Military campaign in the Central Pacific. After securing the Marshall Islands in early 1944, American military planners decided that the next step would be to bypass the Japanese-held Caroline Islands (including the stronghold of Truk) in order to seize the Mariana Islands. Located equidistant from the Marshalls and the Japanese . . .

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.

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

Portrait of life aboard a WWII aircraft carrier that includes a night-time raid and confrontation with the Imperial fleet. (61:00)

Source: Produced by William Wyler

USS Indianapolis at the Mare Island Navy Yard after her final overhaul, 12 July 1945. Maurice Bell served on this ship which delivered the atomic bomb to Tinian. She also saw action from Tarawa to Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center (Photo #: 19-N-86915)

The sinking of the U.S. heavy cruiser Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea two weeks before the end of the war remains controversial to this day. Built in Camden, New Jersey, and commissioned in 1932 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the Indianapolis (CA-35) displaced 9,800 tons and . . .