An “Angel in Fatigues”

Army Colonel Ruby Bradley of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps was working at Camp John Hay in the Philippines when she was taken prisoner by the Japanese army in 1941. She became a POW at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila — but she didn’t let it break her spirit. Bradley immediately went to work helping her fellow POWs by offering medical aid and smuggling food and medicine to those in need. She assisted on 230 major surgeries and delivered 13 babies during her 37 months at the camp. Bradley and her fellow nurses became known as the “Angels in Fatigues.” 

In February 1945, the camp was finally liberated, and Bradley — who was malnourished from giving her food rations to children — went home. She continued her career in the Army, amassing 34 decorations, medals, and awards (including the Bronze Star Medal), making her one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history.

America’s First Black General

General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. faced racial discrimination from the very beginning of his military career. He was only the fourth Black cadet in the history of the United States Military Academy at West Point before joining the Army in 1936. After being stationed in Alabama, he received the opportunity of a lifetime: squadron commander of the first all-Black unit in the Army Air Forces. This unit of 1,000 Black pilots became known as the Tuskegee Airmen, renowned for their exceptional achievements in combat despite the discrimination they faced. 

Davis led the 99th Fighter Squadron during their 1943 deployment against Axis forces in North Africa, and later that year, he commanded the 332nd Fighter Group to fight on the front lines in Italy. During his two-year command of the Tuskegee Airmen, Davis and his crew sank more than 40 enemy ships and downed more than twice the number of aircraft they lost, earning them a reputation as a formidable fighting squadron. Their impressive record wasn’t just a message to the enemy; it broke racial barriers at home, furthering the fight for desegregation and equal rights. Davis had a life of public service and was promoted to four-star general by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

The First Female Asian American Officer

For Navy Lieutenant Susan Ahn Cuddy, entry into military service was personal. Her father, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, died while imprisoned by the Japanese in 1938. He was incarcerated for anti-Japanese activism as a known leader for the Korean independence movement. Despite growing anti-Asian sentiments during WWII, Cuddy wanted to honor her father and fight against the Japanese, so she enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. She was the first female Asian American naval officer and eventually became the first female gunnery officer, training pilots to fire a .50-caliber machine gun. She later worked with codebreakers at the Naval Intelligence Office while using her knowledge of the Korean language. Even there, Cuddy faced discrimination — one of her superiors wouldn’t let her access classified documents. After the war, Cuddy worked at the National Security Agency during the Cold War. She died peacefully in her sleep in 2015 at the age of 100.

A Civilian Dockyard Worker at Pearl Harbor

On the morning of December 7, 1941, George Walters, a crane operator at the Pearl Harbor dockyard in Hawaii, awoke to a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces. Walters ran to a massive crane next to the USS Pennsylvania and began moving it back and forth on its track to shield the ship from an onslaught of rounds from Japanese fighters and dive bombers. He even attempted to knock planes out of the sky with the boom. The protected gunners onboard the Pennsylvania were able to return fire. Later, a bomb exploded on the dock next to Walter’s crane, knocking him out of the fight. He survived with a concussion, and it’s believed that his actions helped save the ship from certain destruction. The story of Walters’ heroism was featured in Walter Lord’s 1957 book “Day of Infamy.” Walters continued to work at the shipyard for 25 years following the attack. Lewis Walters, George’s son, was a young shipyard apprentice at the time who witnessed his father’s bravery firsthand.

Indigenous Volunteers Defended the Coast of Alaska From Invasion

In June 1942, roughly six months after the attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Japan launched another attack against the United States by invading the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. In response, the U.S. military turned to Alaska’s Indigenous communities to help guard the vulnerable territory, as they had the experience and expertise required to navigate the vast, forbidding landscape of the Alaskan coastline. The Indigenous volunteers who joined this Alaska Territorial Guard came from several tribes throughout the region, including the Yup’ik, Inupiaq, Tlingit, Aleut, and Tsimshian peoples. In addition to defending the Alaskan coastline, the Alaska Territorial Guard protected vital supply routes between the U.S. and Russia.

A Unit of Black Truck Drivers Played a Crucial Role After D-Day

Following the successful Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, Allied forces continued inland to liberate occupied France and Belgium from the Nazis. As more than 1 million Allied troops continued to move inland, it became increasingly difficult to transport supplies from the port cities to the soldiers pushing east, especially after Nazi forces destroyed a crucial Belgian port in Antwerp. To solve this problem, the Allied forces established a trucking route known as the “Red Ball Express.” These trucks were predominantly driven by African American soldiers who braved treacherous terrain and the threat of German aircraft to keep Allied soldiers stocked with crucial supplies. The trucking route of the Red Ball Express eventually stretched all the way from Normandy to the French-German border, and drivers would often make the journey almost entirely without stopping to transport their cargo to the front as quickly as possible. 

