Page 10 - Anthology

WORLD WAR II
1939 – 1945

“Only by God will we be home with our loved ones.”
Robert L. Hoover

“Coming just two decades after the last great global conflict, the Second World War was the most
widespread and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries and resulting in more than 50
million military and civilian deaths. Sparked by Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, the war would
drag on for six deadly years until the final Allied defeat of both Nazi Germany and Japan in 1945.”

“Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American
naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was
devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight
enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers, and sailors died in
the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
asked Congress to declare war on Japan.”

“World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war. It is generally
considered to have lasted from 1939 to 1945, although some conflicts in Asia that are commonly viewed
as becoming part of the world war had begun earlier than 1939.

Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the first use of nuclear weapons in
combat, it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities.
These events made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history.”