John R Bruning

Writer of military affairs, history, counter-terrorism, espionage and fluffy cat stories.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

T-33s....makes every Thursday better....

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

Writing House to House with David changed my life completely. And gave me a life long friend who has always set the standard for loyalty.

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

Urban warfare is violent, brutal, uncertain, complex, warfare...i.e. a special level of hell.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@MAXIMUM_ODEN I attended an event at Camp Withycombe, Oregon about ten years ago and saw this Type 95 out front of the main building. My jaw dropped. I had no idea we had any Japanese armor in Oregon. The museum on post also has the 20mm cannon from an early A6M2 Zero.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@VoicesofWW2 I was very lucky to have met and interviewed a 323 veteran of the Okinawa campaign before he passed in the early 00's. He was a very successful local business owner, great guy. He is missed.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@TboneWargames I had no idea there's even still a way to play Steel Panthers. I've kept an ancient laptop I purchased in 1998 to be able to play it! Is it on Steam?

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

Last weekend, my family's photos arrived at my house. They go back to the 1880s at least, some of them. In the early 70s, my dad traveled to Japan with my Uncle Dean, who was a Pan Am 747 pilot. In a separate box, I came across somewhere north of 40 photos of Japanese WWII aircraft. I have no idea how he acquired these, but they were stored with a photo of my Uncle Dean's 747.

I'll start scanning these things properly in a few weeks. For now, here's a 244th Sentai Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien. My dad built a Revell 1/32nd scale Hien in these markings and won several IPMS awards with it over the years.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@tutitoabura Those are 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s. Italy based.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@Rich1128 @learning_yohei Crazy story. Two guys in a floatplane launched from a submarine against all the US West Coast defenses, that spent 1942 at such high alert blackout alerts were common. Incredible op + post war story is redemptive for both nations.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@learning_yohei Oregon was home to Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka, who graduated from the University of Oregon in 1900. He grew up in Portland.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@mercoglianos Mine's on en route! Jon's an incredible historian!

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@6zzOp https://t.co/y3TqMnIf6Z

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

Major Joe Clevenger, surgeon, crossed the sacred sands of Omaha Beach on D+4. My grandfather served briefly with him stateside before being transferred to the 34th Evac Hospital and going ashore on Utah Beach.

Thirty years after they served together, their grandkids became neighbors and lifelong friends.

Major C's locker box arrived here at my home yesterday, June 6, 2026, given to me by his granddaughter, who has been among my closest friends since 1971.

Best. D-Day. Anniversary. Ever.

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

Private Carlton Barrett was possibly the smallest man in his regiment.

5 feet 4 inches tall. 125 pounds.

On the morning of June 6, 1944, he landed at Omaha Beach in neck-deep water, machine gun fire cutting the surface all around him. He made it to shore.

Then he turned around and went back in.

A soldier was drowning. Barrett pulled him out. Then another. Then another. For hours, under constant fire, this 125-pound man waded back into the surf again and again, pulling drowning men to safety and physically carrying the wounded to evacuation boats offshore.

But he didn't stop there.

He ran dispatches the full length of the fire-swept beach. He found soldiers paralyzed by shock and calmed them back into action. He appeared wherever the crisis was worst, doing whatever needed doing, treating rank and personal safety as irrelevant details.

He did this for hours without stopping.

His Medal of Honor citation says his courage had "an inestimable effect on his comrades." That is military understatement for: this small, anonymous man held that section of beach together through sheer force of will.

He survived the war.

His comrades later said his life darkened after he came home. He lived quietly and died in 1986 in California, largely unknown outside of military history circles.

5 feet 4 inches. 125 pounds. He went back in.

Remember him.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@mercoglianos @USNavy On June 6th 2026, this locker box reached my house. Maj. Clevenger came ashore D-Day +4. Maj. C. served with my grandfather. And Maj. C's granddaughter has been one of my closest friends since we were 3 and lived next door to each other. Happy D-Day Anniversary to you, Sal!

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@BravoTwoKilo @SS_Strength_CO @infantrydort @SeanParnellASW RC East.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

@Takanoisoroku_t I have a photo of this A6M that a member of the 3rd Attack Group took. It was in his photo album, but when he saw it, both wings had been removed.

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

Silly me, I was about to buy a kayak. Now I am questioning all my life choices....

[MERICA MEMED @Mericamemed]

I think I just found a new hobby

[John R Bruning @JohnRBruning]

Well, hello!

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

This is Ami Inamura. She’s is a Japanese sportscaster, television personality, and model. She threw the most beautiful ceremonial first pitch I’ve ever seen and it even clocked at 64 MPH. Completely fool the batter.

Legit serious when I say this will be the best thing you’ll see today.