World War II was an event that changed the course of history. Just about every corner of the globe was touched by this great and terrible conflict as millions of people were called into service for their countries. The effects of the war, both bad and good, have been felt for decades since.
No community in the United States was exempt from sending its sons and daughters to war. Many volunteered to serve, many were drafted, and many served at home as the country mobilized to supply the needs of the Armed Forces. Having just lived through the hard times of the Great Depression the people knew about sacrifice.
In the mix of all this a group of strangers were brought together to perform their duty in the global conflict. They were brought together through events outside of their control. They served halfway around the world from their homes. They flew on a state of the art plane that was designed and built through the efforts of many of others doing their part for the war effort back home. They fought against a government bent on imposing its tyranny upon others. They fought to bring the conflict to a swift conclusion hoping to avoid a bloody ground invasion. They came home having changed the world, forever changed themselves by what they had experienced.
While the story presented here focuses on the service of the Star Duster and its crew in the war, this timeline is provided to give some perspective of the bigger picture. This timeline is a condensed version of one found on the web site for The War, the PBS documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Events in italics happened in the Pacific Theater.
| 1939 | |
|---|---|
| March 15 | Czechoslovakia surrenders to Germany. |
| September 1 | Germany invades Poland. |
| 1940 | |
| April 9 | Germany invades Denmark and Norway. |
| May 10 | Germany invades Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. |
| May 12 | German troops cross the French border. |
| June 14 | Paris falls to German forces. |
| August 13 | The Battle of Britain begins. |
| September 7 | The London Blitz begins. |
| October 28 | Italy invades Greece. |
| 1941 | |
| March 11 | The Lend-Lease act becomes law, and the U.S. begins providing aid to Great Britain. |
| June 22 | Germany invades the Soviet Union. |
| October 16 | German forces reach Moscow. |
| December 7 | Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. |
| December 8 | Japan attacks Guam, Wake Island, the Philippines, Malaya, and Hong Kong. |
| 1942 | |
| April 9 | U.S. and Filipino forces are captured at Bataan. The Bataan Death March begins. |
| April 18 | Lt. Col. James Doolittle and his 16 B-25 bombers raid five Japanese cities, including Tokyo. |
| June 4-7 | The Japanese Navy is defeated at the Battle of Midway, their first defeat in 350 years. This is a turning point in the fighting in the Pacific. |
| August 7 | U.S. forces land on Guadalcanal. |
| November 8 | Allied forces land in North Africa. |
| 1943 | |
| May 12 | After some Allied setbacks the Germans surrender in Tunisia, and North Africa is under Allied power. |
| July 5 | The Battle of Kursk is won by the Soviets. |
| July 10 | Allied forces land in Sicily. |
| September 3 | Allied forces land in Southern Italy. |
| September 8 | Italy surrenders, but the Germans would continue to fight to regain control. |
| November 18 | The Battle of Berlin begins. This bombing campaign will last over four months. |
| November 20 | The Allies attack the Japanese at Tarawa. |
| 1944 | |
| June 6 | D-Day. The Allies cross the English Channel to invade France at Normandy. |
| June 15 | The U.S. Navy begins shelling Saipan. The Marines land two days later. |
| June 19 | The U.S. Navy routes the Japanese Navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea as it attempts to aid Japanese forces on Saipan. This battle became known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot." |
| July 10 | Saipan is secured. |
| August 25 | Pairs is liberated from German control. |
| September 15 | The Allies land on Peleliu, Gen. MacArthur's first stop to regain control of the Philippines. |
| September 17 | Operation Market Garden, the effort to capture bridges throughout the Ruhr Valley and end the war in Europe, begins. It ends in disaster for the Allies. |
| October 20 | MacArthur's forces take another step to secure the Philippines landing on Leyte. |
| October 23 | MacArthur returns to the Philippines. |
| December 16 | The Battle of the Bulge begins. |
| December 25 | The German advance is stopped thirty miles west of Bastogne. It would be another four weeks before the Allies regained the ground they lost. |
| 1945 | |
| February 19 | The Marines land on Iwo Jima. |
| March 19 | B-29 bombing tactics change to firebombing Japanese cities. |
| April 1 | The invasion of Okinawa begins. |
| April 12 | President Roosevelt dies. President Truman is sworn in as America's 33rd president. |
| April 26 | The Russians enter Berlin. |
| May 7 | Germany surrenders. |
| July 16 | The atomic bomb is successfully tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico. |
| August 6 | The first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. The Japanese government refuses to accept terms of unconditional surrender. |
| August 9 | The second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki. |
| August 14 | Japan surrenders. |
| November 1 | The invasion of Japan was planned to have begun on this day. |
