Japan
The Children of WWII: Remembering the Conflict That Stole Their Childhoods
By Susan ZimmermanWorld War II affected nearly every area of the world. It was the deadliest conflict in all of human history. Read more
Japan
Final Battle for Burma, 1945
By William StroockBy the beginning of February 1945, the British 14th Army was on the banks of the Irrawaddy River and poised to strike into central Burma. Read more
Japan
Naval Assault On Munda
By John J. DomagalskiThe first days of January 1943 found American forces winning the prolonged struggle for control of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. Read more
Japan
From Paratrooper to POW: Bob Nobles of the 82nd Airborne
By Kevin M. Hymel“The lieutenant said for everyone to lay your arms down,” a fellow paratrooper told Pfc. Bob Nobles, who had been fighting for six grueling days in the hedgerows following his unit’s jump into Normandy. Read more
Japan
Leonard J. Thom: JFK’s XO on PT-109
By Michael J. BellThe name Leonard Jay Thom may not mean anything to a great many people today, and that is unfortunate. Read more
Japan
Japanese Attack on the Philippines: The “Other” Pearl Harbor
By Sam McGowanWhile the surprise Japanese attacks against U.S. military bases in the Hawaiian Islands on December 7, 1941, are certainly the best-known aspect of the opening of hostilities between the two aLess well known today were the Japanese attacks on Clark Field and Iba Field on the opening day of hostilities in the Philippines. Read more
Japan
A Navy Chaplain on Iwo Jima: Doing God’s Work in Hell
By Reverend E. Gage HotalingBACKSTORY: The Reverend E. Gage Hotaling, the son of a Baptist minister, was born in Wellsville, New York, on January 21, 1916. Read more
Japan
Helldiver Lieutenant Klenk
By Robert F. DorrLieutenant William A. “Bill” Klenk, piloting a Curtiss SB2C-3 Helldiver, bristled at the “clawing, miserable weather,” with inverted pyramids of cloud hanging from a low ceiling and gray murk everywhere. Read more
Japan
Oahu’s Museums and Memorials
By Flint WhitlockThere are few places on earth that have as many World War II museums, memorials, and monuments located in such a small area as the island of Oahu. Read more
Japan
4 Unsolved Mysteries of the Jimmy Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
By Susan ZimmermanApril 18, 1942, will forever live in American military glory as the date of the Jimmy Doolittle Raid on Tokyo––a gutsy, never-before-attempted combat mission to fly North American B-25 Mitchell bombers off the deck of an aircraft carrier and attack an enemy capital. Read more
Japan
Flying With the Fifteenth Air Force
By Tom Row with James BilderOvershadowed by the Mighty Eighth in England, the Fifteenth Air Force flew out of Italy and played no less important—and every bit as dangerous—a role in bombing targets in Nazi Germany and elsewhere. Read more
Japan
The Yorktown Diary of Ed Reynolds
By Pat ReynoldsSuppose you found a magic door that opened onto some of the most crucial battles fought in the Pacific during World War II? Read more
Japan
From the Philippines to Borneo: A PT Boat Skipper’s Life
By John NieselWhen the four members of the Japanese surrender delegation climbed aboard the deck of PT-375 on September 8, 1945, the boat’s skipper, Lieutenant Henry “Hank” Blake, directed the men to an open area on the forward deck where the Japanese could be closely watched for any signs of treachery. Read more
Japan
The Port Chicago Disaster
By Mason B. WebbIn the summer of 1944, with American forces battling their way ever closer to the Japanese home islands, the need for ammunition in the Pacific was hitting its peak. Read more
Japan
Boeing Wonderland: The Fake Cities on America’s West Coast
By Bill YenneWhen I was a young boy in Seattle, my father told me about a fake town that had been built on top of Boeing’s Plant 2 during the war. Read more
Japan
Why the Douglas SBD Dauntless Had Such a Stunning Combat Record
By Martin K.A. MorganOn August 7, 1942, Petty Officer 1st Class Saburo Sakai was piloting his Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zero” fighter in the skies over Sealark Channel in the Solomon Islands. Read more
Japan
Pathfinder Fire Storm: the B-29s Over Tokyo That Helped End the War
By Robert F. DorrMajor Sam P. Bakshas woke up that morning with the secrets in his head. He was one of the men flying B-29 Superfortress bombers from three Pacific islands—Guam, Saipan, and Tinian. Read more
Japan
Kiwis Over the Pacific: The RNZAF in World War II
By Allyn VannoyDuring early World War II operations in the Pacific, Geoff Fisken would become one of the most outstanding pilots of the RNZAF—the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Read more
Japan
Shootout in the “Slingshot”: First Day of the Guadalcanal Campaign
By John J. DomagalskiThe fading daylight of August 6, 1942, found the American heavy cruisers Astoria and Chicago as part of Task Force 61, under the command of Vice Admiral Jack Fletcher, steaming toward the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal. Read more
Japan
Voices of the Axis: The Radio Personalities of Fascist Propaganda
By Chuck LyonsMildred “Midge” Gillars was born in Portland, Maine, took drama lessons in New York City, appeared in vaudeville, worked as an artist’s model in Paris and a dressmaker’s assistant in Algiers, and taught English at the Berlitz School in Berlin before—motivated by love and fear—she became the notorious “Axis Sally,” one of the Nazis’ leading radio propagandists. Read more
