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Selective Sercive and Training Act
The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was the first peacetime conscription in U.S. history. The Act required that men between the ages of 21 and 35 register with local draft boards. Once the U.S. entered WWII, all men aged 18 to 45 were subject to military service, and all men aged 18 to 65 were rewuired to register. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a suprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherloands, and the U.S. -
Day of Infamy
The Infamy Speech was delivered at 12:30 p.m. the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The name derives from ther first line of speech: Roosevelt describing the previous day as "a date which will live in infamy." Within a hour of the speech, Congress passed a formal declaration of war against Japan and offically brought the U.S. into World War II. -
Executive Order of 9066
United States Executive order of 9066 was a U.S. presidential executive order signed and issued during WWII by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizing the Secretry of War to prescribe certian areas as military zones. Eventually, EO 9066 cleared the way for the relocation of Japanese Americans to interment camps. -
Doolittle Raids
The Doolittle Raid was the first air raid by the U.S. to strike the Japanaese Home Islands during WWII. This provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the horrible attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid was planned and led by Lieutentant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAAF. -
Midway Island
In June of 1942, a clever trap lured four critical Japanese carriers to their destruction at Midway Island and essentially broke the back of the empire's naval and air power. From that point on, Japan would be on the defensive. -
Bataan Death March
78,000 American prisoners were forced to march -- sick, exhausted, and starving -- 65 miles to a Japanese prison camp. Almost ten thousand troops died on this march. -
Battle of Monte Cassino
The Battle of Monte Cassino was a costly series of four battles during WWII, fought by the Allies gainst Germans and Italians with the intentions of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome. -
D-Day
On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. The D-Day cost was high - more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler. -
Kamikaze
The Kamikaze were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of WWII, designed to destroy warships more effectively than was possible with conventional attacks. -
The Last Stand
The Battle of the Bulge was faught because of the German drive and the American effort to contain and later defeat it. This battle was Hitler's last stand to try and take back his land (Fortress Europe) and take over the U.S. His last attempt failed and American's regained their freedom and power over Europe. -
V-E Day
V-E Day -- known as Victrory in Europe -- commemorates on May 8, 1945, the date when the WWII Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of th armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Hitlers Reich. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of WWII, the Allies of World War II conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasake in Japan. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date. -
V-J Day
Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occured, effectively ending WWII, and subsequent annaversaties of that event.
