U.S. in World War II

1939-1945. World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The war involved the many of the world's countries. Two opposing military alliances were formed: the Allies and the Axis. While Japan was already at war with China in 1937,  the Second World War began on September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Germany conquered much of Europe, eventually forming the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Approximately six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and this event would become known as the Holocaust.
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Vanishing Generation, Part 4
Episode 4

Video

Tom Grove, prisoner of war survivor, recalls the Battle of the Bulge, and says that is where he got his first combat injury. He was taken prisoner that day, after a German tank pulled up in front of...
Vanishing Generation, Part 3
Episode 3

Video

Don Ziglar, U.S.S. Yorktown Quartermaster, recalls Japanese fighter planes coming toward the Yorktown. The captain was out on the wing of the bridge, at the starboard side. The bridge wasn't big...
Vanishing Generation, Part 5
Episode 5

Video

Russell Meyne, B-17 pilot, says, "But Pearl Harbor, of course, was one about 4-hour period," and he didn't get hit, didn't get shot..."there was no continuity to it...the beginning and end was right...
Vanishing Generation, Part 6
Episode 6

Video

Major C. "Buck" Wiley recalls the Red Ball Express, loading up "all those 250 trucks...with ammunition...take them to the front...gasoline...and then when it started snowing, and when the Battle of...
Vanishing Generation, Part 1
Episode 1

Video

World War II is the most important event of the 20th Century. It changed everything. Fifty million people died in World War II, including 405,000 Americans. The United States became a world power, the...
Vanishing Generation, Part 2
Episode 2

Video

World War II occurred during the 1940s when segregation was still the norm in America. The African Americans who fought were in a segregated army even overseas in England. One of the reasons the...
Always First: The SC Air National Guard, Part 1
Episode 1

Video

The South Carolina Air National Guard has grown from a group of just 50 members to an essential fighting force of the United States military. South Carolina Air Guardsmen have served our country in...
James Francis Byrnes | History of SC Slide Collection
James Francis Byrnes | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 19

Photo

James Francis Byrnes (see Governor James Byrnes) rose to prominence in South Carolina and the nation, first in the House of Representatives, and then in the Senate. A supporter of Roosevelt's New Deal...
Japan's Surrender | History of SC Slide Collection
Japan's Surrender | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 17

Photo

The end of the Second World War came with the surrender of Japan on VJ Day, August 14, 1945. South Carolinians celebrated the victory with dancing in the streets of Charleston and with great joy. They...