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

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

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

Australian forces, backed by American artillery, assaulted Japanese positions on Bobdubi Ridge in one of World War II’s bitterest campaigns.

The New Guinea campaign was one of the hardest-fought of World War II. American and Australian forces relied on native New Guineans to achieve victory.

The bombing of the Japanese city of Nagasaki with the Fat Man plutonium bomb device on August 9, 1945, caused terrible human devastation and helped end World War II.

Many Americans greeted the news of the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima with jubilation. Beginning shortly after the war, however, a number of prominent US military leaders began to question the bomb's use.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

A presentation of The National WWII Museum's curricular resources to help educators teach about the use of atomic bombs against Japan.

In the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history, 27 Marines and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for action on Iwo Jima. No other campaign surpassed that number.

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

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.