On a brisk Sunday afternoon, April 20, 1941, the roar of 75,000 voices filled Chicago’s Soldier Field- not for a game, but a wartime rally. […]
Target Des Plaines: Local Police Hunt Down Wartime “Saboteurs,” 1943
On the dark and stormy night of August 2, 1943, the Des Plaines police department prowled the city’s dimly lit streets. Their mission: stop three […]
Hidden in plain sight: German prisoners buried at Fort Sheridan
Buried at Fort Sheridan National Cemetery, in Lake Forest, Illinois, are over 2,300 veterans. Their presence represents more than 150 years of American military history, […]
Archaeologists uncover relics from Camp Pine, a WWII prisoner of war camp near Des Plaines
In May 2019, a team of archaeologists and volunteers met in Camp Pine Woods, near the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines. Their mission: survey a […]
The time an airplane nose stuck out from a Downtown Chicago skyscraper
In July 1944, a curious sight greeted pedestrians at the corner of State and Madison streets in Downtown Chicago. Sticking out from the Mandel Brothers […]
Jewish boys and German PoWs: the curious history of a WWII farm labor camp near Des Plaines
Camp Pine Woods is a part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC), located north of Des Plaines. The entrance is on Lake […]
Adam Wolanin: Chicago’s Polish immigrant at the 1950 FIFA World Cup
At the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the United States national team carried out one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history- defeating […]
Celebrating Polish Armed Forces Day 2022 in Niles
On 14 August 2022, in celebration of Poland’s Armed Forces Day, the Polish Consulate General in Chicago headed a series of ceremonies all across the […]
Soldiers learn important lesson in backpacking at Harms Woods
Once the soldiers from Camp Skokie Valley arrived at Harms Woods in Glenview, they quickly set to task pitching up tents and preparing for a […]
A good boy that served: Pal, the Jefferson Park war dog who returned home
All his family knew was that he spent thirty-one months overseas. When he returned to his Jefferson Park home in early 1946, the army veteran […]