History of Memorial Day (3:37)
A look at the official beginning of summer and America's most solemn holiday.
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Related Videos (10)
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History of Memorial Day
History of Memorial DayVideo Clip (3:37)
Video Clip (3:37)
A look at the official beginning of summer and America's most solemn holiday.
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A Memorial Day Tribute
A Memorial Day TributeVideo Clip (2:53)
Video Clip (2:53)
HISTORY salutes the American soldier.
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WWII Veteran Harold Nebenzal
WWII Veteran Harold NebenzalVideo Clip (3:23)
Video Clip (3:23)
WWII veteran Harold Nebanzal recalls his experience during the war.
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National WWII Memorial
National WWII MemorialVideo Clip (3:14)
Video Clip (3:14)
Thanks to WWII veteran Roger Durbin the National WWII Memorial opened at the Rainbow Pool in 1995.
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History of Veterans Day
History of Veterans DayVideo Clip (3:19)
Video Clip (3:19)
Veterans Day has changed days and names but it has always been a day to honor those who serve their country.
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On the Road with Libby O'Connell: Theodore Roosevelt Island
On the Road with Libby O'Connell: Theodore Roosevelt IslandVideo Clip (1:26)
Video Clip (1:26)
Historian Libby O'Connell visits Theodore Roosevelt Island in Arlington, Virginia, and gives us a brief history of the area and the memorial.
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Take a Vet to School Day: Walt Whitman Middle School
Take a Vet to School Day: Walt Whitman Middle SchoolVideo Clip (4:37)
Video Clip (4:37)
Ryan Steinbach, an Army and Air Force veteran, and Alice Dixon, one of the first African-Americans to serve in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II, are honored during a Take a Vet to School Day event in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Presidents Who Served
Presidents Who ServedVideo Clip (3:39)
Video Clip (3:39)
Military service helped build character for Presidents George Bush and Henry Ford.
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Atomic Bomb Ends WWII
Atomic Bomb Ends WWIIVideo Clip (2:49)
Video Clip (2:49)
The U.S. looked to a new weapon to put an end to WWII.
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The Christmas Truce
The Christmas TruceVideo Clip (2:15)
Video Clip (2:15)
During WWII soldiers from opposing sides laid down their guns and celebrated Christmas together.
Related Speeches & Audio (10)
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Franklin D. Roosevelt on American Progress in World War II
Franklin D. Roosevelt on American Progress in World War IIAudio Clip (1:00)
Audio Clip (1:00)
With the United States now entered into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt uses the occasion of Washington’s birthday to broadcast to the nation on February 23, 1942, an outline of America’s progress in the war.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fourth of July Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fourth of July AddressAudio Clip (2:07)
Audio Clip (2:07)
In a broadcast from his home in Hyde Park, New York, on July 4, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt warns Americans who wish not to get involved in the war that "the United States will never survive as a happy and fertile oasis of liberty surrounded by a cruel desert of dictatorship."
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Truman Announces Japan's Surrender
Truman Announces Japan's SurrenderAudio Clip (1:57)
Audio Clip (1:57)
On September 1, 1945, in a radio address to the American people, President Harry Truman announces the unconditional surrender of Japan, formalized aboard the U.S.S. Missouri.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt Establishes United States as Arsenal of Democracy
Franklin D. Roosevelt Establishes United States as Arsenal of DemocracyAudio Clip (1:08)
Audio Clip (1:08)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt heralds the defense program of the United States and urges Americans to support an increase in aid to Great Britain to help defeat the Axis powers.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Labor Day Speech
Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Labor Day SpeechAudio Clip (1:37)
Audio Clip (1:37)
In his Labor Day radio broadcast in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reminds his fellow citizens of the need to devote America’s industrial effort to building weaponry in order to "crush Hitler and his Nazi forces."
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Franklin D. Roosevelt Delivers D-Day Prayer
Franklin D. Roosevelt Delivers D-Day PrayerAudio Clip (3:37)
Audio Clip (3:37)
In a national radio broadcast on June 6, 1944, as 160,000 Allied troops land in Normandy in an attempt to liberate France, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks America to join him in a prayer.
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Truman Announces Germany's Surrender
Truman Announces Germany's SurrenderAudio Clip (2:04)
Audio Clip (2:04)
In a May 8, 1945, radio broadcast, President Harry Truman announces the unconditional surrender of Germany, but reminds Americans that the war wages on in the Far East.
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General Howell Recounts Civil War Experience
General Howell Recounts Civil War ExperienceAudio Clip (6:29)
Audio Clip (6:29)
In a recorded interview in 1947, 101-year-old General Julius Howell recalls fighting as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War and the moment he heard about Lincoln’s assassination.
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Korean War Battlefield Report
Korean War Battlefield ReportAudio Clip (2:50)
Audio Clip (2:50)
A September 14, 1950, a live report from the battlefield by combat correspondent Ens. Jack Seigal captures the U.S. Marines landing at Wolmi Do Island in Ichon Harbor, Korea.
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Impact of U.S. Withdrawal on South Vietnam
Impact of U.S. Withdrawal on South VietnamAudio Clip (2:47)
Audio Clip (2:47)
Following the January 27, 1973 signing of a ceasefire agreement to end the Vietnam War and the subsequent departure of U.S. troops, the U.S. military prepared the South Vietnamese to take over operations. A U.S. officer who remained in Vietnam to help with the transition is interviewed on October 11, 1973, about the process of bolstering South Vietnam's economy and self-sufficiency.
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