World War II History

Unit 731

Date:

Friday, May 4, 2018

Unit 731, located in Harbin, China, was a secret Japanese project that carried out human medical experiments during the 1930s and 1940s.

Remembering Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Date:

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Manhattan Project veterans remember the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Gallery

Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR & Truman
Roosevelt and Churchill
Roosevelt in 1941

Bataan Death March

Date:

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

On April 9, 1942, the American troops on the Bataan Peninsula of the Philippines surrendered to the Japanese. The captured men were then subjected to the torturous Bataan Death March.

Gallery

Bodies on the Death March
WWII Poster referencing Bataan as a motivator for war efforts.
Surrender flyer from the Japanese

Japanese Balloon Bombs "Fu-Go"

Date:

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

On November 3, 1944, Japan released fusen bakudan, or balloon bombs, into the Pacific jet stream. Japan’s latest weapon, the balloon bombs were intended to cause damage and spread panic in the continental United States.

Japanese Mass Suicides

Date:

Thursday, July 28, 2016

The War of the Pacific against Imperial Japan was marked by episodes of mass suicides by Japanese soldiers and civilians, notably in Saipan and Okinawa.

Potsdam: The Crossroads of Atomic Science and International Diplomacy

Date:

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

The Potsdam Conference was attended by representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union in July 1945.

The Incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II

Date:

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt ordered the "evacuation" of Japanese Americans to relocation and internment camps under Executive Order 9066.

Gallery

Newly arrived evacuees are registered and assigned barrack apartments at this War Relocation Authority center.
Impromptu baseball game at Santa Anita Assembly Center
President Gerald R. Ford Signing a Proclamation Confirming the Termination of Executive Order 9066 in the Cabinet Room
Apology Letter from President Bush, 1990

Attack on Pearl Harbor - 1941

Date:

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into World War II.

Gallery

A photograph of Pearl Harbor and Battleship Row, taken on October 30, 1941
A Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighter airplane of the second wave takes off from the aircraft carrier Akagi on the morning of December 7, 1941
Battleship USS West Virginia under attack
Destroyer USS Shaw exploding after her forward magazine was detonated
The USS Arizona under attack
Sailors stand amid wrecked planes at the Ford Island seaplane base, watching as USS Shaw explodes in the center background
Battleship USS Nevada attempting to escape from the harbor
Battleship Row during the attack
View from Pier 1010 with USS Shaw and USS Nevada burning
USS Pennsylvania, behind the wreckage of the USS Downes and USS Cassin
A ship burning during the attack
Pearl Harbor destruction