Pacific Theater

The Pacific Theater during World War II is generally regarded as the area of military confrontation between the Allied powers and Imperial Japan. The Pacific Theater consists of the entire operational expanse of the war from the Aleutian Islands in the north to Australia in the south, including island chains such as the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas. The China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater is also considered a major component of the Pacific Theater.

In this painting by Jack Fellows, a 59th Sentai Nakajima Ki-43 Hyabusa fighter, code-named Oscar by the Allies, maneuvers into firing position against a P-38 Lightning fighter of the U.S. Fifth Air Force.

Pacific Theater

WWII Aircraft: Nakajima Ki-43

By Patrick J. Chaisson

At the start of World War II, Japanese airpower ruled the skies over China and the Pacific. Read more

Pacific Theater

Coming of Age at Tarawa

By Nick Cariello

It was with great anticipation that I sprang up the snowy steps of a Milwaukee building in January 1942 and entered the Marine Corps Recruitment Center. Read more

Pacific Theater

NA-16 Wirraway: From Trainer to Fighter

By Glenn Barnett

By the mid-1930s many people in Australia were concerned that if war came to Europe that Great Britain would not be able to come to their defense against a growing and aggressive Japanese Empire. Read more

Pacific Theater

Raid on Darwin: Australia’s Pearl Harbor

By Arnold Blumberg

The sun was just rising and the day promised clear skies overhead. Since 5 am maintenance crews had been running the engines, making last minute adjustments, and arming the scores of aircraft sitting on the steel flight deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi. Read more

Pacific Theater

Faces of the U.S. Marine Corps

By Eric Hammel

Noted chronicler of the Pacific Theater Eric Hammel recently spent three years sorting, scanning, cleaning, selecting, and captioning United States Marine Corps World War II photos for six pictorial books. Read more

Pacific Theater

Heroic Airacobras of the Cactus Air Force

By Patrick J. Chaisson

Shortly after 11 am on August 22, 1942, the roar of aircraft engines shattered the stillness over Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. Read more

Pacific Theater

Bernard Fergusson: Black Watch in the Chindit Campaign

By Jon Diamond

Bernard Edward Fergusson was born on May 6, 1911, and completed his public school education at Eton. A graduate of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, he received his commission into the Black Watch Regiment. Read more

Pacific Theater

Rock Force Assault: MacArthur’s Invasion of Corregidor

By Gene. E Salecker

Among the many objectives facing General Douglas MacArthur on his return to the main Philippine island of Luzon in 1945 was the recapture of the tiny island of Corregidor. Read more

Pacific Theater

Midnight Raid in Iron Bottom Sound

By John Domagalski

Shortland Harbor was bustling with activity during the late morning hours of December 7, 1942. A group of warships were slowly getting underway, making for the open sea. Read more

Pacific Theater

Battle of Makin: Amphibious Assault on the Gilbert Islands

By Patrick J. Chaisson

Makin should have been a pushover. On November 20, 1943, a force of 3,500 highly trained American soldiers invaded this Central Pacific atoll located 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii in the Gilbert Islands. Read more

Pacific Theater

Leslie ‘Dick’ Groves: The Manhattan Project General

By George Davenport Jr.

By the spring of 1945, the outcome of World War II was not in serious doubt. What was in serious doubt was the number of casualties that would eventually be required to bring the war to a successful conclusion. Read more

Pacific Theater

Joseph Bale: Naval Ensign at Iwo Jima

By Matt Broggie

“There’s no greater feeling in the world than seeing Old Glory in a winning position.” Twenty-one-year-old U.S. Navy Ensign Joseph Bale watched the American flag raising on Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi from aboard the attack transport USS Dickens County Texas. Read more

Pacific Theater

“The War Between the Smiths”: High Command Feud at Saipan

By David Lippman

The ferocious battle for the island of Saipan in the Marianas was won by U.S. Marines and U.S. Read more

Pacific Theater

Defending Bataan

By Arnold Blumberg

In 1941, the Philippine Islands, 7,000 in number, an American-controlled mandate, formed a natural barrier between Japan and the rich resources of East and Southeast Asia. Read more

Weary of fighting, a Japanese soldier raises his hands in surrender at Roi-Namur as a companion begins climbing out of a hole near the center of this photograph. These are two of only a handful of Japanese troops that survived the fighting on Roi-Namur, choosing surrender rather than suicide. A wary Marine covers the prisoner with his rifle, taking no chances.

Pacific Theater

4th Marine Division in the Marshall Islands: First Time Under Fire

By Cleve C. Barkley

As 1943 drew to a close, Admiral Chester Nimitz’s Central Pacific campaign was gaining momentum. His forces had taken the Gilbert Islands that November and now targeted the Marshall Islands as the next step on the long road to Tokyo. Read more

Pacific Theater

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Lincoln vs. Frémont and His “Hasty Emancipation”

2nd Lt. Reba Z. Whittle, flight nurse—and the only female P.O.W. in the ETO