From coaling station to naval base, Pearl Harbor’s strategic importance in the Pacific was widely recognized.

Eduardo Peniche came to the United States to obtain an education and became a decorated war veteran and proud American in the process.

Hawaii was paradise, but military cooks often supplied the old favorites for soldiers and sailors who were stationed far from home.

The Hawaiian Islands are the result of millions of years of volcanic activity. So were most of the islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean. The entire Pacific Campaign was shaped by geological forces not understood until decades after the war.

A single squadron of Mexican flyers completed nearly 800 sorties—individual aircraft combat missions—in the waning days of World War II.