Raymond Bailey describes a horrible experience he had after the USS Franklin (CV-13) was hit by two bombs while operating off the coast of Japan in March 1945.

For extraordinary heroism and acts above and beyond the call of duty during World War II, the United States Congress awarded 473 Medals of Honor. To date, 3,534 have been awarded since the inception of the Medal during the US Civil War. Only one has ever been awarded to a US Coast Guardsman.

Invasion or Blockade? American Army and Navy planners debated how to vanquish Japan during World War II's final weeks.

Allied military planners faced a bitter truth as they planned for a possible invasion of Japan: there were no distinctions between soldiers and civilians.

Joseph Armanini discusses the August 1943 Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission during which the 100th Bomb Group suffered terrible losses to German fighter aircraft.

The US assault on Munda Point, New Georgia in July-August 1943 drove American soldiers and Marines to the limits of endurance—and merited three Medals of Honor.

The 100th Infantry Battalion, comprised largely of second generation Nisei, bravely fought in Europe and became one of America's most highly decorated units of World War II.

Joseph LaNier describes two encounters he had with racism in the military, one of which surprised him.

The African American 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion's aggressive assault across Germany's Siegfried Line in 1945 earned the respect and camaraderie of white GIs in the front lines.

James Allen describes his experiences aboard the USS Wahoo (SS-238) during her second war patrol in the waters off Guadalcanal.

Mary McLeod Bethune was a passionate educator and presidential advisor. In her long career of public service, she became one of the earliest black female activists that helped lay the foundation to the modern civil rights movement.

From January 1943 to June 1945, writer Kurt Vonnegut served in the US Army. His experiences with the 106th Infantry Division during the Battle of the Bulge and then later as a prisoner of war in Dresden imprinted his life and provided traumatic (and sometimes comedic) material for his novel Slaughterhouse-Five and other works.