On April 1, 1945, after suffering the loss of 116 planes and damage
to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 U.S. combat troops, under the
command of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner Jr., land on
the southwest coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa, 350 miles
south of Kyushu, the southern main island of Japan.

Determined to seize Okinawa as a base of operations for the army ground and air forces for a later assault on mainland Japan, more
than 1,300 ships converged on the island, finally putting ashore
50,000 combat troops.

General Buckner was killed during the closing days of the Battle
of Okinawa by enemy artillery fire, making him one of the highest-
ranking United States military officers lost to enemy fire during
World War II
  

Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.

US Marines of the 2nd Battalion 22nd Regiment, land at
Green Beach One, Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands. 

The west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima was
declared secure by the U.S. military after weeks
of fiercely fighting its Japanese defenders.  

On March 6, 1836, after 13 days of intermittent fighting, the Battle
of the Alamo came to a gruesome end and capping off a pivotal
moment in the Texas Revolution.

Mexican forces were victorious in recapturing the fort, and nearly
all of the roughly 200 Texan defenders—including frontiersman
Davy Crockett—died.

The defense of the Alamo remains a symbol of resistance and
revolution. The battle has been immortalized in several TV
series and films, including 1960’s The Alamo, starring John
Wayne as Davy Crockett. 

On February 8, 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal,
leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged
campaign. The American victory paved the way for other
Allied wins in the Solomon Islands.

On December 29, 1890, in one of the final chapters of America’s
long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry killed 146 Sioux at Wounded
Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

A depiction of the Ghost Dance.

Civilian burial party, loading victims on a cart for burial.

Mass grave at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.