r/ww2

The “Díky, Ameriko!” (Thank you, America) monument commemorates the liberation of Pilsen, Czechia (then Czechoslovakia) by soldiers of the US 3rd Army on May 6th, 1945. It features two pillars with inscriptions in English and Czech, and the seals of the US and Czechia. A round plaque on the ground features a map depicting American forces’ advance across Western Europe and lists divisions of the 3rd Army.

There are other commemorations of WW2 in Prague and the US liberation of the city, most notably a General Patton museum.

I have a huge box of these and I wanted to share them with you all

Born in Atlanta, Georgia to Clyde Sr & Sarah Thomason on May 23, 1914, Clyde Aristide Thomason Jr had at least one sister.
Their mother Sarah passed away in 1917, their father remarried in 1920 and then passed away in 1939.

Clyde originally enlisted in the Marine Corps in December 1934 and was honorably discharged in 1939.
In January 1942 he re-enlisted after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and volunteered for the Marine Raiders, subsequently assigned to the 2nd Marine Battalion.

On August 17, 1942, Clyde was selected to lead the advance element against the Japanese garrison during the Makin Island Raid where he was Killed in Action and later listed as Missing.
He was posthumously awarded the Medal Of Honor, the citation tells the story of his loss;

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while a member of the Second Marine Raider Battalion in action against the Japanese-held island of Makin on August 17–18, 1942. Landing the advance element of the assault echelon, Sergeant Thomason disposed his men with keen judgment and discrimination and by his exemplary leadership and great personal valor, exhorted them to like fearless efforts. On one occasion, he dauntlessly walked up to a house which concealed an enemy Japanese sniper, forced in the door and shot the man before he could resist. Later in the action, while leading an assault on enemy position, he gallantly gave up his life in the service of his country. His courage and loyal devotion to duty in the face of grave peril were in keeping with the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

Postwar their remains were not recovered and SGT Clyde Thomason Jr was Memorialized with the other Missing Marines from the Makin Island Raid at the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 1999 a search was launched and the remains of 19 Marines who had been buried by locals after the raid were recovered from Makin Island, SGT Clyde Thomason Jr was subsequently identified through DNA.

On August 17, 2001, his remains were interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery - Section 60 Site 8037.

Hello my Great Grandfather served in ww2 in the army. I don't know much about what he did in combat all i know was that he was in Co L 304th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division. I have pictures of him in 1940-1944 but never knew what he did. His name is Andrew Kozak. A Staff Sergeant by the end of the war. (No middle name)

Inv. No. 6138

German artillery in flames, 15. X 1944. in the King Aleksandar Street - today the Revolution Boulevard \[now King Aleksandar Boulevard\].

Photo gifted by Vojin Đorđević, journalist, Draže Pavlovića 3.

Courtesy of Museum of Yugoslavia.

The plaque was put up on 24.06.2026. at Slana cove to commemorate the victims of extermination camps on Pag island which existed in 1941.

This is the 4th plaque, with previous ones destroyed in 1991, 2010 and 2013.

Photo by Jernej Božič.

I sell vintage and antique photos/post cards/ephemera on eBay. Usually I go to estate sales or antique malls for my inventory but occasionally I'll buy photo lots on eBay and pull out the ones I think are good enough to sell on their own.

As I was flipping through family photos, portraits, vacation pics, etcetera, I came across this group.

They're all roughly the same size and age, with deckle edging.

Most of them are group photos of soldiers with writing on the back.

* Regensburg Germany, Dec 8, 1945

* Epitabat, France (no date, and Google says this isn't a real place)

* Lohn?, Germany

Then there is the last picture of emaciated corpses stacked four or five high against a building. There is no writing in the back of the photo with corpses, so I don't know when it might have been taken, or where.

The deckled edging makes me believe these are original pictures from a soldier's private collection. Is that likely? or is this a reprint of a known photograph?

Just looking for more information about it, and whether or not I have something of significance here. I obviously will NOT be selling it on ebay, but throwing it away also seems like a poor choice, especially if it's a historically important photo.

I took these pictures in correlation to some screenshots from the movie (swipe right for more)

Also, during the last night of our stay there was a local, Istrian festival where a live band played music featured in the movie, like “John Brown’s Body” - it was an amazing experience, I’ll try to post a video in the comments.

10/10, would recommend visiting this little Istrian village if anyone’s travelling across Croatia :)

i believe this young man is in the luftwaffe? you looks quite young! i hope he survived the next 3 years…
thank u :)

Born in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania to Alfred & Isabella Johnson on September 26, 1923, George Alfred Johnson was the oldest of seven children.
He was a senior attending Scott High School in Coatsville, Pennsylvania when he quit school to enlist in the Marine Corps on January 28, 1942.

George attended basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and then advanced infantry training at Quantico, Virginia.
He was assigned to Company B, 1st Marine Raider Battalion, which sailed for the Pacific in April 1942.

On August 7, 1942, Company B of the 1st Marine Raiders landed on Tulagi, as part of the Guadalcanal landings.
After two days of fighting the entrenched Japanese on the island, the Marines on Tulagi entered a "mop-up" phase clearing out Japanese hold-outs.

On August 10, 1942, George's squad came under Japanese fire from nearby cave, rushing to the mouth of the cave, he threw in grenades until he was killed, allowing his fellow Marines to advance.
Posthumously awarded the the Silver Star, George’s citation reads:

"The President of takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Private George A Johnson, USMC, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion during the seizure of Tulagi, Solomon Islands, from enemy Japanese forces, on 9 August 1942.
When his squad came under heavy fire from a Japanese sniper's nest in a nearby cave, Private Johnson, with utter disregard for his own personal safety, rushed to the mouth of the cave and continued to throw in hand grenades until he was killed by the enemy. By his indomitable fighting spirit and outstanding bravery, he enabled his squad to advance and successfully carry out its assigned mission. His great personal valor was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country."

Temporarily buried in a cemetery on Tulagi, when the Marine remains there were exhumed in 1944, the remains of PVT George Johnson were not identified and he was eventually declared as Missing.
He is Memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.

The Rudderow-class Destroyer Escort USS George A. Johnson DE-583 was named after PVT George Johnson and served from 1944 to 1957, scrapped in 1966.