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

The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese
defense of Iwo Jima in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25
bombers raided the island for 74 days straight.

When all was done, more than 6,000 Marines died fighting for the
island, along with almost all the 21,000 Japanese soldiers trying
to defend it.

Artist Rob Brun

On December 16, 1944, the Germans launched the last major
offensive of the war, Operation Autumn Mist, also known as
the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an
attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern
France to northwestern Belgium.

The Battle of the Bulge, so-called because the Germans
created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest
in pushing through the American defensive line, was the
largest fought on the Western front.

American troops man trenches along a snowy hedgerow in
the northern Ardennes Forest during the Battle.  

An American artilleryman shaves in frigid cold, using a
helmet for a shaving bowl.

An American tank moves past another gun carriage which
slid off an icy road in the Ardennes Forest during the
Battle of the Bulge.

Belgian residents of a northern Ardennes hamlet flee the fighting during the
Battle of the Bulge.        
        
       

 
The crew of “Little Joe”, with Sanford G. Roy circled in red.   Defense (POW/MIA) Accounting Agency.

According to military officials this week, the remains of a World
War II airman were identified 80 years after his plane was shot
down during a bombing mission in Germany.

In the spring of 1944, U.S. Army Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sanford G.
Roy, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was assigned to the 732nd Bombardment Squadron in the European Theater. 

A news release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency 
said Roy and several other airmen were aboard the B-24H
Liberator "Little Joe" on a bombing mission to Brunswick,
Germany on April 8.

The plane was shot down by German forces and other airmen
flying near the aircraft did not report seeing any crew members
exiting "Little Joe" before it crashed. His name was engraved
on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American
Cemetery. 

Sanford G. Roy.

The USS Edsall was a Clemson-class destroyer, measuring
314 feet in length and capable of 35 knots. (US Navy)

U.S. and Australian officials announced Monday, the 
wreckage of the USS Edsall, an American warship that
was sunk during a battle with Japanese forces in World
War II, has been discovered more than 80 years after it
was lost at the bottom of the sea.  

According to the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy,
the final resting place of the USS Edsall, a Clemson-
class destroyer, was located late last year at the bottom
of the Indian Ocean.

Chief of Royal Australian Navy, Vice Admiral Mark
Hammond, said, “Working in collaboration with the
U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Navy used advanced
robotic and autonomous systems, normally used for
hydrographic survey capabilities, to locate USS Edsall
on the sea-bed."
(FOX NEWS)