Manning 155mm howitzers, African American gunners sacrificed themselves to defend fleeing infantry. Eleven of them were murdered by the Waffen SS, and then forgotten by the US Army.

Although a decision to continue the war would mean national suicide, members of the Japanese military came close to refusing Emperor Hirohito’s surrender order.

William S. Jones describes his experiences during the fight to recapture Attu in the Aleutian Islands in May 1943.

Entertainer Noël Coward's flamboyant lifestyle and defiance of social conventions masked a fierce determination to defeat Nazi Germany.

Japanese military leaders debated Japan's possible surrender up to the last moment. Emperor Hirohito's intervention was critical.

Operation Dragoon was the successful Allied invasion of southern France that also highlighted the intense Allied disagreements over strategy.

Mike Mervosh describes his experience with the flag raising on Iwo Jima.

Misguided Japanese diplomacy in 1945 helped to ensure that the war would not have a peaceful end.

Herbert Heilbrun describes the Christmas 1944 mission he took part in to bomb the oil refineries at Brux, Czechoslovakia and how well defended the area was.

American strategic options for ending the war against Japan in 1945 offered a choice of horrible possibilities.

Stanley Wolczyk discusses his experiences on Attu in May 1943 and being wounded late in the fight, a wound which ended his Army service.

Higgins Industries is best known for the design and construction of landing craft, dubbed “the boats that won the war,” but the multi-faceted company also contributed to the most top-secret program of the war, the Manhattan Project.