The Battle of Guam was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Guam in the Mariana Islands from July 21, 1944 to August 8, 1944.

Guam is the largest of the Marianas, 30 miles (48 km) long and 9 miles (14 km) wide. It had been a United States possession since its capture from Spain in 1898 until it was captured by the Japanese on December 11, 1941, following the Attack on Pearl Harbor. It was not as heavily fortified as the other Mariana Islands such as Saipan that had been Japanese possessions since the end of World War I, but by 1944 it had a large garrison.

The Allied plan for the invasion of the Marianas called for heavy preliminary bombardment, first by carrier aircraft and planes based in the Marshall Islands to the east, then once air superiority was gained, close bombardment by battleships. Guam was chosen as a target because its large size made it suitable as a base for supporting the next stage of operations towards the Philippines, Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands; the deep-water harbor at Apra was suitable for the largest ships; and the two airfields would be suitable for B-29 Superfortress bombers.

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The Battle of Iwo Jima took place between the United States and the Japanese Empire in February and March 1945 during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The U.S. invasion, known as Operation Detachment, was charged with the mission of capturing the airfields on Iwo Jima.

The battle was marked by some of the fiercest fighting of the campaign. The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 kilometers (11 mi) of tunnels. The battle was the first American attack on the Japanese Home Islands and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, over 20,000 were killed and only 216 taken prisoner.

Joe Rosenthal photographed five Marines: Ira Hayes, Mike Strank, Franklin Sousley, Rene Gagnon, Harlon Block, and a U.S. Navycorpsman, John Bradley, raising the U.S. flag atop the 166 meter (546 ft) Mount Suribachi. The photograph records what was actually the second flag-raising on the mountain, which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. The picture became the iconic image of the battle and may be the most reproduced photograph of all time.

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The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June1944 to 9 July1944. The American 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions and 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith defeated the 43rd Division of the Imperial Japanese Army commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito. The victory was the most costly to date in the Pacific War.   2,949 Americans were killed and 10,364 wounded, out of 71,000 who landed.

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The Bougainville campaign was a campaign of World War II that occurred from November 1, 1943 to August 21, 1945, on and around Bougainville Island in the South Pacific between the Empire of Japan and Allied forces. Bougainville, at that time, was part of the Australianterritory of New Guinea, although geographically part of the Solomon Islands chain. The Bougainville campaign was, therefore, part of both the Allied New Guinea and Solomon Islands campaigns. Bougainville was occupied in 1942 by Japanese forces, who constructed naval air bases at Buka in the north and Buin in the south, as well as a naval ship base in the nearby Shortland Islands. The Japanese bases provided security for their major base at Rabaul, New Britain and supported their forces operating at other locations in the Solomon Islands.

As part of the latter stages of Operation Cartwheel, Allied forces intended to establish air bases on Bougainville to assist in the isolation and neutralization of Rabaul. Thus, in November 1943 United StatesMarine forces landed at Cape Torokina on Bougainville and established a beachhead within which the Allies constructed three airfields. The Marines were later replaced by U.S. Army soldiers in January 1944. The U.S. Army was replaced by Australian Militia troops in October 1944. The campaign ended with the surrender of Japanese forces in August 1945.

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Okinawa became the last major battle of the Pacific Theater and the Second World War. The Island was to become a staging area for the eventual invasion of Japan since it was just 350 miles (550 km) south of the Japanese mainland. Marines and soldiers landed unopposed on April 1, 1945, to begin an 82-day campaign which became the largest land-sea-air battle in history and was noted for the ferocity of the fighting and the high civilian casualties with over 150,000 Okinawans losing their lives. Japanese kamikaze pilots enacted the largest loss of ships in U.S. naval history with the sinking of 38 and the damaging of another 368. Total U.S. casualties were over 12,500 dead and 38,000 wounded, while the Japanese lost over 110,000 men. The fierce fighting on Okinawa is said to have played a part in President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb and to forsake an invasion of Japan.

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Marine Attack Squadron 214 (VMA-214) is a United States Marine Corps fighter squadron consisting of AV-8B Harrier (V/STOL) jets. The squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona and is attached to Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG-13), 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW).

The squadron is most well known as the Black Sheep of World War II fame and for one of its commanding officers, Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, whose memoirs also inspired the 1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep, which dramatized the squadron's exploits during the war.

Marine Fighter Squadron 214 was originally commissioned on July 1, 1942, at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, on the Island of Oahu. Initially called the "Swashbucklers", they participated in the Solomon Islands campaign, flying out of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. They were disbanded following their combat tour and the squadron designation was given to the Marine command on Espiritu Santo.

In August 1943, a group of twenty-seven young men under the leadership of Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (who was later awarded the Medal of Honor) were joined together to form the original "Blacksheep" of VMF-214. Major Boyington had just returned from a year's tour in China as a member of the American Volunteer Group, the "Flying Tigers". In China, he had downed six enemy planes and became, through actual experience, one of the originators of American fighter tactics against the Japanese.

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Gualdalcanal (local name: Isatabu) is a 2,510 square mile (6500 km2) island in the Pacific Ocean and was the scene of the Guadalcanal Campaign during World War II.

Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor and Singapore, Japanese forces advanced into the South Pacific occupying many islands in an attempt to build a defensive ring around their conquests and threaten the lines of communication between the United States and Australia/New Zealand. They reached Guadalcanal in May 1942. When the allied forces spotted construction of an airfield on Guadacanal, the United States conducted the first amphibious landing of the war. It was one of the most hotly contested campaigns for control of the ground, sea and skies of the war. Guadalcanal became a major turning-point in the war as it stopped Japanese expansion. After four months of fighting the Japanese ceased trying to contest the control of the island. They finally evacuated it in February 1943.

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