Albert Fagler's grandfather was an Army Air Corps photographer during WWII and left behind film reels featuring dogfights and his own wedding.
World War II in History 
Originally created as the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps in 1942, the Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the U.S. Army until 1978, and more than 150,000 women served in the WAC during World War II in non-combat capacities both stateside and abroad.
The video below, created in 1943 to honor the WAAC's first anniversary, provides a contemporary look at the responsibilities these women had during the war.
World War II in History 
Like the other countries involved in World War II, the United States government produced propaganda to disseminate its war aims and influence public opinion about the war. The Office of War Information and other agencies commissioned posters, films, and radio spots which served to encourage thriftiness, payment of taxes, and rationing of limited wartime resources, as well as to demonize the enemies in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and to dissuade Americans from any activity which could be seen as giving aid to those enemies.
Hollywood played a major role in the government's efforts to spread its message. The animated short embedded below is a Donald Duck cartoon which portrayed the benefits of saving for taxes. Portions from it are played as part of a montage of animated propaganda shown at the National Museum of American History's fantastic "America at War" exhibit.
World War II in History Thanks to a recent episode of PBS's Secrets of the Dead (and to TiVo's Suggestions feature), I learned about a crucial piece of World War II history that I was stunned I had never known before. I have embedded the episode preview below, and I encourage you to go to the PBS website and watch the full episode, but I will try to summarize the events here.
France and the UK had entered into an alliance which stated that neither country would surrender to the Nazis without the other's agreement. However, after France unilaterally signed an armistice with Germany, Britain's new Prime Minister Winston Churchill feared that the French fleet would soon be under Nazi control and would, together with Italy's ships, be too great a force for the Royal Navy which was spread out around the globe protecting Britain's overseas empire. Without aid from the United States which Roosevelt felt politically hamstrung from providing, it might be only a matter of time before Britain fell to the Nazis. Despite reassurances from the head of the French navy that its sailors were under orders to scuttle ships before letting them fall into German hands, Churchill initiated Operation Catapult by issuing an ultimatum to French ships in British ports and elsewhere to join Britain, sail to the US or the West Indies, or face attack. Many ships willingly accepted the terms, but at Mers-el-Kébir off the coast of North Africa, the French ignored the ultimatum, and British ships mined the port and then attacked the ships killing nearly 1300 French sailors in the ensuing battle. As a result, Churchill had simultaneously weakened a potential Nazi takeover of the French fleet and shown to Roosevelt a willingness to take whatever actions necessary in Britain's defense, eventually leading to greater assistance from America. On the other hand, the events inevitably became prime fodder for Nazi propaganda, and even to this day, some French consider the attack an unforgivable war crime.
Needless to say, the program goes into far more depth, including interviews with French and British sailors who witnessed the attack, but these were the major points that I was shocked to learn. Truly amazing stuff.
As a postscript, I just have to say that Liev Schreiber might be the best narrator since David Attenborough.
Britain, France, Germany, World War II in History 
