1. The first German serviceman killed in World War II was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937), the first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940), the highest-ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the U.S. Army Air Corps - so much for allies. If you include Pearl Harbor, Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd was the highest ranking American killed. He was killed on board the U.S.S. Arizona when the Japanese launched their surprise attack on December 7, 1941.

2. The youngest U.S. serviceman was 12-year-old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).

3. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top U.S. Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced "sink us"), the shoulder patch of the U.S. Army's 45th Infantry Division was the Swastika, and Hitler's private train was named "Amerika." All three names were soon changed for PR purposes.

4. More U.S. servicemen died in the U.S. Army Air Corps than in the Marine Corps. While completing the required 25 missions your chance of being killed was 71 percent.

5. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance, Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.

6. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round with a tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a mistake. Tracers had different ballistics so at long range if your tracers were hitting the target 80 percent of your rounds were missing. Worse yet, tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. This was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.

7. When the allied armies reached the Rhine River in Germany, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal, from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. George Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).

8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but it wasn't worth the effort (?).

9. The German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

10. Among the first "Germans" captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and then forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and further forced to fight for the German Army until they were captured by the U.S. Army.

11. Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 U.S. and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. Twenty-one troops were killed in the firefight. It would have been worse if there had been any Japanese soldiers on the island.

CARLISLE, Pa. - A Pennsylvania soldier died in her husband's arms in Iraq hours after an improvised explosive device she was trying to defuse went off, relatives said Monday.

Staff Sgt. Kimberly A. Voelz, 27, of Carlisle, was killed Sunday in Iskandariyah, Iraq, as her unit was responding to a call to dispose of explosives, the Defense Department said.

As Sgt. Voelz was being taken to the hospital, her husband, Staff Sgt. Max Voelz, who was stationed nearby, received word of her injury and rushed to her side at the military hospital at the Baghdad airport, her family said. She died a few hours later.

"He was there to hold her when she died. God wanted that," said Floyd Fahnestock, her father, of Monroe Township.  Sgt. Voelz, a 1994 graduate of Trinity High School in Lower Allen Township, and her husband were assigned to the 703d Explosive Ordnance Detachment from Fort Knox, Ky. They met during bomb disposal training and married four years ago.

The two were members of separate teams, he at the unit's main base and she at a satellite base nearby. She went on five to seven missions a day, her father said.  "She believed in what she was doing over there to help the Iraqi people," said Carol Fahnestock, her mother. "She died for America."

The Bronze Star and Purple Heart, awarded posthumously, will be pinned to her uniform when she is buried, her parents said.  Relatives said they were not surprised that she had chosen such a dangerous specialty after enlisting in the Army eight years ago.

"My sister has been a daredevil all her life," said her younger brother, Chad. "She liked the adventure."

Funeral arrangements were incomplete, but Sgt. Voelz will be buried in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery with full military honors.

BM 1947-48     Auwen, Bryan L.        Coeur D'Alene
BM 1948-49     Covey, Gene F.        Osburn
CW  1965-66     Floweree, Robert D.   Hagermann
EM2       1967-69     Frans, Jack        Meridian
FN 1950-52     Ingraham, Floyd        Boise
SN 1959-60     Kettwig, Terry        Lewiston
EM 1962-65     Kuchynka, Edward     Weippe
SN 1952-55     Larsen, Don        Idaho Falls
SM3 1958-60     Smith, Burl        Kuna
                         Smith, Clinton R..      Deary