In 1973 a devastating fire in the National Personnel Records Center destroyed about 17 million military personnel files. A loss with long-lasting repercussions, it affects our understanding and knowledge of many individual WWII stories.

 By January 1945 the African American soldiers of the 761st Tank Battalion, the Black Panthers, were battle-tested veterans. But they would encounter one of their toughest fights in January 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge.

The 156th Infantry Band from Louisiana brought a New Orleans flair to one of the most influential postwar moments in Europe, when they were selected to provide the musical backdrop for the Potsdam Conference as the “house band” at the Little White House.

The fight for Mount Austen witnessed some of the hardest fighting on Guadalcanal. Its successful capture ensured the security of Henderson Field from Japanese artillery fire and infiltrators.

On July 5, 1945 General Douglas MacArthur released a communique announcing that major combat operations in the Philippine Islands had concluded.

A snapshot of Roland Martin's course from boyhood in California to a B-17 Pilot stationed in England, ending as a POW in Germany.

On July 7, 1944, the US Army 27th Infantry Division bore the brunt of the largest Banzai attack of the war. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, over 4,000 Japanese troops were dead, and American dead and wounded numbered nearly 1,000.

President Harry Truman's Independence Day message of July 4, 1945 offered words of consolation and hope at a time of immense stress for the nation—and himself.

The allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, including the capture of Carentan by American airborne troops, helped facilitate the destruction of German forces in northwest Europe.

Painting a German cannon presents interesting challenges to the restoration staff.