By Danny Minton June 6 this year marks 80 years since the beginning of one of the deadliest campaigns of World War II. On June 6, 1944, the Allied troops launched an invasion of Normandy, codename “Operation Overlord.” On the first day, called D-Day, 4,414 Allied troops lost their lives, with an estimated 10,000 dead, wounded, or missing in the

By Danny Minton On Saturday, March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stepped onto the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol and made his first speech as president of the United States. The country was in the midst of a significant depression, resulting in homelessness, poverty, and a loss of jobs, with families trying to exist at a low point for

By Danny Minton When Ann Reeves Jarvis passed away in 1905, she had no idea that her dream of a day honoring mothers would be the reason our modern-day Mother’s Day exists. The actual forerunner of Mother’s Day was Julia Ward Howe, who in 1870 argued that war was an evil that could be prevented and that mothers had a

By Danny Minton Midway within the state of Vermont lie the towns of Barre and Groton. As you leave Barre traveling east on Highway 302, you’ll discover you are on the William Scott Memorial Highway. As you travel down the highway, you will eventually come to a marker located at 44º 12.279’ N, 72º 15.957’ W, near Groton. The question

By Danny Minton Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam in June of 1945, having lost his wife and friends during their imprisonment in Nazi work camps and having no knowledge of the fate of his two daughters, Margot and Anne. He moved in with Jan and Miep Gies, two of the people who had cared for him and his family as

By Danny Minton In April of 1943, Major William Martin began a journey that would save thousands of lives during WWII. Major Martin was an officer in the British Royal Marines who, on April 30th, was sent on a mission across the English Channel. In his satchel were secret documents concerning the invasion of British and Allied forces to take

By Danny Minton “I don’t like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others. Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room.” Miep (Meep) Gies Hermine Santrouschitz was born to a struggling Catholic couple in February of 1909

By Danny Minton For months, excitement has built up for the Total Solar Eclipse to take place on April 8th, which will be seen by a large portion of the contiguous United States. It will be another 20 years before the mainland of the United States will have another Total Eclipse pass over its borders. All along the path of