A cautious Marine, armed with a scaling rope, advances toward Mount Tapochau on Saipan. June 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-GW-1313-85006)

Japanese troops lie dead in a water-filled ditch. Saipan, July 6, 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-GW-1319 #87124)

Aboard the USS Montpelier, James Fahey would see action at Guadalcanal, Saipan and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

Source: James Fahey and Family

James Fahey grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts, the youngest of four orphaned children. Two of his brothers, John and Joe, had been in the Navy at Pearl Harbor and had survived. James signed on the following year and became a seaman first class aboard the USS Montpelier. He hoped to . . .

The USS Montpelier in the South Pacific, January 15, 1944. Aboard the Montpelier, James Fahey would see action in such battles as Guadalcanal, Saipan, the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf.

Source: National Archives (80-G-213953)

Excerpts from "Pacific War Diary," 1942-1945 by James J. Fahey Copyright(c) 1963 and renewed 1991 by James J. Fahey. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

In his diary, James Fahey noted how his mates celebrated the Fourth of July.

The bodies of American soldiers killed in action during the invasion of Saipan, June 1944.

Source: National Archives (26-G-2509)

Al McIntosh writes of personal losses the war brought to those in Luverne.

Stretcher-bearers transport a fallen Marine, tagged for burial. Saipan, 1944

Source: National Archives (127-GR-113-83414)

Portrait of Mobile's Maurice Bell in his blue Navy uniform and white sailor's cap. Aboard the USS Indianapolis, Bell witnessed the battles of Tarawa, Saipan and the Philippine Sea.

Source: Maurice Bell

Maurice Bell was born in Mississippi on February 17, 1925, and grew up in the northeast corner of the state. Throughout 1942, he traveled around the country with his father on a construction crew that was building army camps. While in Indiana in early 1942, he met and started dating . . .

Mobile's Maurice Bell, in blue Navy uniform, and his bride Lois K. Richards on their wedding day in Nineveh, Indiana, October 29, 1944. Aboard the USS Indianapolis Bell witnessed the battles of Tarawa, Saipan and the Philippine Sea.

Source: Maurice Bell

Mobile's Maurice Bell poses for a portrait in his white Navy uniform. Aboard the USS Indianapolis, Bell witnessed the battles of Tarawa, Saipan and the Philippine Sea.

Source: Maurice Bell

A kamikaze pilot dove straight where Maurice Bell stood aboard the USS Indianapolis.

He still thinks about the war quite often and it seems like a dream.

Navy 7th Division, 2nd Section aboard the USS Indianapolis. Maurice Bell of Mobile stands eighth from the right. He witnessed the battles of Tarawa, Saipan and the Philippine Sea.

Source: Maurice Bell

Mobile's Ray Pittman, right, in Washington, D.C. Pittman joined the Marines and was placed in charge of a demolition team, fighting in Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.

Source: Ray Pittman

Alvy Ray Pittman, the son of a veteran of World War I, was born December 5, 1922 near Columbia, Mississippi. After finishing high school Pittman moved to Mobile to work with his father in the carpentry business. In November of 1942, Pittman enlisted in the Marines. . .

Important battle in the Pacific Theater. Saipan, part of the Mariana Islands chain that includes Guam and Tinian, had become Japanese territory in 1920 as a consequence of World War I and was considered a part of Japan itself. Following the successful U.S. invasions in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, . . .