Pacific Theater
Dorie Miller: A Black Sailor’s Heroism at Pearl Harbor
By Michael D. HullHis name was Doris, but he was a powerfully built football fullback, a heavyweight boxer, and the first black American hero of World War II. 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
Working on the Railway of Death: A POW’s Story
By Eric NiderostWhen Howard Brooks joined the United States Navy in 1939, the 20-year-old farm boy from Tennessee had no idea that he was going to experience one of the most harrowing adventures of World War II. Read more
Pacific Theater
Project Fugo: The Japanese Balloon Bombs
By Allan T. DuffinOn Saturday, May 5, 1945, three days before the end of World War II in Europe and just three months before the Japanese surrendered, spinning shards of metal ripped into the tall pine trees, burrowing holes into bark and tearing needles from branches outside the tiny logging community of Bly, Oregon. Read more
Pacific Theater
USS Murphy: Long Service in Wartime
By William B. AllmonEighty miles off the coast of New Jersey and 280 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean lies the forward section of a World War II destroyer, where it came to rest more than 60 years ago. Read more
Pacific Theater
The National World War II Museum
By Peter SuciuOpened on June 6, 2000, on the 56th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the National D-Day Museum, as it was then known, initially focused on the amphibious invasion of Normandy. Read more
Pacific Theater
WWII Weapons: M3 37mm Antitank Gun
By Christopher MiskimonThe men of Lieutenant Edwin K. Smith’s antitank platoon, 2nd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division peered over the gun shields of their 37mm cannon at the column of Vichy French armored cars approaching their roadblock. Read more
Pacific Theater
Bomber Gunner Ben Kuroki: “Most Honorable Son”
By Sam McGowanIn 1942, many Americans considered anyone of Japanese ancestry to be an enemy, regardless of where they had been born or how long their families had lived in the United States. Read more
Pacific Theater
Pacific Merchant Marine
By Dr. Carl H MarcouxThe American war in the Pacific proved to be largely a maritime endeavor. Fighting consisted of widespread naval battles between the two major opponents followed by American invasions of Japanese-held island bases. Read more
Pacific Theater
Three Times’ a Charm: A POW’s Journey From the Philippines to Nagasaki
By J.C. HannaThe Great Depression greatly affected millions of Americans during the 1930s, and my father, Chad Hanna, was no exception. Read more
Pacific Theater
Joe Rosenthal: Flag-Raising Photographer
By Gene BeleyThe “Raising of the Flag” photo taken by 33-year-old Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal on the fifth day of the Iwo Jima battle provided the world with a much-needed uplifting symbol in February 1945. Read more
Pacific Theater
Fatal Pride at Peleliu
By John McManusInside the shabby tent that served as his command post on Peleliu, a despondent Maj. Gen. William Rupertus sat on his bunk, slumped over with his head in his hands. Read more
Pacific Theater
Withdrawal from Guadalcanal: Abandoning the Island of Death
By David Alan JohnsonThe first Japanese general officer to suggest abandoning Guadalcanal to the Americans was probably Maj. Gen. Kenryo Sato, the War Ministry’s chief of its Military Affairs Bureau. Read more
Pacific Theater
Defending the USS Lexington: Action Off Bougainville
By Allyn VannoyBefore there was an air-sea battle at Midway or in the Coral Sea, American aircraft carriers were launching operations against Japanese bases in the South Pacific, with the Japanese fighting to defend their gains. Read more
Pacific Theater
Behind the Scenes on Hacksaw Ridge: An Interview With Producer Terry Benedict
By Nicholas VarangisWarfare History Network sat down with Terry Benedict, one of the Producers of the new Mel Gibson film Hacksaw Ridge to ask some questions about the film and its subject, Desmond Doss. Read more
Pacific Theater
Wake Island: Alamo in the Pacific
By Kelly BellIt was already December 8, 1941, on Wake Island’s side of the international date line. The Americans on the tiny specks of land in the western Pacific Ocean roused themselves at 6 am. Read more
