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  • Gilbert and Marshall Islands

    Seventh Air Force B-24s, refueling in the Ellice Islands, first bombed Tarawa and Nauru in the Gilberts in April 1943. In November, following preliminary aerial bombardment by B-24s and carrier-based Navy aircraft, Tarawa and Makin Islands were invaded by U.S. Army forces, respectively. AAF planes

  • Island Hopping

    In the central Pacific, the role of the Hawaii-based 7th Air Force had been primarily a defensive one and after the Battle of Midway, the enemy had made no serious effort to advance in that theater. But, by late 1943 as growing U.S. naval strength permitted a more aggressive strategy in the central

  • Aleutian Campaign

    As a diversionary move in conjunction with their strike against Midway, the Japanese in June 1942 bombed Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Island chain and landed troops on Kiska and Attu islands. Here the Japanese remained, primarily in a defensive situation, to prevent any movement by American forces

  • New Guinea Blockade

    Following their loss of Buna and Gona during the Papuan campaign, the enemy in New Guinea attempted to reinforce Lae on the Huon Gulf, but failed. On March 1, 1943, a B-24 spotted an enemy naval convoy and in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea that followed, planes of the 5th Air Force and the Royal

  • Solomon Islands

    The Allied defensive line in the Pacific was threatened at another point in the summer of 1942. The Japanese had moved into the lower Solomon Islands and were rushing to complete an airfield on Guadalcanal from which they could threaten the lifeline between Hawaii and Australia. On Aug. 7, 1942,

  • Combat Pacific

    For six months following the Pearl Harbor disaster, the outnumbered and ill-supplied Allied forces in the Pacific could do little more than attempt to delay the Japanese advance. Australia was a key stronghold for the buildup of Allied forces, but in early 1942 the last Allied outpost north of

  • Papua

    In July 1942 enemy troops on the Papuan peninsula on the northeast coast of New Guinea began an advance across the Owen Stanley Mountains against Port Moresby. Exhausted Australian ground forces, reinforced by troops flown to the scene, halted the enemy less than 30 miles from Port Moresby and then

  • Makeshift Uniform

    This mannequin depicts some of the makeshift characteristics of the USAAF personnel fighting on the ground. He is wearing a mismatched uniform that is a combination of a khaki service shirt and the more durable blue denim work pants. Others went into combat wearing work or flying coveralls or their

  • Service and Sacrifice: Master Sergeant Charles B. Causey

    When the Japanese attacked the Philippines, Causey was the flight line maintenance chief of the 20th Air Base Group at Nichols Field. Causey survived the Battle of Bataan, an attack from a guard on the Death March, and three years in a prison camp before being loaded onto a hell ship.For two weeks,

  • Service and Sacrifice: Chaplain Robert Preston Taylor

    Chaplain Taylor was awarded a Silver Star for his bravery in Bataan for assisting with the evacuation of wounded from the front lines while under heavy fire before the surrender. On the Death March, Taylor was beaten and tortured during the March for helping others. While at a prison camp in