Did You Know? SURPRISING AND LESSER KNOWN FACTS OF MILITARY HISTORY

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was the oldest U.S. serviceman to make the D-Day landing in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944

Brigadier General Roosevelt was 56 years old when he went in on the first wave of the Allied invasion on Utah Beach. Roosevelt was not only the oldest soldier to make the D-Day landing at 56 years old, but was also the only U.S. General to do so. If that wasn’t enough, Roosevelt’s son Quentin also landed with the first wave on Omaha Beach, making them the only father-son duo to make the first wave of the Normandy Invasion.

The Dutch freighter SS Abosso was transformed into a floating island to evade Japanese aircraft

In 1942, after being spotted in the Java Sea, the crew of the SS camouflaged the ship to resemble a small tropical island by painting its decks green, rigging foliage over the superstructure, and even disguising the smokestack as a rock formation.

Japanese pilots flew overhead without realizing it was a ship, allowing the vessel to slip away and survive the war.

The youngest U.S. servicemen of World War II was just 12 years old

Calvin Graham, a 7th grader from Crockett, Texas, lied about his age to join the U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

For his actions during the Battle of Guadalcanal, Graham was awarded the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. However, when his mother revealed his age, he was dishonorably discharged, and his awards were revoked.

The M4A1 was both the first, and last Sherman to ever be produced

The first Sherman tank produced in February of 1942 was the M4A1. The M4A1 was also the last Sherman tank produced for WW2, in July of 1945.

In total, over 9,500 M4A1 Shermans (and their variants) would be produced, accounting for roughly 1/5 of all Shermans ever made.

U.S. Army paratrooper Joe Beyrle is the only known American soldier to serve in combat with both the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II

After being captured by the Germans following D-Day, Joe Beyrle escaped a POW camp and joined a Soviet tank battalion, continuing the fight against Nazi Germany.

On the 50th anniversary of D-Day, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin honored Beyrle in a joint ceremony in Washington, D.C., where he was awarded medals from both countries, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

An M36 "Jackson" took the longest tank destroyer kill of World War II, at 4,600 yards

On December 1st, 1944, while “experimenting” with the controls of an M36 "Jackson", Lt. Alfred Francis Rose achieved the longest tank destroyer kill of World War II, and one of the longest direct fire tank kills of all time, at 4,600 yards, roughly 2.6 miles.