Ghosts of the Battlefield

Ghosts of the Battlefield We are a small, privately owned museum in Virginia Beach, VA. Our mission is to preserve and present the history and heritage of the United States Military.

Ghosts of the Battlefield is charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

There was a time when my father and I had almost nothing to talk about.Then we found a Jeep.What started with a battered...
08/27/2026

There was a time when my father and I had almost nothing to talk about.

Then we found a Jeep.

What started with a battered World War II Willys MB cobbled together from the remains of several dead Jeeps became something neither of us could have predicted. We named her Frankenstein, and twenty years later she is still with us. Along the way came Patchwork, our 1952 M38A1, our 1966 Ford MUTT, many other Jeeps that passed through our hands, and eventually Ghosts of the Battlefield itself.

Our new story is not another recycled history of Bantam, Willys and Ford. It is the story of three generations of American military Jeeps, from World War II through Korea and Vietnam, told through the machines we actually own and the father-and-son relationship they helped build.

We thought we were restoring an old Jeep.

Looking back, the Jeep was building something too.

Full story link in the comments.

Remembering Cpl Charles Alvin CrumpCharles Alvin Crump of Greenville, Texas, was a machine gunner with Mike Company, 3rd...
08/26/2026

Remembering Cpl Charles Alvin Crump

Charles Alvin Crump of Greenville, Texas, was a machine gunner with Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

On May 26, 1967, his battalion was fighting in Operation Union II near the Que Son Valley when Mike Company encountered enemy forces near Binh Son. During the firefight, Charles was struck in the head by hostile rifle fire and killed.

He was just 20 years old.

There is one detail that makes his story hit especially hard today.

Charles was born on August 26, 1946.

Today would have been his birthday.

So today, more than half a century after that firefight in Vietnam, we remember the young Marine from Texas who never got the chance to grow old.

**Cpl Charles Alvin Crump**
Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines
1st Marine Division
August 26, 1946 – May 26, 1967

Say his name to remember him. Charles Alvin Crump.

He Ran Toward His Friend: Remembering PFC Frankie StanleyOn August 26, 1969, PFC Frankie Stanley was serving with A Comp...
08/26/2026

He Ran Toward His Friend: Remembering PFC Frankie Stanley

On August 26, 1969, PFC Frankie Stanley was serving with A Company, 19th Engineer Battalion in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam.

Then a friend was hit. Frankie ran out to try to save him. He never made it back.

A draftee from Sheridan, Illinois, Frankie had arrived in Vietnam in December 1968 and was serving as a pioneer with the 18th Engineer Brigade. He was only 20 years old when multiple fragmentation wounds took his life.

That is what I want remembered about Frankie Stanley.

When another man was down, his first instinct was not to get farther away.

It was to go toward him.

PFC Frankie Stanley
December 3, 1948 – August 26, 1969
Sheridan, Illinois
United States Army

This photograph of Frankie was shared by Ron Limes, helping put a face to the young man behind the name.

Say his name to remember him. Frankie Stanley.

The Misty FACs flew where slow forward air controllers often could not survive.Beginning in 1967, these volunteer pilots...
08/26/2026

The Misty FACs flew where slow forward air controllers often could not survive.

Beginning in 1967, these volunteer pilots took two-seat F-100F Super Sabres low over some of the most heavily defended areas of North Vietnam and Laos. Their job was to find enemy movement, identify targets, mark them with smoke rockets, and guide strike aircraft onto them.

To do that, they had to get close enough to see what was happening on the ground.

That also meant getting close enough to be shot at.

The missions were so dangerous that roughly one-quarter of the Misty pilots were eventually shot down.

Their first commander was Major George “Bud” Day, call sign Misty 01. On August 26, 1967, his F-100 was hit by enemy fire, beginning one of the most extraordinary survival and POW stories of the Vietnam War.

The full story of Bud Day and the men who flew Misty is in the comments.

On August 26, 1967, Major George “Bud” Day was shot down over North Vietnam.His right arm was broken in three places. Hi...
08/26/2026

On August 26, 1967, Major George “Bud” Day was shot down over North Vietnam.

His right arm was broken in three places. His knee was badly injured. He was captured, tortured, and then somehow escaped into the jungle.

