Louis M. Prevost, the father of newly elected Pope Leo XIV, participated in the landings in Normandy and Southern France during World War II.

Volunteers have helped keep things running smoothly at the Museum since it opened in 2000—and a very special group has been here from the very beginning.

Regarded as the “most beautiful woman in the world,” Hedy Lamarr was not only a famous Hollywood actress who sold millions in war bonds during World War II, she was an inventor. Her creations included a frequency-hopping radio communications device for Allied torpedoes during the war.

Marguerite Frances Hunold, a pioneering aerologist in the US Navy’s WAVES program during World War II, became the first woman in her field to serve in Alaska, where she helped shape naval aviation forecasting in one of the world’s most challenging weather environments.

Charity Adams overcame both wartime challenges and racial discrimination to become the first Black woman officer in the Women's Army Corps and commander of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.

The remains of Private Randolph Ray Edwards were identified and accounted for more than 80 years after his death. 

When Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc entered Guadalcanal, the United States had been fighting a defensive campaign against Japanese attempts to retake Henderson Airfield and dominate the surrounding seas. 

Frank Kameny saw combat in Europe during the war, only to return home to face discrimination from the very country he served.

Private First Class Harry Jerele was among the thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members who were captured and interned in prisoner-of-war camps after the surrender.

One of America’s only women war correspondents reports on the liberation of the concentration camps, Soviet and American troops meeting at Torgau, and Hitler’s burning villa in Berchtesgaden

Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin is one of the many heroes you will come to know through her own words in Expressions of America.

Grant Ichikawa volunteered for US Army service while incarcerated in the Gila River camp. His service as a Japanese translator and interpreter was just the beginning of a long military career.