Veteran Robert L. Rothe describes the various places he traveled throughout his time served in World War II as well as the love of his life he met while on a 14-day leave. Rothe served in the war between the years of 1943 to 1946. View more veterans' stories at the Veterans History Project and see more interviews conducted by the Illinois Veteran's History Project.

“I would sing, I would do some exercises, I would tell myself jokes…just to keep occupied and not feel like I was going nuts"

Robert Weinberg, a former captain of the U.S. Army Air Force from 1942-1945 talks about his World War II experiences while stationed in Italy. He describes the time he was captured by Hitler Youth after his plane was shot down. He was then imprisoned by German forces in the Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp where “it was dark…They made their bread with half sawdust & pieces of wood in it…" View more veterans' stories at the Veterans History Project and see more interviews conducted by the Missouri Veterans History Project.

“Our biggest base…you expect it to be attacked, but not blown apart.”

Congressman Kenny Marchant interviews veteran Bernard Jezercak, who fought in World War II as a technical sergeant of the Merrill’s Marauders, a special operations jungle warfare unit. This unit fought in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II and became well-known for its long-range penetration missions behind Japanese lines while engaging enemy forces superior in number. Jezercak is one of the few surviving members of the Merrill’s Marauders and his service has earned him the Silver Star and Bronze Star. View more veterans’ stories at the Veterans History Project.

Mickey’s first person account details events leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack and what caused the United States to join the war after months on the sidelines. Mickey, Pearl Harbor survivor, first decided to join the Navy while he was working at a Rubber Company in California of 1939. Although the draft specified that those twenty-one years or older sign up, Mickey signed up only a few months before his twenty-first birthday. His love for football led him to work on Battleship Pennsylvania and become a part of one of the best teams in the fleet. December 7, 1941 was not only the day for his fleet championship football game, but it was also the day Mickey was called into action.

Years later, President Jimmy Carter's 1980 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) reached a decision that these internment camps were not justified and the U.S. government paid reparations to survivors. Finally in 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law an apology for these decisions and "failure of political leadership."

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Albert Bunji Ikeda, a third-generation Japanese American, recalls why his ancestors came to the United States from Japan and how he experienced racism during the second World War. After Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt put out an executive order forcing all Japanese Americans, citizens or not, into internment camps.

Actor George Takei recalls what it was like to be taken from his home and forced to live in the Japanese internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Starting in 1942, over 110,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up into internment camps, called "War Relocation Camps".

Frank Matthews, a Marine at the Battle of Iwo Jima, recalls having to wield a flamethrower after his fellow soldier was killed by a sniper. The Battle of Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945 and lasted until the Japanese were defeated on March 26th.

It was one of the bloodiest battles during World War II–and while the Japanese forces were ultimately defeated, the island provided little strategic value as a staging base.

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Photographer Joe Rosenthal remembers taking the picture of the marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima. Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo, taken February 23, 1945 after the Battle of Iwo Jima. "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" has become one of the most reproduced photographs of all time.