Pacific Theater
Donald R. Lobaugh: From Delinquent to Medal of Honor Recipient
By Richard A. BerantyDonald R. Lobaugh was a juvenile delinquent, a kid sent to reform school when he was 16 years old. Read more
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.
Pacific Theater
The Chance-Vought F4U Corsair: Whistling Death in the South Pacific
by Sam McGowanThanks to the rather far-fetched mid-1970s TV series Black Sheep Squadron, the bent-wing image of the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair is no doubt one of the most vivid of the World War II fighters in the minds of most Americans. Read more
Pacific Theater
Famous Navy Ships: The Triumph of the USS Batfish
By Robert Barr SmithShe was a sleek, efficient, deadly killer, a home to six officers and 60 enlisted men, and a holy terror to the enemy. Read more
Pacific Theater
Kamikazes Caught on the Ground: Raid on Clark Field
By Robert F. McEniry, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific Area, kept his promise to return to the Philippine Islands when his Sixth Army under the command of Lt. Read more
Pacific Theater
Hiro Onoda’s Surrender: Fighting World War II Until 1974
By Glenn BarnettThe Japanese empire was a fine place for young Hiro Onoda. In 1939, at age 17, he hired on with a lacquerware company that posted him to Hankow (Wuhan) in Japanese-occupied China. Read more
Pacific Theater
The USS Goodhue & A Torrent of Kamikazes at Okinawa
By Duane E. ShafferMore than 60 years ago, in April 1945, the war in Europe was winding down to its inevitable conclusion. Read more
Pacific Theater
Bloody Tarawa: Betio’s Lagoon
By John WukovitsColonel Merritt A. Edson, the 2nd Marine Division’s chief of staff, and Colonel David M. Shoup designed a simple plan to seize Betio—land along its northern beaches, drive straight across the narrow island, and kill the defenders. Read more
Pacific Theater
Terrible Tide at Tarawa: Interview with Stan Bowen
By John WukovitsStan Bowen spent the entire war in the U.S. Navy as a pharmacist’s mate, first in the operation at Tarawa, then Saipan and Tinian. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Azimuth “Smart” Bombs of World War II
By Joseph Frantiska, Jr.As soon as one caveman threw a rock in anger at another, the human race took a giant step forward in warfare. Read more
Pacific Theater
First Strike Against Japanese Industry
By Phil ScearceConsolidated B-24 Liberator bomber crews of the U.S. 11th Bombardment Group spent the first three months of 1943 organizing on Hawaiian airfields and flying practice and patrol missions around the islands. Read more
Pacific Theater
“This is the Army”: Irving Berlin’s War
By Sheldon WinklerThe most successful and popular patriotic show of World War II and one of the most unique productions in the history of entertainment was Irving Berlin’s This Is the Army, which originally began as a Broadway musical. Read more
Pacific Theater
MacArthur’s Occupation of Japan: Lessons on Counterinsurgency
By Lieutenant Colonel Michael F. TrivetAs the months of 1945 passed at an agonizingly slow pace, Allied forces in the Pacific struggled unwaveringly toward Japan. Read more
Pacific Theater
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: Japan’s Naval War Leader
By Michael D. HullBrave, urbane, and complex, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was Japan’s greatest naval strategist and the architect of one of the most stunning achievements in the history of modern warfare. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Indian Ocean Raid: Disaster for the Royal Navy
By David H. Lippman“So this is the Eastern Fleet,” ran Vice Admiral Sir James Fownes Somerville’s signal. “Never mind. Many a good tune is played on an old fiddle.” Read more
Pacific Theater
Submarine Special Missions in the Pacific
By Steven Trent SmithSunsets over Manila Bay are nothing less than spectacular. Once the sun dips below the horizon there is a lingering illumination known as “blue hour” as the sky gradually shifts from pale azure to deep indigo before fading completely into the black tropical night. Read more
Pacific Theater
Sinking the Shokaku
By Johnd DomagalskiOn the morning of June 13, 1944, the brilliant new aircraft carrier Taiho weighed anchor and slowly moved out of Tawi-Tawi anchorage in the Sulu archipelago in the southwestern Philippines. Read more
Pacific Theater
One Vote Against War
By Gary KidneyOn December 8, 1941, America was still shocked by news of war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that the day before had been “a date which will live in infamy” because of the “unprovoked and dastardly attack” by Japan on Pearl Harbor. Read more
Pacific Theater
Carlson’s Long Patrol: Marine Raiders at Guadalcanal
By Christopher MiskimonOn the morning of November 6, 1942, a force of 267 Marines took its first steps into the jungle from a landing point at Aola Bay, roughly 30 miles east of the American perimeter on Guadalcanal. Read more
Pacific Theater
Taking Tinian: Crucial Airfield in the Marianas
By Nathan N. PreferThe Marines were tired, eager for a rest the opportunity to get themselves and their equipment back into battle condition. Read more
Pacific Theater
WWII Aircraft: The Douglas C-54 Skymaster
By Sam McGowanAt the beginning of World War II, the globe seemed huge—covered by thousands of miles of ocean and uninhabited land mass, but by the time it ended everything had been brought closer together, thanks largely to the four-engine transports of the United States Army Air Transport Command, particularly the Douglas C-54 Skymaster. Read more
