The World War II submarine USS Lionfish was part of America's "Silent Service." Despite comprising less than 2% of all US Navy vessels during World War II, submarines like the USS Lionfish sank 55% of Japanese vessels in battle. This once-fearsome vessel is now a 311-foot-long museum exhibit, allowing the public to learn about its top-secret wartime operations. Take a look inside the USS Lionfish.
Although this work is considered a modern opera, the action in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay takes place during World War II. Two Jewish cousins work together to create an anti-fascist superhero, the "Escapist." They hope the comic book adventures they write inspire others to fight against Nazism. The three distinct settings where the plot unfolds allow the audience to experience New York City, Prague, and a comic book reality.
1. The very first iteration of Ronald McDonald was created by Willard Scott in 1963: 2. The two people depicted in Grant Wood's "American Gothic" actually exist. This is what they looked like: 3. This is Margaret Gorman, the woman who won the very first Miss America competition in 1921: 6. This is Conrad Veidt, the man whose performance in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs inspired the look of the iconic villain the Joker:
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2025. There are eight days left in the year. Today in history: On Dec. 23, 1972, in an NFL playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders, Steelers running back Franco Harris scored a game-winning touchdown on a deflected pass with less than 10 seconds left. The Immaculate Reception, as the catch came to be known, is often cited as the greatest NFL play of all time.
These 1944 wartime copies of Lust for Life are scarce and the few which do survive, like our example, tend to be bashed up, because they were often kept in the pockets of US uniforms. The thin pages have browned after more than 80 years, since paper was in short supply and the books were only intended to last for the duration of the war.
During conservation work this year, specialists discovered seven bullet wounds, inflicted by German troops during the Second World War, in the copper of the Madonna and Child statue that stands atop Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseille, the basilica crowning the city's highest peak. Known locally as la Bonne Mère (the good mother), she is said to watch over sailors, fishermen and all Marseillais.
When 15-year-old Shurina is cast as a kamikaze pilot in her school play, she embarks on an unexpected journey through history and loss. As she travels across Japan, she visits World War II memorials and hangs paper cranes in memory of schoolgirls forced to end their lives during the war. In Okinawa, as her final performance approaches, Shurina seeks the courage to honor the voices of the past.
Dictators like to move people around. Stalin, for instance. From the summer of 1941 through the fall of 1942, with the Russian front facing massive bombardment and Nazi troops on the ground, he decided to relocate civilians, and entire industries, to safer regions in the eastern Soviet Union. The Urals, Siberia, the middle Volga, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan eventually received sixteen million evacuees, perhaps the most ever moved across land by a single directive.
Her name was Iva Toguri D'Aquino, and she was born in Watts to Japanese parents in 1916 and had a degree in zoology from UCLA. She wanted to be a doctor. But she traveled to Tokyo in 1941 to care for a sick aunt, with disastrous timing. She made the trip without a passport, which doomed her desperate efforts to board a ship home as the war erupted.
This year's Remembrance Day, which is held every Nov. 11 to honour those who have served and are currently serving in the military, marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Tuesday will also mark the 100th anniversary of the Toronto Cenotaph at Old City Hall. The memorial for those who died at war has been a site of remembrance since 1925.
British Asian families are being urged to record the experiences of relatives who fought for Britain for future generations as data reveals half the British public don't know that Indian members of the armed forces served in the second world war. The My Family Legacy project, backed by the Royal British Legion, is building an online archive of Asian veterans' experiences to raise awareness of the shared histories and sacrifices of Britain's diverse communities.
Lend-Lease (sometimes called Lease-Lend) was a programme of financial and material aid given by the United States to its allies during the Second World War (1939-45). Food, weapons, ammunition, and agricultural equipment were amongst the goods which crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The value of Lend-Lease goods has been estimated at around $50 billion. Payment was expected from the recipient states, although there was flexibility on how much, in what form, and when this was to be given.
Boeing played an integral role in World War 2. The B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress bombers, both produced by Boeing, became iconic symbols of American air power. These aircraft delivered devastating blows to Axis forces, with the B-29s dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. Aside from bombers, Boeing also manufactured fighter planes, reconnaissance aircraft, and transport planes.
On 26 January 1944, a 23-year-old US pilot was flying a mighty P-47 Thunderbolt on a wartime training exercise when it crashed in Essex. Locals witnessed the horror of 2nd Lt Lester Lowry's aircraft diving to the ground and bursting into flames. Lowry was not seen to bail out and he has remained missing in action (MIA) for more than 80 years.
Aircraft carriers have been central to the U.S. Navy, and over the years they have only increased in importance since their introduction in World War 2. Each new generation has pushed the limits of range, aircraft capacity, and survivability. The Yorktown, Essex, and Midway classes would set the stage for the modern Navy we know today. These carriers acted as mobile airbases that allowed the U.S. to strike deep into enemy territory.
On Oct. 23, 2001, Apple released the iPod. An estimated 450 million iPod devices were sold before the line was discontinued in 2022. Also on this date: In 1915, an estimated 25,000 women marched on Fifth Avenue in New York City in support of women's suffrage. In 1942, during World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein (el ah-lah-MAYN') in Egypt, resulting in an Allied forces victory.
In 1924, while imprisoned at Landsberg Prison following the failed Beer Hall Putsch, a 35-year-old political agitator named Adolf Hitler began writing his manifesto, Mein Kampf. In it, he called for the destruction of the Treaty of Versailles, the creation of a new German Reich through territorial expansion, and the removal of Jews from German life. Fourteen years later, on September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich to cheering crowds after concluding a meeting with the same Hitler.
The M4 Sherman was the backbone of Allied armored forces in World War II. It devastated German armor and infantry across North Africa and Europe, leaving an indelible mark on tank design and military doctrine for generations. This tank was mass-produced in greater numbers than any other American tank of the era, and it was prized among the Allies not just for a single breakthrough feature but for a reliable mix of production practicality and firepower on the battlefield.
Marilyn Morawetz stares at the crumbling walls of a historic cafeteria building, still finding beauty in its prairie-style architecture. They're almost never seen in an industrial kind of setting like this, she said. If it goes down, our real fear is that everything will go down and that would be an incredible shame. The 100-year-old building closed in 2008 and sits in disrepair alongside five other heritage buildings that once formed Camp 30, on the edge of the Town of Bowmanville, Ont.
On Oct. 3, 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a reunified country. Also on this date: In 1944, during World War II, U.S. Army troops cracked the Siegfried Line north of Aachen, Germany. In 1951, the New York Giants captured the National League pennant by a score of 5-4 as Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which became known as the Shot Heard Round the World.
After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the liberation of France, Senon joined the CGT union and the Communist Party. She rose up the ranks of the male-dominated trade union movement to head one of the CGT's most important women's sections in Paris. Throughout her life, Senon, who styled herself as an "eternal rebel", never gave up fighting for women's rights.
When Ameya Desai won the fourth grade prize of NPR's Student Podcast Challenge last year, something surprising happened: A neighbor reached out asking if the 11-year-old journalist would interview his grandmother, a survivor of the Japanese incarceration camps. Ameya was amazed, shocked that she had never learned this history before, one that takes place in her hometown, San Jose, Calif.
