WWII

WWII

VP-16 and Operation Forager

By Bruce Petty

A great deal has been written about the Battle for Saipan, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea, remembered today as having included “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” Read more

WWII

A Submariner’s Letter From World War II

By Robert Schultz with James Shell

By Christmas 1941, Robert Hunt, torpedoman on the submarine USS Tambor, had witnessed the Japanese bombing of Wake Island, had slept in the Tambor’s forward torpedo room on the way back to Pearl with a bomb-induced leak bubbling in the corner, and had stood on his sub’s bow and seen the devastation of Battleship Row as debris in the oil-slicked harbor bumped against the hull. Read more

WWII

Max Schmeling: Sports Icon… Nazi Puppet?

by Michael Haskew

When athletes become pawns of politicians, their skills being touted as proof of their country’s ideological superiority over others, seldom are events played out as the demagogues would have scripted. Read more

Crowding the beach at Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, troops of the 4th Marine Division hug the island’s black volcanic sand. Moments after this photo was taken, Japanese artillery and machine-gun fire erupted from hidden positions across the island.

WWII

Fighting Coast Guard at Iwo Jima

By Rod Carlson

Standing on an ugly carbuncle of volcanic rock 500 feet above the Pacific Ocean, the Associated Press photographer swung a cumbersome news camera toward six men holding a pipe with a flag tied to it and pressed the shutter release. Read more

Major Richard Bong was America’s Ace of Aces.

WWII

Richard Bong (1920-1945)

By Sam McGowan

Without dispute, the P-38 was the airplane of the aces. While other fighter types had their share of aces, the P-38 was flown by most of the top scorers, of whom Major Richard Ira Bong was at the top of the heap. Read more

WWII

The M2 4.2-Inch Chemical Mortar

By Christopher Miskimon

In the last days of March 1945, a soldier named Carl Getzel sat on a hill outside the city of Aschaffenburg and watched as it was slowly destroyed. Read more

WWII

New Year’s Day Defense in Alsace

By Allyn Vannoy

Like something out of a dream, a soldier walked into the command post. He unspooled a line of wire, hooked a field phone to it, checked the line, and handed the receiver to the officer in charge, Captain Howard Trammell, saying, “Someone wants to talk to you.” Read more

From Around the Network

  • Brigadier General Ted Roosevelt reads mail while serving in Italy in January 1944. The son of President Theodore Roosevelt, he named his Jeep “Rough Rider” in honor of his late father and his exploits during the Spanish-American War.

    European Theater

    Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. Led At Utah Beach
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  • WWII

    War Came Home to the Streets of Arnhem
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  • To the Attack by U.S. Coast Guard Chief Boatswain's Mate and combat artist Tore Asplund depicts American soldiers hitting the beach as part of Operation Dragoon in southern France on August 15, 1944. Asplund also painted images of the D-Day invasion at Normandy.

    European Theater

    The Assault on Pillbox Hill
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  • Matthew Brady’s photograph of Broadway Landing was taken at the time of the Battle of the Crater. Cobb’s Hill Signal Tower and the pontoon bridge are clearly visible on the left.

    Civil War

    Petersburg’s Broadway Landing: Union Supply Depot
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