War II, every day was Take Your Dog to Work Day. Read the story of these dogs in “Let the Records Bark.”

Then, in addition to providing various basic personal details, each applicant was required to provide answers to a number of personality-focused questions, including: “Are you nervous?” “Gun Shy?” “Storm Shy?” “Do you run away?” “Have you lived in house, or kennel?” “What is your attitude toward strangers?” The only thing lacking is a short essay explaining the applicant’s reasons for wanting to join up.

Once accepted for service, the dogs went to the Dog Detachment Training Center at Camp Lejeune, where they were qualified in obedience and at least one other specialty. The record book lists the following possibilities: Guard Duty, Tracking, Attack, Messenger, First Aid, or Draft. In fact, however, most Marine dogs were used for messenger or scouting work.

Image: Butch poses with his handler. Records of the United States Marine Corps, RG 127

it ain’t shit.

(via iwanthoosierrrrr)

demons:

The Sledge brothers, Eugene Sledge (left) and Lt. E.S. Sledge in Mobile, Alabama.

All I can think is, “Holy crap they cast him well.” 

(via fuckyeahthepacificships)

Sergeant John Basilone was killed by an enemy mortar round at approximately 10:45 a.m. on February 19, 1945. For his fearless leadership, his daring attack on the enemy bunker and successful capture of the first objective of C Company on Iwo Jima, he was awarded the Navy’s highest honor, the Navy Cross. He also received the Purple Heart for the wounds he received that day. Sergeant Basilone, for his personal humility and unwavering dedication to the men who served with him, became a true hero of the American people during World War II. His courage eased their fears during many dark hours when the outcome of the war was uncertain. 

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(via meowie)