To the President of the Rev. Govt., Malolos, from the Director of Public Works, Pineda, Sept. 21, 1898, 10.10 a.m.: Most urgent. Having thoroughly inspected the trenches in this zone, the first, I agree with General Ricarte that we should not construct works near American positions without placing them well back; we should destroy the trenches which are in sight of the Americans, so that they can not occupy them in case of conflict, and at the same time it will remove their suspicions. I await orders….

“The American army seems to me as fine a collection of individual physical specimens as I have ever seen…But from the standpoint of military discipline it is a mob, pure and simple….”

I have been asked many times to describe the sensations one gets when jumping. The first one was a real thrill, but the confidence aroused by the perfect functioning of the chute made any future thrill hard to raise, as one has nothing but anticipation of a pleasant glide to earth…

This trivia question is tailor-made for W. Not because his gray hair says he could have been there but because he reads military history at lunch…

…M/Sgt. Bertoldo withstood the attack of vastly superior forces for more than 48 hours without rest or relief, time after time escaping death only by the slightest margin while killing at least 40 hostile soldiers and wounding many more during his grim battle against the enemy hordes.

DEAR HUSBAND: I seat myself to drop you a few lines to let you know that me and Sally is well as common…

The young eagles of the KAMIKAZE Special Attack force who dare to dash headlong and happily to the destruction of the enemy are waiting anxiously for that plane to fly to the front lines, saying to themselves, I too shall go.

By looking at the American army, one will come to the conclusion that, in point of discipline and skill in the art of war, the Americans are the worst of all nationalities.

Prior to entering buildings or rooms of buildings, which are believed to contain enemy, a grenade is thrown in a window or door or some other opening in the building.

Will the great body of intelligent, gallant and honorable men who compose this army, tolerate the few miscreants who perpetrate such crimes? Again, the General-in-Chief confidently hopes not. Let then the guilty be promptly seized and brought to condign punishment…

To counter the communist insurgency, President Diem created the Ranger Forces whose concept took after the French Commandos of the 1949-54 war. His plans initially met with opposition from MAAG [U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group-Vietnam], which not only suspected a political motive, but objected to the transferring of the most experienced officers and men from established units to the Rangers.