Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, May 14 – 20, 1942

May 14, 1942: Fifth Air Force bombers raid Japanese positions in Lae and Rabaul

May 15, 1942: General Joseph Stilwell, the top US commander in mainland Southeast Asia, see photo above, arrives in India after trekking through Burmese jungle, withdrawing ahead of Japanese invasion force

May 16, 1942: US Tenth Air Force completes transfer to Karachi

May 17, 1942: US Army receives its first helicopter, the the Vought-Sikorsky XR-4

May 18, 1942: American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, seen here with Albert Einstein, takes over leadership of US nuclear program

May 19, 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt presents aviator James Doolittle with Medal of Honor after daring raid against Japan

May 20, 1942: Soldiers of Japanese 15th Army take up defensive positions in Burma

Categories: War

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