27 Rare Color Photos From WWII

1.

An unidentified US pilot stands up in the cockpit of his plane on the Midway Naval Base, Midway Islands, 1942.

2.

A soldier sleeps in the sun.

3.

A group of American soldiers inspect an abandoned German post, Italy, May 1944.

4.

El Guettar Valley, Tunisia in 1943

5.

A group of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks escorted by a pair of B-24D Liberators near the Aleutian islands, Alaska, 1944.

6.

American servicemen drive jeeps through an unidentified and mostly destroyed town, Italy, May 1944.

7.

An American soldier sits and eats his meal which includes chicken, mashed potatoes, bread, and pineapple, on top of stockpiled ammunition shells, England, May 1944.

8.

The crew of a B-26 Marauder outside their plane, nicknamed Ginger, 1944.

9.

Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower and British General Bernard L. Montgomery, stand in a US armored vehicle as they review a tank exercise, Salisbury, England, 1944.

10.

A pair of servicemen and a quartet of schoolboys sit on bridge over the Thames, Henley-on-Thames, England, May 1944.

11.

The flight deck crew prepares planes for launch from the USS Lexington CV-16, en route near New Guinea, early April, 1944.

12.

A Douglas SBD piloted by American Lt. George Glacken (left) with his gunner Leo Boulanger, near New Guinea, early April, 1944.

13.

Pair of American servicemen moving a large bomb at an ammunition dump in 1944.

14.

American troops unloading supplies on the shores of Guadalcanal Island in 1943.

15.

American Army trucks parked next to the St. Lucia fountain in 1943.

16.

A worker at Electric Boat Company in New London, Connecticut in 1943.

17.

British and South African soldiers hold up Nazi trophy flag while combat engineers on bulldozers clear a path through the debris of the bombed out city of Cassino in 1943.

18.

A US Army Corps of Engineers solider packs 12 pound tins of the explosive TNT under one end of an abandoned German tank in preparation for detonation during military operations in the El Guettar Valley, Tunisia, early 1943.

19.

An American gun crew in camouflaged emplacement awaiting orders to fire during the desert fighting between German and American forces in the El Guettar Valley in 1943.

20.

Members of the flight and ground crews of a B-17 bomber named 'Honey Chile II' make adjustments to their plane prior to a mission, Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England, fall 1942. The crew and plane originate from the 97th Bombardment Group of the 8th Bomber Command later 8th Air Force which was stationed at Polebrook from June until November of 1942.

21.

Cadets at Corpus Christie Naval Air Training Station.

22.

Curtiss Wright's chief test pilot H. Lloyd Child (center) writes on a clipboard as he stands with other pilots on a tarmac near the companies manufacturing plant, Buffalo, New York, 1941.

23.

An American soldier sits behind the wheel of a Willys MB jeep, shortly before the United States joined World War II, 1941.

24.

Three American Marines in dress uniforms talk aboard an unidentified ship during the US Navy's Pacific fleet maneuvers near Hawaii, September 1940.

25.

Crew removing plane after a crash landing aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise CV-6 during the US Navy's Pacific Fleet maneuvers in 1940.

26.

Crew aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise CV-6 listening to instructions during the US Navy's Pacific Fleet maneuvers around Hawaii in 1940.

27.

Photographers standing in front of Pappy's Pram, a B-26 Marauder at base, 1943.