Known as the “Ace of Aces,” Major Richard Ira Bong is credited with the downing of an impressive confirmed total of 40 enemy aircraft.

Seriously wounded aboard LCS-122 off Okinawa in June 1945, McCool’s steadfast leadership and disregard for his own safety saved the lives of his crew and his ship.

A combat veteran when he landed on Omaha beach on June 6, 1944, Walt Ehlers had made a promise to his mother, which often left him at odds with the morality of a soldier’s duty.

During the German invasion of the USSR, the Soviet Secret Police (NKVD) brutally murdered between 10,000 and 40,000 political prisoners in Western Ukraine over the course of eight days, which sparked waves of ethnic violence following the German occupation of the region.

The first to cross the English Channel on D-Day, minesweepers cleared the way for the invasion of France.