One of Japan’s main goals during World War II was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in east Asia and the southwest Pacific islands. Japan hoped to defeat the US Pacific Fleet and use Midway as a base to attack Pearl Harbor, securing dominance in the region and then forcing a negotiated peace. 
 

This unique artifact tells a one-of-a-kind story from the day that irrevocably changed the world. 

With bad weather and the limitations of meteorological technology at the time, General Dwight D. Eisenhower had to determine when to launch the cross-channel invasion and begin Operation Overlord. Pressure tells the story of the Allied weather forecast leading to the invasion of Normandy.

This month, we invite you to consider the wide range and long-term impacts of World War II upon Asian American and Pacific Islanders from a perspective that encourages students to consider continuity and change over time. 

A product of post Great War naval treaties and launched amid rising global tensions, the USS New Orleans forged a bond with its namesake city in the years before World War II

A surplus of Army rations and goodwill helped improve the lives of many Europeans impoverished by World War II.

On April 23, 2026, the DPAA announced that it had met the 60 percent threshold for the USS Arizona Unknown Identification Project.

This month, we explore how the Nazi campaign against “degenerate” modernist art and music can help students use Visual Thinking Strategies as a way to observe and think critically about art, as well as teach them how culture plays into times of war.

Not only was the vessel a hometown hero, the USS New Orleans also participated in almost every major campaign against Japan. And when faced with great tragedy, she always bounced back, much like the people of New Orleans did after disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Bussel spent a year as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down over Germany—a traumatic experience that would fuel his work on behalf of veterans and former POWs later in life.

American soldiers liberated the concentration camp at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, and were profoundly shaken by what they discovered.

Moments where compassion collided with combat defined Roy J. Caldwood's experience as an African American medic serving with the 92nd Infantry Division during World War II.