AP Historical Hard Drive 2002

U.S. Coast Guardsmen and Marines push a jeep onto solid ground as they disembark from a landing ship transport, at Cape Gloucester, New Britain Island...

A U.S. Marine patrol is seen at Arawe, New Britain Island, in January 1944, during the invasion of New Guinea in World War II. (AP Photo)

These U.S. Marine Raiders, with the reputation of being skillful jungle fighters, pose in front of a Japanese stronghold they conquered at Cape Totkin...

U.S. Marines come ashore from the mouth of a Coast Guard manned LST, during the invasion of New Britain Island, at Cape Gloucester, in January 1944. (...

Japanese bombers are seen attacking American landing crafts at Arawe, New Britain, on December 31, 1943, during the U.S. invasion of Papua New Guinea....

This view from a B-17 Flying Fortress of the 8th U.S. Army Air Forces Bomber Command shows the bombing of the vital CAM ball bearing plant and the nea...

U.S. Marines are seen from above as they wade through rough water to take the beach at Cape Gloucester on New Britain, Papua New Guinea, on December 2...

A landing ship tank from the U.S. Coast Guard is crammend with man and material as it is under way to support the invasion of Cape Gloucester on Japan...

Bob Cousy, Holy Cross College basketball player, poses in action in Worcester, Ma., on Dec. 23, 1943. (AP Photo)

Actor William Bendix and actress Gale Sondegaard help serve lunch to servicemen at the United Service Organizations (USO) Hollywood Canteen snack bar,...

German troops are seen as they move through a burning street in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr, on December 20, 1943. (AP Photo)

Black smoke rises from Betio islet after a U.S. air raid against enemy positions on the isle at Tarawa atoll, on December 17, 1943. (AP Photo)

A Japanese bomber is seen attacking an American landing craft at Arawe, New Britain, on December 15, 1943, during the U.S. invasion of Papua New Guine...

Chinese Nationalist Army troops are seen marching through a battle-wrecked street in Changde, town and port in the Hunan province in southeastern Chin...

German soldiers wait at their positions for the signal to throw back the advancing Soviet troops, at an unknown location along the German-Russian fron...

U.S. Marines are blowing up a Japanese pillbox during the invasion at Tarawa atoll, on December 6, 1943. (AP Photo)

A Japanese torpedo bomber explodes after being hit by a 5 inch shell from the USS Yorktown (CV-10) as it attempted to attack the carrier, off Kwajalei...

Heavy Flak fire lights up the night sky over Naples, on December 3, 1943, during the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland. (AP Photo)

Dead Japanese soldiers, who resorted to hara-kiri rather than being defeated and captured, are sprawled across their pillbox, at Tarawa atoll, on Dece...

U.S. Marines are seen as they storm an airport on Tarawa atoll, on December 2, 1943, during the U.S. invasion of the Pacific island. (AP Photo)

U.S. Marines look at a poster of a pin-up girl while crew in the bow of the landing craft keep a lookout on Tarawa atoll of Kiribati, smoke in backgro...

A U.S. Marine, left, goes over the top of a log barricade on the beach as marines leave their beachhead to storm the Japanese-held airport at Tarawa a...

U.S. Marines find cover behind a bank on the edge of a lagoon on Tarawa atoll during U.S. invasion of the Japanese stronghold Gilbert Islands, Kiribat...

U.S. Marines order Japanese soldiers to surrender from the bombproof shelter commanding the beach at Tarawa atoll at Kiribati, Gilbert Islands, Dec. 1...

A U.S. Marine, center, throws a hand grenade at a Japanese pill-box on Tarawa Island, Kiribati, as the smoke of battle rolls back over the hastily thr...

Carl and Shelley Mydans, Life photographer and reporter, smile Dec.1,1943 after arriving at Jersey City,N.J. aboard the Gripsholm from abroad. (AP Pho...

Members of a U.S. Marine outfit wade through surf from landing boats and barges to the beach during their amphibious invasion of Tarawa atoll in the G...

U.S. Marines are seen as they storm a Japanese-held gun shelter atop of a hill on Tarawa atoll, Gilbert Islands, on November 21, 1943. (AP Photo)

Under the slim protection of a blasted-off tree, an U.S. Marine attacks the Japanese-held gun shelter seen in the background, during the invasion of T...

Under attack from Japanese machine gun fire on the right flank, men of the 165th Infantry are seen as the wade through coral bottom water on Yellow Be...

U.S. Marines of the 2nd Marine Division, many of them wounded, are seen as they take cover behind a sea wall on Red Beach No. 3, during the initial la...

A German paratrooper is seen at an unknown battlefield on the German-Russian front, on November 19, 1943. (AP Photo)

A F6F fighter crash lands into the portside gun gallery on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, November 10, 1943. Catapult Officer Lt. Walter Chewn...

Unidentified crewmen aboard the USS Saratoga (CV-3) are seen as they lift the injured gunman Kenneth Bratton (AOM) out of the turret of a TBF Avenger...

A Japanese ship sinks in Rabaul harbor, New Britain, on November 2, 1943, after being hit in an air raid of the U.S. Army 5th Air Force on the Japanes...

American pursuit pilots of the famed Flying Tigers run for their Curtiss P-40 fighters as an air raid warning sounds, at an unknown airbase in China,...

A Japanese vessel takes a hit amidships in Rabaul harbor, New Britain, during an air raid of the U.S. Army 5th Air Force on the Japanese-held air and...

A B-25 bomber of the U.S. Army 5th Air Force strikes against a Japanese ship in the harbor at Rabaul, New Britain, on November 2, 1943, during an air...

U.S. servicemen bob for apples with their USO hostess companions during a Hallowe'en party hosted by the tenants of a 14-story cooperative apartment b...

U.S. Marines are seen as they advance against Japanese positions during the invasion at Tarawa atoll, Gilbert Islands, in late November 1943. (AP Phot...

U.S. Marine Corps Raiders and their dogs, which are used for scouting and running messages, are seen as they start off for the jungle front lines on B...

U.S. Marines are seen as they advance from the beach during the invasion at Tarawa atoll, Gilbert Islands, in late November 1943. (AP Photo)

U.S. Marines are seen as they attempt to enter a Japanese pillbox, during the invasion at Tarawa atoll, in late November 1943. (AP Photo)

Sprawled bodies on the beach of Tarawa atoll are testifying to the ferocity of the battle for this stretch of sand during the U.S. invasion of the Gil...

U.S. Marines are seen as they tow out a rubberboat with their wounded buddies on it, in late November 1943, on Tarawa atoll. The men wounded during th...

A U.S. soldier wounded in the initial invasion at Empress Augusta Bay is being hoisted aboard a Coast Guard-manned transport off shore of Bougainville...

As the invasion at Empress Augusta Bay gets under way on Bougainville, in November 1943, U.S. troops are seen climbing over the side of a Coast Guard-...

A British six-inch coastal gun is fired by its crew, near Bizerte, a port and town in northern Tunisia, in November 1943. (AP Photo)

Women farmers of the Probzhdeniye Collective Farm line the road to greet soldiers of the Red Army as they move into their village on a T-3 tank captur...

A German soldier is seen at an unknown location on the German-Russian front, in October 25, 1943. (AP Photo)