Photos WW2 US Forces

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A pair of cast-hull M3A1 Medium Tanks undergo repair / maintenance at the Aberdeen PG workshops, circa 1941.
This cast-hull variant was manufactured in small numbers for a brief time only.
Note the apertures for the twin, fixed forward firing .30 cal machine guns which proved to be of questionable value and which were deleted from later production types, or simply welded over.
(LIFE / Hoffman)

 

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A pristine, factory-fresh M2 half-track.
This was a part of a display of new equipment for invited civic dignitaries at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, circa 1941.
(LIFE / George Strock)

 

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Pilot Jimmy Johnson spots why his Vought F4U Corsair was lacking rudder authority after landing at Guadalcanal,
The year is 1943.

 

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Too rough for refueling... South China Sea. The tanker is USS Attascosa (AO-66).

 

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Army Air Force fighter command soldiers manning .50 cal water cooled anti- aircraft gun at air base in the desert during Allied campaign in North Africa Tunisia, April 1943.

 

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Five destroyers from Squadron 12 make formation S-turns in Iron Bottom Sound off Guadalcanal with Savo Island in the distance. They were returning from one of their raids on Rabaul in February 1944 and executed the high-speed turns as a salute to the three ships of the squadron that had been sunk in the vicinity.
Flagship was USS Farenholt (DD-491) commanded by captain Rodger W. Simpson who raided Rabaul on 17-18 and 23-25.

 

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American 8-inch gun M1 fires at Japanese positions on Luzon Island in May, 1945.

 

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Northern Burma, March 1944: American soldier lights cigarette for injured Chinese infantryman

 

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Easy Company 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne. Easy Company was one of the most well known Companies of the war. (Photo taken at Camp Curahee)

 

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February 1945.
A U.S. Marine gives a cigarette to a Japanese soldier buried in the black volcanic sand of Iwo Jima

 

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U.S. Navy Douglas SBD-3 "Dauntless" dive bombers from scouting squadron VS-8 from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) approaching the burning Japanese heavy cruiser Mikuma to make the third set of attacks on her, during the Battle of Midway, 6 June 1942.

 

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Burning tanker SS R.P. Resor off the coast of New Jersey, United States Feb 27, 1942, after being torpedoed by German submarine U-578. Resor burned for 46 hours after being torpedoed before grounding off Barnegat Light while being towed. Many of her crew perished.
United States Library of Congress

 

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"Rosie" might have been a pretty good riveter...but she was also quite useful with a cutting torch too!
(LIFE / Bourke-White c. 1942)

 

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CAPTAIN CALVIN WORTHINGTON, WWII B-17 “Flying Fortress” (“The Paper Doll”) pilot with the Army Air Corps, 390th Bomber Group, flying 29 missions over Germany. Awarded the Air Medal (for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight) five times, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross for acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement.
For people that grew up in Southern California, Cal was a car dealer who would ‘eat a bug’ if he couldn’t sell you a car. He would ride a hippo and play with lions and tigers in his car commercials. Quite a character. He is the tall gentleman in the back row.

 

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A GI shows a captured Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun to the camera.
This was the IJA's principal heavy-machine gun of WW2 and was a robust and reliable weapon, known as the "Woodpecker" to the Allies because of the sound of its relatively slow and staccato rate of fire.
It was deived from the French Hotchkiss M1914 heavy machine gun...and like the latter it was strip-fed.
Note the carrying-poles in their sockets on the tripod legs. These enabled the heavy gun assembly to be moved quickly by the mg team from position to position, as necessary.
Buna, circa 1943.
(LIFE / Strock)