April 5, 2022 by Jenny Ashcraft | 5 Comments
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation declaring April 9th as National Former POW Recognition Day. The day commemorates the capture of nearly 25,000 U.S. troops that were surrendered by their commander on Bataan in the Philippines on April … Continue reading
December 16, 2021 by Jenny Ashcraft | 64 Comments
During WWII, Allied navies suffered a devastating defeat at the hand of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the First and Second Battles of the Java Sea. The battles, which began on February 27, 1942, led to the Japanese occupation of … Continue reading
October 2, 2021 by Jenny Ashcraft | Comments Off on WWII’s Tokyo Rose
On October 6, 1949, 33-year-old Iva Toguri d’Aquino was convicted of treason, sentenced to 10 years in prison, and fined $10,000. Prosecutors claimed Aquino betrayed her country when she broadcast Japanese propaganda over Radio Tokyo to armed forces in the … Continue reading
May 6, 2021 by Jenny Ashcraft | 103 Comments
The Battle of Crete began on May 20, 1941, when German forces began a massive airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete during WWII. Thousands of German paratroopers (called Fallschirmjäger) landed on Crete, where they encountered tenacious resistance from … Continue reading
March 1, 2021 by Jenny Ashcraft | 74 Comments
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea occurred March 2-4, 1943, when planes from the U.S. Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked a convoy of Japanese ships carrying troops and supplies to Lae, New Guinea. The … Continue reading
July 31, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 72 Comments
The morning of August 15, 1945, dawned with the realization that after a long war resulting in some 60 million deaths worldwide, WWII was finally over and Victory in Japan (V-J Day) had arrived. Hours earlier, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s … Continue reading
April 30, 2020 by Jenny Ashcraft | 66 Comments
Seventy-five years ago this month, Allied forces declared victory in Europe. V-E Day came at a steep price for American troops with more than 400,000 deaths during WWII. These WWII veterans, often called the Greatest Generation, were everyday men and … Continue reading