Immediately following Pearl Harbor, during the early months of 1942, the Japanese had the initiative. By early 1942, Japan captured Manila, Burma, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Wake Island, and Guam. The United States began the war with a "Germany First" strategy, but we also waged an aggressive defensive war in the Pacific while preparing for all-out conflict. In February 1942, the United States raided enemy bases on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. In April, General James Doolittle conducted his famous bombing raid on Tokyo from the carrier Hornet. The next three years resulted in a string of "island hopping" victories by American Pacific forces (see map). These numerous defeats, nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a demonstrated lack of will to continue convinced the Japanese government of the futility of further resistance. On September 12, 1945, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

John D'Arlico (Cleveland), Stephen Protsik (Perrysburg), Don Stemen (Toledo), and H. Corbin (Toledo) posed for this photograph on Guadalcanal in 1943 before returning to the front.

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