Armed with notebooks, cameras, or sketchpads, a handful of military and civilian correspondents crossed the reef with the assault forces at Tarawa. Those who survived recorded graphic accounts of the savage battle. Then, AP photographer Joe Rosenthal snaps the famous flag-raising shot at Iwo Jima that captured the nation.

In 1939, America's newest submarine--the U.S.S. Squalus--met disaster during sea trials, plunging to the Atlantic's bottom. The crew's only hope of rescue lay in the courage, tenacity, and genius of Charles Bowers Momsen. Then, meet 23-year-old U.S. spy Peter Tompkins, whose sacrifice and sabotage saved the Anzio beachhead for the Allies.

Beneath the WWII marquee names were heroes who fought with great valor, but few headlines. One was Colonel Merritt (Red Mike) Edson, commander of an experimental special unit in the Pacific, the 1st Raider Battalion. Another, General Roy Geiger, commanded the heralded Cactus Air Force at Guadalcanal. We'll recount their exploits.

After WWII, the elite Ranger battalions disappeared due to downsizing of U.S. forces. But when North Korea invaded South Korea, Army Rangers were sent in to infiltrate and penetrate behind North Korean lines. And, in WWII's Battle of the Bulge, Colonel David Pergrin and his teenage combat engineers blunted the German tank thrust.

Ernie Pyle, the WWII reporter, was in the midst of history's desperate battles.                                                                       

No battle in the 10 years of the Vietnam War received more agonized attention from homefront America and its leaders than did the siege of Khe Sanh.   

By the end of the Vietnam War, 135 photojournalists had died while working there.                                                                      

When a U.S. marine or sailor is wounded in combat, his odds of getting to a doctor are close to nothing. But his chances of staying alive are superb due to the Navy Hospital Corpsmen. They aren't doctors, but their job is to be at the center of battle.