The US Merchant Marine provided crucial, yet often overlooked, logistical support for the Allied war effort.

From our 21st-century point of view, it is hard to imagine World War II without the United States as a major participant. Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, however, Americans were seriously divided over what the role of the United States in the war should be, or if it should even have a role at all. Even as the war consumed large portions of Europe and Asia in the late 1930s and early 1940s, there was no clear consensus on how the United States should respond.

Before the Allies could cross the Rhine River, Bernard Montgomery’s forces first had to pry the German defenders away from its western bank with two simultaneous operations: Veritable and Grenade. 

Beyond commentary on the burgeoning Cold War, many of Eiji Tsuburaya’s and Ishiro Honda’s production decisions are meant to reflect the Japanese experience of World War II. 

Alexander A. Vandegrift’s accomplishments during World War II came near the end of almost four decades of service in the United States Marine Corps.