Workers pass through the gate at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. in Mobile.

Source: The University of South Alabama Archives (Addsco 3-416)

Marines advance cautiously up the beach on Peleliu during the initial landing. September 15, 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-95276)

Infantrymen grab sleep where they can. Normandy, France, July 1944.

Source: National Archives (111-SC-191444)

Bill Mauldin worked for Stars and Stripes during the war. His cartoons were viewed by GIs serving in Europe.

Source: Copyright 1945 by Bill Mauldin. Displayed courtesy of the William Mauldin Estate.

African American Marines in dress blues. Mobile's Willie Rushton would serve with the Marines in the Pacific. He was wounded on Peleliu.

Source: Library of Congress (LC - USW3 - 31104 - C)

Marines move cautiously across a Peleliu airfield.

Source: National Archives (127-GW-739-95430)

Two enormous vessels docked at a Mobile pier. Men move cargo in the foreground.

Source: The University of South Alabama Archives (Addsco 49-A)

Two servicemen cross a street in downtown Mobile.

Source: The University of South Alabama Archives (MN-159B)

A pre-war view of a busy street in downtown Mobile.

Source: The University of South Alabama Archives (N3075)

Rear view of the interior of an empty Mobile city bus. "WHITE" sign hangs from the ceiling.

Source: The University of South Alabama Archives (CO-10020)

Bustling Mobile ship channel.

Source: The University of South Alabama Archives (C-9089)

Black shipyard worker at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. in Mobile guides a giant propellor. Clyde Odom worked as a foreman at the segregated docks.

Source: The University of South Alabama Archives (G-25)

Pacific island battle, one of the bloodiest of the war. Peleliu had been taken by Japan from Germany during World War I. Located about 2,400 miles south of Tokyo and having a land area of only about 7 square miles, Peleliu island was largely blanketed by a tropical forest. Before . . .

Black Marines find cover near the front line. Peleliu, September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-96331)

While waiting in a jungle clearing for stretcher-bearers, a Marine pours a drink of water for a wounded comrade. Peleliu, September 1944.

Source: National Archives (127-N-94986)

Marine Willie Rushton in the Pacific. He would be wounded on Peleliu.

Source: Willie Rushton

Willie Rushton was born July 14, 1920 in Nadawah, Alabama, a town so small it is not on most maps. His grandfather, who had been reared in Montgomery, was born a slave. Rushton grew up on a saw mill farm in Atmore, where his father worked as a block setter. . .

Willie Rushton (front, far left) and six fellow Marines pose for a group shot. He would be wounded at Peleliu.

Source: Willie Rushton

Wounded and taken to a hospital ship, Willie Rushton sought a haircut after being treated. The ship's barber refused.

Black servicemen had trouble registering to vote when they got back home.