Cpl. Waverly Woodson Jr., a member of an African American battalion, treated scores of soldiers wounded on D-Day but was passed over for the medal. Lawmakers and relatives have tried to change that.
The Vatican has long maintained that Pope Pius XII did everything he could to save Jewish lives, but newly unearthed papers have renewed accusations of complicit silence against him.
A U.S. firebombing campaign targeted Toyama and other Japanese cities, killing 180,000 before the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, write geographer Cary Karacas and historian David Fedman.
"Today, 75 years later, we are forced to commemorate alone, but we are not alone!" Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says, celebrating international unity in the post-war era.
After decades of pressure from historians and Jewish groups, the Vatican on Monday began allowing scholars to access the archives of Pope Pius XII, who remained publicly silent during the Holocaust.
On the 74th anniversary of Japan's surrender, Emperor Naruhito expressed "deep remorse" for his country's wartime role. Meanwhile, Shinzo Abe sent offerings to a shrine that honors Japan's war dead.
Yonah Elian played a key part in spiriting Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann out of Argentina to stand trial in Israel. His family couldn't understand why he never spoke about the heroic role he served.