WWII Plane Found Under Beach

(NEWSER) - With Memorial Day and the 65th anniversary of Normandy coming up, it's time for a World War II history review. The Chicago Tribune has dug up ten strange facts:

• Elsie Mitchell and five children died in Gearhart Mountain, Ore., in May 1945, by touching a Japanese "balloon bomb" that had drifted into America. They are the only US mainland war deaths on record.

Proposed UK curriculum focuses on learning skills, flexibility

(NEWSER) - Why learn about World War II or Queen Victoria in elementary school when you can always look them up on Wikipedia? That seems to be the rationale behind a new proposed overhaul of the British school system. Because secondary schools teach plenty of history, the reasoning goes, early schooling should focus on the basics, including typing and Twitter, reports the Guardian. More»

He recalls old battles with pride

(NEWSER) - It’s not the horrors of Normandy that haunt Clifton Raynor these days; it’s the horrors of growing old. “Every day is a trying day for me,” the 86-year-old says. Raynor is part of a dying breed who saw D-Day firsthand, and today, on the 64th anniversary of that fateful battle, Newsday sat down to talk with him about it. More»

Legendary HMAS Sydney sank in battle with German raider

(NEWSER) - A legendary Australian war ship sunk in the Indian Ocean by a German raider during World War II has been found nearly intact after 66 years, the Australian PM confirmed today. The HMAS Sydney sank after a 30-minute battle with the Kormoran in Australia's greatest tragedy at sea. The wreckage won't be disturbed, out of respect for the 645 Australian sailors who went down with the ship. More»

Gold pinpointed in cavern, stolen chamber of the czars could be nearby

(NEWSER) - Treasure hunters in Germany have announced they've found a secret stash of Nazi gold in an underground cavern and they believe it could be from the looted Amber Room of the Russian czars, Der Speigel reports. Instruments have detected what could be 2 tons of gold in the cavern near a town on the Czech border. The site was pinpointed using coordinates found among the belongings of a former Luftwaffe staffer who died recently. More»