Known as a tropical paradise today, for many sailors before December 7, 1941, it was just another port of call during their naval service.

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

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

Major events are often rooted deeply in the past—the “long fuse” that leads to explosions.

Seventy-five years ago, journalist John Hersey’s article “Hiroshima” forever changed how Americans viewed the atomic attack on Japan.

This little-known aircraft was part of the last air battle of World War II.

The oldest active military medal in the United States, over 1 million Purple Hearts were awarded during World War II.

“As soon as the war ended, we located the one spot on earth that hadn’t been touched by the war and blew it to hell.” - Bob Hope, Operation Crossroads by Jonathan M. Weisgall, Naval Institute Press, 1994.

In WWII’s aftermath, July 4 also became Independence Day for the Philippines in 1946.

In July 1946, the fourth and fifth atomic bombs to explode tore into a fleet of 84 ships anchored at Bikini Atoll in the name of science.