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Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was ordered by FDR in 1942. It forced people living in the U.S. from japanese ancestry to move to internment camps. They were treated as prisoners of war but not as harsh as other prisoners. They could have jobs and farms but could not leave the camps. The reason for this order was to keep japanese spies from relaying messages form the U.S. back to the Empire of Japan. The U.S. government later apologized after the war for having unjust reasons for these camps. -
The Bataan March
The United States held the islands of the Phillippines in early WWII. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese pushed to take over the Phillippines. They were successful and drove the U.S. troops to the Bataan Peninsula. The U.S. troops were trapped and forced to surrender. The Japanese captured the U.S. troops and led them on a march that left 100-650 americans dead. -
D-Day
On June 6, 1944, over 160,000 troops of the Allied forces invaded a 50-mile stretch on the beaches of Normandy. This was the start of the invasion of mainland Europe to fight Hitler and Germany. Over 9,000 Allied soldiers died in the invasion, but more than 100,000 made it to start marching inward across Europe. D-Day gave the Allies a foothold in France, from then they would never look back. -
Auschwitz Liberation
In mid-January 1945, Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz camp, the largest of the German concentration camps. The SS began evacuating the tens of thousands of prisoners. These prisoners began marching. On this march, most of them died or were murdered. When the Soviet Union entered Auschwitz on January 27th, they rescued the 7,000 remaining prisoners, which were mostly sick or dying. -
Raising the flag on Mount Suribachi
The raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi was photographed by Joe Rosenthal. It was at the beginning of the Battle of Iwo Jima, but at that time the U.S. thought they had won the battle. Fighting continued on the island for weeks because the Japanese soldiers fought to the death. The battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific in WWII. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
The bombing of Hiroshima was the first use of a nuclear bomb in combat. The bomb killed over 100,000 citizens of the city of Hiroshima, Japan. This bombing led to the complete surrender of the Empire of Japan in WWII. This also started a new era in weapon technology.
