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The Pacific Clipper's long way home
Pearl Harbor stranded an American airliner, so the crew flew around the world.
Coming January 6
Dossier 07
World War II
The decisions, sacrifices, and lives behind the war.
The stories in this series
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Major James Howard's one-man stand
One Mustang pilot took on about thirty German fighters to protect the bombers.
Coming January 11
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Carole Lombard's last flight
Hollywood's biggest star died flying home from selling war bonds.
Coming January 16
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The landing at Anzio
Allied troops landed behind German lines in Italy almost unopposed.
Coming January 22
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Audie Murphy's stand at Holtzwihr
He climbed onto a burning tank destroyer and held off a German attack alone.
Coming January 26
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The Raid at Cabanatuan
Army Rangers crawled across an open field to free 500 prisoners of war.
Coming January 30
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The Four Chaplains
Four chaplains gave away their life jackets and went down with the ship, arms linked.
Coming February 3
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Guadalcanal is secured
After six months of brutal fighting, the Japanese were gone from Guadalcanal.
Coming February 9
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D-Day on Iwo Jima
Seventy thousand Marines were sent to take an island of volcanic ash.
Coming February 19
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The flags on Mount Suribachi
There were actually two flag raisings on Iwo Jima that day.
Coming February 23
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The Seabees get their name
The Navy needed builders who could fight, and they became the Seabees.
Coming March 5
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The bridge at Remagen
American soldiers raced across a bridge the Germans were trying to blow up.
Coming March 7
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MacArthur escapes Corregidor
Navy PT boats carried a general through enemy waters at night.
Coming March 11
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The Army's K-9 Corps
America's first war dogs were donated by families across the country.
Coming March 13
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Operation Varsity
Thousands of paratroopers dropped across the Rhine in a single day.
Coming March 24
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Iwo Jima's final battle
The last Japanese attack on Iwo Jima hit sleeping pilots and Seabees.
Coming March 26
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Okinawa: the last great battle
On Easter Sunday 1945, Americans walked ashore on Okinawa almost unopposed.
Coming April 1
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Sinking the battleship Yamato
The biggest battleship ever built sailed on a one-way mission and never arrived.
Coming April 7
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The Doolittle Raid
Sixteen Army bombers took off from a Navy carrier that was never built for them.
Coming April 18
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Handshake on the Elbe
American and Soviet soldiers met at a ruined bridge and cut Germany in two.
Coming April 25
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Exercise Tiger: D-Day's secret disaster
Weeks before D-Day, 749 Americans died in a rehearsal, and it was kept secret.
Coming April 28
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The liberation of Dachau
American soldiers opened the gates of the first Nazi concentration camp.
Coming April 29
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The fall of Corregidor
"We have done our best," the last radio message read, before Corregidor surrendered.
Coming May 6
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The Battle of the Coral Sea
The first battle where the ships never saw each other.
Coming May 8
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Midway: five minutes that changed the war
In about five minutes, Navy dive bombers turned the Pacific War.
Coming June 4
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General Marshall's plan
The general who helped win a world war gave a short speech about rebuilding it.
Coming June 5
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D-Day
On June 6, 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops crossed the Channel.
Coming June 6
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The Coast Guard Auxiliary is born
Weekend boaters became a volunteer force that helped guard America's coasts in WWII.
Coming June 23
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The Dentist Who Held the Line
He was an Army dentist. He died behind a machine gun.
Coming July 7
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The Invasion of Sicily
Paratroopers jumped into the dark, scattered across a hostile island.
Coming July 10
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Trinity: The First Atomic Blast
At 5:29 a.m., the New Mexico desert briefly became brighter than the sun.
Coming July 16
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The Port Chicago Explosion
In seconds, a California pier vanished, and 320 men died.
Coming July 17
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A Bomber Hits the Empire State Building
In thick fog, a B-25 slammed into the world's tallest building.
Coming July 28
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USS Indianapolis
After delivering the atomic bomb, they spent four days in shark-filled water.
Coming July 30
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Operation Tidal Wave: Ploesti
They flew B-24 bombers at treetop height into Hitler's oil fields.
Coming August 1
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PT-109
A Japanese destroyer cut his boat in half. Then Lt. Kennedy started swimming.
Coming August 2
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The Marines Land on Guadalcanal
Eight months after Pearl Harbor, America finally went on offense.
Coming August 7
Nazi Saboteurs Executed
Eight Nazi saboteurs landed on American beaches. One of them called the FBI.
Coming August 8
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Bockscar Over Nagasaki
Their target was hidden by clouds, and their fuel was running out.
Coming August 9
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Hedy Lamarr's Secret Patent
A Hollywood star patented an idea that helps power today's wireless technology.
Coming August 11
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The Other Kennedy Brother
Joe Kennedy Jr. volunteered to fly a plane packed with explosives.
Coming August 12
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V-J Day in America
At 7 p.m., the president announced the words Americans had waited for.
Coming August 14
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Schweinfurt-Regensburg
In a single day, sixty American bombers fell from the sky.
Coming August 17
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Surrender in Tokyo Bay
On a battleship's deck, the deadliest war in history officially ended.
Coming September 2
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Douglas Munro: Did They Get Off?
The Coast Guard's only Medal of Honor went to a 22-year-old signalman.
Coming September 27
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MacArthur returns to the Philippines
Two and a half years earlier he had promised: I shall return.
Coming October 20
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Taffy 3 off Samar
Destroyers charged battleships, knowing they probably would not come back.
Coming October 25
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The Sinking of the Reuben James
The first U.S. warship sunk in World War II went down before America entered it.
Coming October 31
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The Shore at Tarawa
Seventy-six hours on a coral island in the Pacific, and the hard lessons Marines carried to every beach after it.
Coming November 6
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Operation Torch
America's first big punch at Hitler landed in North Africa.
Coming November 8
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The five Sullivan brothers
They enlisted on one condition: that they serve together.
Coming November 13
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Bloody Tarawa
The tide was too low, and Marines had to wade 500 yards under fire.
Coming November 20
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The secret sinking of the Rohna
More than 1,000 American soldiers died, and the Army kept it secret for decades.
Coming November 26
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The first nuclear chain reaction
Under the stands of a football field, the atomic age began.
Coming December 2
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Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 on a Sunday morning, the first bombs fell.
Coming December 7
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A date which will live in infamy
Roosevelt crossed out world history and wrote one word: infamy.
Coming December 8
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Germany declares war on America
Hitler made a decision that sealed his fate. He declared war on America.
Coming December 11
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The sinking of USS Panay
Four years before Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes sank an American gunboat.
Coming December 12
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The Battle of the Bulge begins
In the snowy Ardennes, a quiet sector suddenly exploded.
Coming December 16
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Typhoon Cobra
The storm killed more sailors than many battles did.
Coming December 18
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Nuts!
The Germans asked the Americans at Bastogne to surrender. The answer: Nuts!
Coming December 22
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The Leopoldville goes down
Five miles from France on Christmas Eve, more than 760 soldiers died.
Coming December 24
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The arsenal of democracy
A year before Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt told Americans their factories must arm freedom.
Coming December 29