Most people are aware that Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the plane that made the first atomic attacks. However, the B-29s delivering America’s first atomic weapons were far from ordinary.

Operation Rashness, a major fall offensive intended to seize a port on China’s southeast coast, would open sea lines of communication into China for the first time in several years while providing a base of operations for the invasion of southern Japan.

Benjamin Salomon, a Jewish American dental officer in the Army, made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of his patients and fellow soldiers in World War II. Almost 60 years after his death in the Pacific, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. 

US code breakers deciphering Japanese naval messages provided an opportunity for vengeance in April 1943 after intercepting the travel plans of Japan’s naval commander in chief, the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor.

While the campaign marked the first offensive victory for the Americans, it provided more than just a morale boost and a checking of Japanese aggression. This campaign illustrated the powerful synergy of American joint operations.

An Ace in the Jungle.

Joseph J. Foss was born on April 17, 1915, outside of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and became fascinated with flying at the age of 11 when he saw Charles Lindbergh on tour with his aircraft, the “Spirit of St. Louis”, at an airfield in Renner, South Dakota in 1927.

World War II ripped millions of men and women from their homes and hurled them around the globe. Americans like Charles Willis Davis discovered, though, under the most extreme circumstances, that they possessed incredible courage and ability.

Technician Fifth Grade Lewis Hall from Obetz, Ohio, was born March 2, 1895, and was 47 years old at the time of his action.

Born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1913, William Fournier was raised in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

Kenneth Newton Walker, Brigadier General, US Army Air Corps received the Medal of Honor for his actions during a fatal bombing mission over Rabaul, New Britain, on January 5, 1943.

During the Battle of Buna, two soldiers of the 32nd Infantry Division went above and beyond the call of duty.

Bravery—even unto death—was evident everywhere as Imperial Japan’s air and sea forces struck the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.