Bill Lansford, whose mother came to the United States from Juarez, Mexico, was born July 13, 1922 and grew up in Latino neighborhoods in East Los Angeles. He spoke little English and had virtually no contact with his Anglo father, a Los Angeles policeman, until he was fourteen. At 16, . . .

Bill Lansford, center, with fellow Marines before their deployment to Guadalcanal. He served with Colonel Carlson's 2nd Raider Battalion known as Carlson's Raiders.

Source: Bill Lansford

Returning home, Bill Lansford enjoyed swapping war stories with fellow soldiers and the new kind of freedom.

Of Mexican descent, Bill Lansford noticed very little discrimination growing up.

Marine ID card belonging to Bill Lansford.

Source: Bill Lansford

Latino soldiers tended to volunteer for the more dangerous tasks during the war.

Ernest Taylor Pyle, best known as "Ernie," covered the Second World War for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain. Pyle was born to farmers in Dana, Indiana on August 3, 1900. He joined the US Navy in 1918 hoping to see action in World War One, but the . . .

Ernie Pyle at Anzio, Italy. March 18, 1944

Source: National Archives (111-SC-191703)

Ernie Pyle at his typewriter, Anzio, Italy, March 18, 1944.

Source: National Archives (111-SC-191705)

A favorite of the GIs, journalist Ernie Pyle offers a cigarette to an infantryman. He later would be killed by a sniper's bullet.

Source: National Archives (127-N-116840)

The penultimate test of U.S. Marine Corps amphibious doctrine and practice. By the end of 1944, American forces had secured from Japan control of the Mariana Islands to provide air bases for B-29 strategic bombers that could strike Japan. En route to Japan, these bombers flew over Iwo Jima (Sulphur . . .

Marines Pete Arias and Bill Lansford land on Iwo Jima.

Aboard a transport vessel, a Marine assault force prepares for the invasion of Iwo Jima. They are most likely wearing “flash cream,” used to protect the face and hands from burns caused by the "flash" of nearby explosion. February 19, 1945.

Source: National Archives (127-GW-316-111236)

A Marine receives medical attention for wounds caused by a mortar burst on Iwo Jima. February 20, 1945.

Source: National Archives (127-GW-331-110154)

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 . . .

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.

The first 29 Navajo Code Talkers recruits are sworn into the U.S. Marine Corps at Fort Wingate, NM.

Source: National Archives

Pete Arias was born in 1923, one of nine siblings born to Mexican immigrants. He was raised on a farm in Los Angeles County and joined the Marines one month after Pearl Harbor. He heard about an elite commando unit begin formed and decided to volunteer. After an interview, he . . .

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