For what he did on October 4, 1944, Staff Sergeant Manuel V. Mendoza garnered a special place in the history of Nazi Germany’s defeat.

Allied military planners faced a bitter truth as they planned for a possible invasion of Japan: there were no distinctions between soldiers and civilians.

More than 14,000 African American men served in the US Army Air Forces in segregated units during World War II. Only about 1,000 of them were pilots. Many others, like Louisiana native Albert Porche, filled vital support roles which kept the famed Red Tails flying in Italy. 

In a lesser-known operation that presaged the horrors of the deadly Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the XIX Corps broke through the Siegfried Line north of Aachen, Germany, in October 1944.

Churchill’s famous quip about the Royal Air Force’s “few” was inspirational, but Fighter Command wasn’t so few and even had several advantages.