World War II

USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta (left) and Toshihiro Mutsuda, the son of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, hold together the late soldier's "good luck flag" during a handover ceremony in Tokyo, on Saturday.

World News

A WWII Japanese soldier's 'good luck flag' is returned to his family from U.S. museum

10:47am July 29, 2023

by The Associated Press

The flag belonging to Shigeyoshi Mutsuda was returned to his son from a U.S. war museum where it had been on display for 29 years. "It's a miracle," 83-year-old Toshihiro Mutsuda said.

Fragile Cargo recounts Chinese curators' efforts to rescue priceless artworks ahead of and during war with Japan in the 1930s. It's the first time the story has been told in English.

'Fragile Cargo' chronicles the quest to save China's Forbidden City treasures from war

5:00am July 15, 2023

by Vincent Ni

A book recounts how precious works of art thousands of years old were taken to safety as Japan began its invasion of China in the 1930s — a part of China's history largely unknown outside Asia.

Lt. Frank J. Crawford of Detroit, Michigan, as the Regimental plans and training officer, is giving his men instructions in combat maneuvers.

This WWII battle wasn't against Nazis. It was between Black and white GIs in England

4:38pm June 21, 2023

It's the 80th anniversary of a little-known battle — by Black U.S. soldiers against segregation in the military. They were convicted of mutiny. Villagers in England want them exonerated.

'The Red Hotel' tells the story of Western journalists who were largely confined to Moscow's Metropol Hotel as they attempted to cover the Soviet side of World War II.

'The Red Hotel': Trying to cover World War II from a 'gilded cage' in Moscow

4:58pm June 05, 2023

by Greg Myre

When Russia's Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, he clamped down on the media. In his new book, author Alan Philps sees parallels to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin who confined reporters in World War II.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on Tuesday.

World News

Putin assails West for unleashing 'real war' against Russia, as it marks Victory Day

1:14pm May 09, 2023

by Charles Maynes

Russia's Victory Day ceremony was scaled back this year, amid the war in Ukraine.

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A team of explorers announced it found the sunken Japanese ship Montevideo Maru that was transporting Allied prisoners of war when it was torpedoed off the coast of the Philippines in 1942, resulting in Australia's largest maritime wartime loss: 1,080 lives.

World News

Explorers find a World War II ship that was sunk with over 1,000 Allied POWs aboard

12:29pm April 22, 2023

by The Associated Press

The Japanese ship Montevideo Maru wasn't marked as carrying POWs, and on July 1, 1942, a U.S. submarine fired four torpedoes, sinking the vessel in less than 10 minutes.

This undated photo provided by Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial shows Shlomo Perel at his home in Givatayim, Israel. Perel, who survived the Holocaust through surreal subterfuge and an extraordinary odyssey that inspired his own writing and an internationally renowned film, has died. He was 98.

Shlomo Perel, a Holocaust survivor who inspired the film 'Europa Europa,' dies at 98

9:45am February 04, 2023

by The Associated Press

Shlomo Perel, who survived the Holocaust through surreal subterfuge and an extraordinary odyssey that inspired his own writing and an internationally renowned film, has died in Israel.

This handout negative dated on April 20, 1943, and taken by Polish firefighter Zbigniew Leszek Grzywaczewski shows Jewish people being evacuated from the Warsaw Ghetto.

A firefighter's 1943 photos of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising have been found

2:29pm January 21, 2023

by The Associated Press

The photos were taken inside the Warsaw Ghetto by a 23-year-old Polish firefighter as the Nazis were brutally crushing the Jewish uprising of 1943. The photos were discovered in a family collection.

Red knitted caps were a grandmother's way of saying, "I love you."

Health & Safety

We asked, you answered: What precious object is part of your family history?

7:01am November 14, 2022

by Marc Silver

Readers responded with moving stories of past journeys and crises — and keepsakes that remind them of their roots and tie them to their family. Here's a sampling of replies.

Members of the all-Black aviation squadron known as the Tuskegee Airmen line up Jan. 23, 1942.

Books
Arts

'Half American' explores how Black WWII servicemen were treated better abroad

11:37am November 08, 2022

by Dave Davies

Though more than one million Black Americans contributed to the war effort, historian Matthew Delmont says a military uniform offered no protection from racism.

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