Even though he grew up surrounded by WWII veterans in his small Arkansas town, Rod Fortner knew very little about where his dad served and what he had experienced as a young Marine. 

An overlooked story of World War II and its consequences, the Graves Registration Service (GRS) worked tirelessly during the war to collect and identify the dead, providing proper burial. After the war, the GRS conducted the world’s largest search and recovery effort, leading to the identification of 280,000 fallen Americans, who were provided with a final burial in the United States or abroad based upon the surviving family’s wishes.

A main goal of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment was to attack German morale and keep enemy soldiers sleep-deprived from nights of almost endless bombing raids.

In a war against Nazi Germany, no statement was more dramatic than for Jewish American soldiers to proclaim their faith on German soil.

It was at Chełmno that the Nazis tested various methods of exterminating people en masse while they sought an alternative to the Einsatzgruppen’s mass shootings.

The New Orleans not only lost her bow, but she staggered away from Ironbottom Sound with over 180 men in her crew dead or missing. But like the city for which she was named, quitting was never an option. 

Lieutenant Colonel George E. Hardy flew 21 combat missions during World War II, piloting P-51 Mustang aircraft, often escorting heavy bombers as part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

Women lawyers at the Nuremberg Trials were more than assistants. They played important roles in shaping international criminal law. Their contributions add nuance to the Nuremberg narrative and shed light on the early presence of women in international justice. 

Twenty-five-year-old US Navy Carpenter’s Mate Second Class William R. Burns of Raleigh, North Carolina, has been accounted for more than 80 years after his death.