SANDY KOZEL

On August 6, 1945, the United States became the first and only
nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it dropped
an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the
blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000
would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the
fallout.

Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the
end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited
the Cold War.

PT-109 was a US Navy patrol torpedo boat commanded by
Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy during World War
II in the Solomon Islands.

His actions in rescuing his crew after the sinking earned him
a Navy and  Marine Corps Medal and contributed to his later
political career.             
         
        
   
     
       
         
     
       
        
       

PT-109, a film dramatizing this story, starring Cliff
Robertson as Kennedy, opened in 1963.

Called the U.S.’s first ambassador to Japan, a 14-year-old
fisherman by the name of Manjiro is considered America’s
first Japanese immigrant, arriving in the country on May 7,
1843, by way of a whaling ship.

According to the National Endowment of the Humanities,
the boy and his crew were caught in a violent storm, with
their ship eventually washing up on a desert island 300
miles away from their coastal Japanese village.

Rescued five months later by an American whaling ship,
Manjiro was adopted by American Capt. William Whitfield,
who renamed him John Mung and brought him back to the
states to his home in Massachusetts.

Nakahama Manjirō (John Mung) 
(January 27, 1827 – November 12, 1898)

William H. Whitfield 
(November 11, 1804 – 14 February 1886)

On April 20, 2008, 26-year-old Danica Patrick wins the Indy
Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, making
her the first female winner in IndyCar racing history.

Danica Patrick was born on March 25, 1982, in Beloit,
Wisconsin. She became involved in racing as a young
girl and as a teenager moved to England in pursuit of
better training opportunities.

In 2005, Patrick started competing in IndyCar events, which
include the famed Indianapolis 500 race at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway in Indiana.

On April 18, 1942, 16 American B-25 bombers, launched from
the aircraft carrier USS Hornet 650 miles east of Japan and
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle,
attacked the Japanese mainland.

The now-famous Tokyo Raid did little real damage to Japan
(wartime Premier Hideki Tojo was inspecting military bases
during the raid; one B-25 came so close, Tojo could see the
pilot, though the American bomber never fired a shot)—but
it did hurt the Japanese government’s prestige.

LT. COL. JIMMY DOOLITTLE (left) WITH TOKYO RAIDERS.