Today in World War II History—June 12, 1942

US Navy pilot Lt. George H.W. Bush, WWII (US Navy photo)

80 Years Ago—June 12, 1942: Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.

On his eighteenth birthday, future president George H.W. Bush graduates from high school and enlists in the Navy, although he’d already been accepted at Yale.

US B-24 Liberator bombers flying from Egypt attack Ploesti in first US strategic mission in the European-African-Middle East Theater.

US 100th Infantry Battalion is activated, composed of Japanese-Americans from Hawaii.

Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment (all-female unit dubbed the “Night Witches” by the Germans) enters combat in Po-2 fighter planes.

Brothers of Valor Monument in Honolulu, HI, commemorating the 100th Infantry Battalion and other Japanese-American units in World War II (Photo: Sarah Sundin, November 2016)

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