The Seabees: “We build, We Fight”
The U.S. Navy’s Construction Battalion (CB) personnel were officially designated “Seabees” on March 5, 1942.
The Battle of Bismarck Sea, March 2, 1943
Japanese attempts to check Allied advances in New Guinea during World War II were frustrated when their convoy of reinforcements was intercepted and destroyed by coordinated air assaults by American and Australian forces.
From: APPOINTMENT IN TOKYO
On Wednesday, February 27, at noon, author Eric L. Muller will discuss his book “Colors of Confinement.”
This program will also be streamed live over the National Archives UStream channel.
In 1942, Bill Manbo and his family were forced from their Hollywood home into an internment camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Using Kodachrome film, Manbo captured community celebrations and recorded his family’s struggle to maintain a normal life. Eric L. Muller uses these photos to describe Japanese American life in the camps.The program will be held in the McGowan Theater at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. The program is FREE. A book signing will follow the program.
Marines raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi during the battle for Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945.
Somewhere in England, Maj. Charity E. Adams…and Capt. Abbie N. Campbell…inspect the first contingent of Negro members of the Women’s Army Corps assigned to overseas service, 02/15/1945
Two bewildered old ladies stand amid the leveled ruins of the almshouse which was Home; until Jerry dropped his bombs. Total war knows no bounds. Almshouse bombed February 10, Newbury, Berkshire, England. 02/11/1943
From the series: Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity
Big Things from Little Ideas Grow
SPEED VICTORY: Let’s have your ideas
The War Production Board channels Thomas Alva Edison for his birthday (February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931)
Last minute gift idea?
“Give War Bonds for Christmas”, 1941 - 1945
On January 26, 1945, 2nd Lieutenant Audie Murphy climbed atop a burning tank destroyer and held 2 companies of German infantry and 6 tanks at bay, with only a mounted machine gun and field telephone to direct artillery fire, until a counter attack could be mounted. This is just one of several narratives describing his actions which earned him the Medal of Honor.
Just six months earlier then-Sergeant Murphy had earned the Distinguished Service Cross.
“THIS IS NOT A DRILL”
At 7:55 a.m. December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers and torpedo planes attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, catapulting the United States into World War II. In less than 2 hours, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was devastated, and more than 3,500 Americans were either killed or wounded.
“Five Sullivan Brothers - They Did Their Part”
The five Sullivan brothers (Albert, Francis, George, Joseph, and Madison) served together as shipmates aboard the cruiser USS Juneau after requesting special permission from the Secretary of the Navy. The Juneau was sunk on November 13, 1942, off the island of Guadalcanal by Japanese submarine I-26.
November 5, 1944 - “Cpl. Carlton Chapman…is a machine-gunner in an M-4 tank, attached to a Motor Transport unit near Nancy, France.”
October 4, 1943 - Notes of Heinrich Himmler, Chief of Nazi Guard (SS), for a Speech to SS Generals
Heinrich Himmler was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the “final solution.” In a speech to 100 SS generals, he spoke of the extermination of Jews. This handwritten note uses the euphemism “Judenevakuierung” meaning evacuation of the Jews. However, in sound recordings of the speech, Himmler defined “evacuation” as “extermination.”
September 1 - Bedside Note of President Franklin D. Roosevelt Regarding the Invasion of Poland by Germany, 09/01/1939
This item is a pencilled notation written by President Franklin D. Roosevelt while in bed on September 1, 1939 at 3:05 a.m., and records how he received news that Germany had invaded Poland and was bombing Polish cities, thus beginning World War II.
The note documents that Roosevelt received word of the invasion from Ambassador Anthony Biddle, through Ambassador William Bullitt. The note also documents the President’s order that all Navy ships and Army commands be notified by radio of the German invasion.
Notes by Harry S. Truman on the Potsdam Conference, July 17, 1945
On July 17, 1945, two months after Germany surrendered to the Allies at the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman came face to face with Marshal Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, one of the most brutal autocrats of all time, a meeting recounted in this page from Truman’s diary. The night before this meeting, Truman learned that the United States had successfully tested the world’s first atomic bomb, which may explain his diary’s cryptic reference to “dynamite.”
