The most impressive demonstration was the F-22. It was amazing to see the things that aircraft can do. The F-22 show concluded with a tribute to veterans in a fly-by with a P-51 Mustang, the WWII fighter plane. It was a very emotional moment.

49th Star: Alaska Statehood, New Flag Official 5th January 1959

June 30th marks the date the Senate voted to admit Alaska into statehood 50 years ago. The celebration begins tonight with activities downtown and ALASKA’S OPERATION GRATITUDE, a tribute to Alaska’s military personnel. Wynonna Judd will perform at Elmendorf Air Force Base  in a concert that will be webcast worldwide by AT&T and locally on KTUU. Following the concert will be a bonfire on the flightline to commemorate the bonfire of 50 years ago.

Alaska officially became the 49th state on January 1, 1959. What’s cool is is so many of those who were there are still around. Folks who were part of territorial government, part of the constitutional convention, who had flags with 48 stars and pinned on a 49th.

Festivities continue tomorrow. We’ll be heading to Arctic Thunder at Elmendorf tomorrow to see the Thunderbirds.

Incredible numbers of cataloged art and historical objects are still missing, 60,000 from Poland alone and likely millions of objects from all of Europe. Yet, after all these years, hopes are very high that recovery will increase as the Soviet bloc nations and Russia itself open their archives and as the internet makes data sharing instantaneous. The Monuments Men Foundation continues the recovery and cataloging efforts.

The Monuments Men are a group of around 345 men and women, members of the Allied forces’ Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section, whose assignment it was during and after WWII to catalog and find the treasures plundered by Hitler’s Third Reich. In civilian life, many members were museum administrators and university faculty. Much of this effort was top secret and overseen by the OSS (now the CIA). Only 100 or so are still alive and Mr. Edsel is traveling the world to record their stories. He has even joined in the hunt himself by negotiating the recovery of two volumes of Hitler’s catalog of looted art.

For more on the Monuments Men check out Robet Edsel’s photographic history, Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe’s Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It and Lynn H. Nicholas’ The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War, the book that inspired Mr. Edsel. These will be on our reading list as part of making history fun and interesting.

UPDATE: National Geographic video of man who escaped Nazi Germany as a boy suing a museum to recover a painting taken from his family.

UPDATE: Nazi plunder found in Germany.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as leader of a section of 6 fighter planes in Marine Fighting Squadron 112, during aerial operations against enemy Japanese forces off Kolombangara Island in the Solomons group, 31 January 1943.

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Izzit.org provides current event articles along with discussion questions. Yesterday and today’s topic is “How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims.” I can highly recommend this resource for teaching free-market economics. The current article is adapted from The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages by Tom Bethell. I admit I didn’t hear this part of the story as a kid in school; I wish I had. I think it would have given American kids a more educated perspective on communism and the Soviet way of life. Today, this old story should inform us on China and Cuba.

So, as we go into this great holiday with family, friends and feasting my gratitude is again increased for God’s gracious provision and for our heritage of liberty.

BBC has posted an interview of Bill Lamin and some comments.

HT: Thinking 2.0

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