Claire Barrett

Feb 20, 2024 | historynet.com | Claire Barrett |J.D. Simkins

Ask any Marine about the service’s greatest snipers, and a flurry of references to the legendary Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock are sure to flood the conversation. Yet it was another sniper, Charles “Chuck” Mawhinney, who quietly surpassed Hathcock as the Marine Corps’ deadliest. The Lakeview, Oregon, native recorded 103 confirmed kills in Vietnam over the span of 16 months in 1968 and 1969.

Feb 20, 2024 | historynet.com | Claire Barrett |Sarah Sicard

The “Greatest Generation” is renowned for military heroism during World War II. But before this famed demographic signed up to fight for Uncle Sam, many were shaped by a childhood spent amid World War I. It’s not surprising, then, that the First World War instilled an entire generation with a brand of patriotism that could prompt risking everything to preserve the American dream.

Feb 14, 2024 | historynet.com | Claire Barrett |Zita Fletcher

These shoes were worn by a child evacuated from South Vietnam during Operation Babylift, which began on April 3, 1975 before the Fall of Saigon. The plan was initiated by U.S. President Gerald Ford and was intended to rescue Vietnamese orphans. Tragically the first plane to take off carrying children from South Vietnam crash landed after takeoff, resulting in the deaths of 50 adults and 78 children. However, 170 passengers survived.

Feb 14, 2024 | historynet.com | Claire Barrett |Zita Fletcher

For the duration of the Civil War, the Washington Monument looked like this, only partially completed. Legendary D.C. photographer Mathew Brady captured this image of the Washington Monument around 1860, but no progress had been made in construction since 1854, when the monument’s private funding society went bankrupt. Though an impressive 156 feet high, construction only became more difficult and costly as the obelisk ascended, and architect Robert Mills’ 600 foot design seemed an impossibility.

Feb 2, 2024 | historynet.com | Claire Barrett

Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”) is to play assassinated President James A. Garfield with Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”) as his killer Charles Guiteau in a new series, “Death by Lightning” for Netflix, Deadline was first to report. Based on historian Candice Millard’s book, “Destiny of The Republic,” the series is set to follow Guiteau, a failed evangelist, insurance salesman, attorney, and one-time admirer of President Garfield whose obsession turned deadly.