For nearly two weeks, Day moved south through enemy territory on a shattered body, surviving on whatever he could find. He eventually reached the Ben Hai River and built a crude flotation device to cross it. On the far side, he was tantalizingly close to friendly forces.

Then American artillery began falling around him.

Day had escaped the enemy only to find himself trying to survive fire from his own side while still evading patrols.

He would later be recaptured, endure more than five years as a prisoner of war, and receive the Medal of Honor.

This is the story of Bud Day, Misty 01.

Full story in comments.

Remembering WO William H. LaurenceOn August 26, Warrant Officer William H. Laurence was killed in action while serving a...
08/26/2026

Remembering WO William H. Laurence

On August 26, Warrant Officer William H. Laurence was killed in action while serving as a helicopter pilot with the 162nd Assault Helicopter Company in Vietnam.

Laurence had already distinguished himself in the air, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and extraordinary achievement during aerial flight.

That decoration tells you something about the kind of pilot he was. Vietnam helicopter crews routinely flew into places sane people were trying desperately to leave, often at treetop height and under fire.

Today, we remember one of those pilots.

WO William H. Laurence
162nd Assault Helicopter Company
13th Aviation Battalion
1st Aviation Brigade

Killed in action, August 26.

Say his name to remember him. William H. Laurence.

If you know, you know. Photo John Olson Stars and Stripes.
08/26/2026

If you know, you know.

Photo John Olson Stars and Stripes.

Brothers. There is no other word.This restored image of Robert Dorshak standing with the men he served beside says more ...
08/26/2026

Brothers. There is no other word.

This restored image of Robert Dorshak standing with the men he served beside says more than any caption ever could. Different backgrounds, different skin colors, different hometowns, but in Vietnam those differences mattered far less than the bond forged by service, danger and trust.

Old photographs often reach us faded, damaged and robbed of the detail they once held. With careful restoration, powerful tools can bring those moments back to life, not by changing the history, but by helping us see it again.

Faces become clearer. Expressions return. Details emerge that have been hidden for decades.

And suddenly these are not distant figures in an old photograph. They are young men standing together, shoulder to shoulder.

Robert Dorshak would later be killed on August 25, 1968, while fighting to reach the truckers trapped in the ambush at Ap Nhi. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.

This image gives us something the casualty reports cannot.

It gives us Robert with his brothers.

Brothers. There is no other word.

He Was 19 Years Old: Remembering Charles Randell CornettOn August 25, 1968, PFC Charles Randell Cornett was serving with...
08/25/2026

He Was 19 Years Old: Remembering Charles Randell Cornett

On August 25, 1968, PFC Charles Randell Cornett was serving with C Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.

An explosive device wounded him. Charles did not survive.

He had turned 19 years old just one month earlier.

Charles was from Stroud, Oklahoma. He had arrived in Vietnam on February 16, 1968, serving as a rifleman with the 1st Marine Division. Six months later, his family received the news every family feared.

Today marks the anniversary of his death.

So among the thousands of names and thousands of stories from Vietnam, we stop for this one.

PFC Charles Randell Cornett
July 24, 1949 – August 25, 1968
Stroud, Oklahoma
United States Marine Corps

He was 19.

Say his name to remember him. Charles Randell Cornett.

Staff Sergeant Byron Joseph Mitchell was one of the Army truckers caught in the ambush at Ap Nhi on August 25, 1968.Mitc...
08/25/2026

Staff Sergeant Byron Joseph Mitchell was one of the Army truckers caught in the ambush at Ap Nhi on August 25, 1968.

Mitchell, from New Paris, Pennsylvania, served with the 556th Transportation Company. When enemy troops opened fire from the rubber plantation along Route 22, his convoy was trapped among burning fuel and ammunition trucks. Mitchell and the other transportation soldiers dismounted and fought from the roadside as the battle continued for nearly nine hours.

Byron Mitchell was killed during the fighting and was posthumously promoted to Staff Sergeant. He was 24 years old.

He was one of the men whose job was to keep the Army moving. At Ap Nhi, that job suddenly required him to fight for his life.

Today we remember Staff Sergeant Byron Joseph Mitchell and the truckers who fought along Route 22.

Full story in comments.

Address

1329 Harpers Road Suite 103
Virginia Beach, VA
23454

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 5pm
Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+17573018718

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Ghosts of the Battlefield posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Ghosts of the Battlefield:

Shortcuts

Share

Category