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Port Chicago July, 1944

USS Mount Hood (AE 11) exploding, Manus Harbor, Admiralty Islands, November, 1944.

Southern Pacific AC class locomotive delivering war goods to the West Coast

Southern Pacific AC class locomotive grinding its way through Truckee near the peak of the Sierra-Nevada grade

General Douglas A. MacArthur, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and Admiral William D. Leahy (FDR"s chief of Staff), aboard USS Baltimore (CA 68) in Pearl Harbor

Seventh Fleet invasion force (MacArthur's Navy) gathers at Admiralty Islands

TBF over first wave landings in Leyte Gulf

Unloading as quickly as possible at Leyte Gulf

General MacArthur wades ashore with his entourage
on A-Day

General MacArthur mingles with his troops on A-day

General MacArthur broadcasts his "I have returned" message to the Philippine people during a thunderstorm on A-Day

The war at sea
Admirals, United States Navy

Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., commander third fleet in USS New Jersey (BB 62)

Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, commander task force 38 in USS Lexington (CV 16)

Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, commander seventh fleet in USS Wasatch (AGC 9)

Rear Admiral Clifton C. A. F. Sprague, commander task group 77.4.3 (call-sign TAFFY 3), in USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE 70)

Admirals, Imperial Japanese Navy

Admiral Soemu Toyoda, commander-in-chief, combined fleet, Imperial Japanese Navy (Tokyo)

Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, commander, first striking force (center force), cruiser IJN Atago, Lingga Roads (Singapore)

Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, commander, Battleship Division One, superbattleship IJN Yamato, Lingga Roads, Singapore

Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura, commander southern force van, battleship IJN Yamashiro, Borneo

Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima, commander southern force rear, heavy cruiser IJN Nachi, Beppu Bay, Japan

Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, commander northern (decoy) force, attack carrier IJN Zuikaku. Beppu Bay, Japan

USS Darter (SS 227), launching - 1943. Along with USS Dace (SS 247), she greeted Kurita's Center Force at Palawan Passage, sinking his flagship, the IJN Atago. Later that day, she ran aground and was lost on Bombay Shoal

Oldendorf's battleships at Surigao Strait

With Admiral Halsey embarked, the USS New Jersey (BB 62) pounds her way north to intercept Ozawa

USS Johnston (DD 557), Fletcher-class destroyer, one of the seven destroyers screening TAFFY 3

Samar - USS Gambier Bay (CVE 73), one of TAFFY 3's six escort carriers under fire by a cruiser far right - later sunk

Samar - USS Heermann (DD 532), foreground, and USS John C. Butler (DE 339) make smoke as they charge toward Kurita's ships

TBF Avengers on patrol

FM2 Wildcat over USS Santee (CVE 29)

Forces at sea - Imperial Japanese Navy

Kurita's ships enroute Leyte

IJN heavy cruiser Atago, Kurita's flagship, sunk by Darter at Palawan Passage

IJN superbattleship Yamato, Ugaki's flagship. Trials September 1941

Sibuyan Sea: IJN superbattleship Musashi under attack and later sunk by Halsey's planes

Samar: Kurita's center force under air attack by Taffy 3 Avengers and Wildcats

Cape Engaño: Fleet carrier and Pearl Harbor veteran IJN Zuikaku (Ozawa's flagship) under attack and later sunk by aircraft from Halsey's carriers. Note dive bomber attacking at lower left.

Commander Ernest E. Evans, commanding officer, USS Johnston (DD 557); awarded medal of honor posthumously.

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Western Pacific-1944

Philippines-1944

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