WWIIVHP BLOG
Discover the latest from the WWII Veterans History Project.
Follow our journey of capturing the stories of WWII veterans, educating the next generation, and giving the past a future, one story at a time.
96-YEAR-OLD WWII 1ST ENGINEER COMBAT BN VETERAN
We recently had the opportunity to interview 96-year-old Lawrence Bailey, a WWII veteran who served as a Sergeant in the 1st Engineer Combat Battalion during the occupation of Germany.Although he never saw combat, Bailey’s job was hazardous – and instrumental in the US military’s efforts to denazify, stabilize, and rebuild Germany following World War II…
REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR | 81ST ANNIVERSARY
Today marks the 81st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. We honor all service members present during the attack and remember those who lost their lives on that fateful day…
WORLD WAR II BEGINS | 83 YEARS AGO TODAY
83 years ago today, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, triggering the outbreak of World War II. For the first time, the German blitzkrieg was put into action. Although the Polish army fought hard to defend their country, they were unprepared and quickly overwhelmed by numbers and superior tactics. In less than a month, the entire nation had been overrun and occupied…
MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT | 83RD ANNIVERSARY
On August 23, 1939, Germany shocked the world when Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop flew to Moscow and signed a non-aggression pact with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. The secret terms called for a partition of Poland, with Germany invading the Western half, while Soviet forces occupied the East…
DIEPPE RAID | 80TH ANNIVERSARY
On August 19, 1942, the Allies launched Operation Jubilee, an amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France. It tested the possibility of a large scale beach landing in Western Europe and was designed to infiltrate and destroy critical military targets, including German coastal defenses and port facilities…
VICTORY OVER JAPAN | 77TH ANNIVERSARY
Today marks the 77th Anniversary of VJ Day, marking the official end of WWII. On August 15, 1945, in a radio broadcast to his Empire, Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies. In his somber speech, he noted that the use of "a new and most cruel bomb", led to the surrender and that further fighting would only cause "the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation"…
NAGASAKI BOMBING | 77TH ANNIVERSARY
Three days after the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Japanese surrender still not forthcoming. As a result, the Americans chose a second target. On August 9, a B-29 took off from Tinian airbase and dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, a large coastal city on the Japanese island of Kyushu. This bomb was nicknamed "Fat Man" and produced similar results as the Hiroshima bomb…
HIROSHIMA BOMBING | 77TH ANNIVERSARY
It was a calm and sunny morning on August 6, 1945, when the B-29 bomber Enola Gay departed the American air base on the island of Tinian. Its destination: the city of Hiroshima. At approximately 8:15 a.m. local time, the world's first atomic bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy,” was dropped on the city. The explosion was equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, and it sent a radioactive blast wave across the densely populated metropolis…
78TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION OVERLORD / D-DAY
"The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you." – General Dwight D. Eisenhower - Today marks the 78th Anniversary of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944…
VICTORY OVER GERMANY | 77TH ANNIVERSARY OF VE DAY
77 years ago today, on May 8, 1945, the Allies accepted Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces, marking the end of WWII in Europe. It was a day of triumph and jubilation, as millions of people across the world celebrated the return of peace to the European continent after nearly six years of destructive war…
SOVIET TROOPS CAPTURE VIENNA, AUSTRIA
On this day in 1945, Soviet troops captured Vienna, Austria. As a major city in the Third Reich, Vienna had been bombarded continuously for the year before the arrival of Soviet troops, and many buildings had already been damaged or destroyed…