The American armed forces were racially segregated throughout the war, with Black and white soldiers serving in separate units. Due to discrimination, Black soldiers were often relegated to support roles in the service of white troops. However, the bravery of units such as the Red Ball truckers and the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, a decorated group of African American fighter pilots, helped persuade President Harry Truman to integrate the U.S. military shortly after the war.

The U.S. Military Was Full of Baseball Legends

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Americans from all walks of life, including professional athletes, enlisted in the armed services. Some of the greatest baseball players of all time put their careers on hold to support the war effort, including Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, and Jackie Robinson. One of the most notable major leaguers to serve in the war was legendary hitter Ted Williams, who served in both the Navy and the Marines as a fighter pilot. Williams proved a highly skilled pilot, and even returned to military service during the Korean War, where he flew combat missions with future astronaut John Glenn.

A Hollywood Icon Invented a Torpedo Guidance System

Austrian-born actress Hedy Lamarr was already a movie star in Hollywood as World War II was looming in Europe. In 1942, in an effort to help the fight against fascism, Lamarr helped invent a novel torpedo guidance system called “frequency hopping,” which allowed for long-range weapons guidance that was resistant to torpedo jamming from the enemy. While the U.S. Navy ultimately decided against using Lamarr’s invention in the war effort, her ingenuity didn’t go to waste. The frequency-hopping technology laid the foundation for future technologies such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and in 2014, Lamarr was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 

The U.S. Government Established an Entire Town to Build the Atomic Bomb

As part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, the U.S.-led research project aimed at developing an atomic bomb, the United States government constructed an entire town in Tennessee, known as Oak Ridge, in 1942. Oak Ridge was home to multiple factories and other industrial facilities that produced the materials needed to build nuclear weapons. The work being done in Oak Ridge was so secretive that not even most of the town’s residents knew what exactly they were working on. With the exception of a few high-ranking scientists, most people employed in the town’s science and energy facilities were given a set of instructions for how to do their jobs, but were not told the purpose behind the tasks.

The United States Was Involved in the War Even Before Pearl Harbor

Although the United States didn’t officially enter World War II until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. government still found ways to support the Allied war effort. For instance, in 1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act, which authorized the U.S. to lend weapons to the Allied powers, particularly Great Britain. The Lend-Lease Act allowed the United States to remain technically neutral while still supporting its European allies in the fight against the invading German army. This tenuous policy of neutrality continued until the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. By the next day, the U.S. had declared war on Japan, and just three days later it fully joined the conflict by declaring war on Germany and Italy. 

China and Japan Never Signed a Peace Treaty With Each Other

Although China’s contributions to the Allied war effort are often overlooked in the West, China was the first nation to engage in combat against an Axis power. China had been fighting against Japan’s encroaching imperialism in mainland Asia since 1937, two years before the official beginning of World War II, and when the global conflict broke out, China joined the Allied powers by continuing to fight its island neighbor. More than 14 million Chinese civilians and soldiers were killed in battles throughout Asia over the course of the war. When World War II ended, China was not involved in the Allies’ peace negotiations with Japan, and to this day the two nations have never officially signed a peace treaty to mark the end of their wartime conflict.

Early NASA Rockets Were Based on Nazi Missile Designs

During World War II, the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun was the leading engineer behind the development of the deadly supersonic missile known as the V-2 rocket. Development began in 1936, and by 1944, the Nazis were using the missiles to deliver devastating attacks against France, England, and Belgium. At the time, the V-2 was the most advanced ballistic missile in the world: Its innovative use of liquid rocket fuel enabled it to reach speeds up to 3,500 miles per hour and strike from distances of 200 miles; it was also equipped with an onboard computer-based guidance system that allowed it to strike with deadly accuracy. The technology that allowed the V-2 to reach these stunning altitudes and travel with such accuracy also made it the forerunner to modern space rockets. After the war, NASA brought von Braun to the United States, where he used his expertise in rocketry to become one of the leading scientists in the U.S. space race. Though von Braun’s ties to the Nazis tarnished his reputation for the rest of his life, his contributions to the space race earned him high honors from the U.S. government, and he remains a controversial figure in the history of space travel.