On 3 Mar 1915, the US Naval Reserve was founded. Toward the end of the Nineteenth Century “naval militias,” organized in a number of states, represented the Navy’s manpower reserve. During the Spanish-American War naval militia units assisted in...
On 20 Feb 1042, during WWII, Lt. Edward O’Hare took off from the aircraft carrier Lexington in a raid against the Japanese position at Rabaul-and minutes later became America’s first flying ace. In mid-February 1942, the Lexington sailed...
On 14 Jan 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation No. 2537, requiring aliens from WWII-enemy countries–Italy, Germany and Japan–to register with the US Department of Justice. Registered persons were then...
On 11 Dec 1941, Adolf Hitler declared war on the US, bringing America, which had been neutral, into the European conflict. The bombing of Pearl Harbor surprised even Germany. Although Hitler had made an oral agreement with his Axis partner Japan...
On 7 Dec 1941, at 7:55 am Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the US naval...
On 27 Nov 1942, during WWII, French Admiral Jean de Laborde sank the French fleet anchored in Toulon harbor, off the southern coast of France, in order to keep it out of German hands. In June 1940, after the German invasion of France and the...
On 31 Oct 1941, USS Reuben James (DD-245)—a post-WWI four-funnel Clemson-class destroyer—was the first US Navy ship sunk by hostile action in WWII—this before the US entered the war. Upon the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939, she joined...
On 2 Oct 1941, the Germans began their surge to Moscow led by the 1st Army Group and Gen. Fedor von Bock. When Hitler first invaded Russia on 22 Jun 40 the Russian peasants greeted his army with bread and salt—the way liberators were treated—Stalin...
On 23 Aug 1939, Germany & the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact, stunning the world; the dictators were both playing to their own political needs. When Poland was threatened, Prime Minister Chamberlain made it plain that Britain would come...
15 Aug 1945 – WWII gasoline rationing in America ended on this day. Rationing was just one of the special measures taken in our country during wartime. Civilian auto production virtually ceased after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as the US...