The British torpedo bomber strike on the Italian naval base of Taranto in November 1940 changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean, and set the stage for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Any doubt to her identity was washed away when her name appeared emblazoned across her stern in raised letters: JUNEAU.

On June 6, 1944, two brothers from Kansas landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. They promised to meet on the beach after the fighting was done—a promise that would remain unfulfilled.

A week before American units liberated their first concentration camp, the US 2nd Infantry Division uncovered one of the killing centers of the Nazi regime's so-called "euthanasia" program at Hadamar, Germany.

Thanks to the escape of the “Davao Dozen” from Japanese captivity in April 1943, Americans learned of the Bataan Death March.