Dispatchment Points: At the end of the war, the US armed forces wanted to get all of their soldiers home, so they devised a system to decide who would be shipped home first. This system was called the Adjusted Service Rating Score, but was referred to by servicemen as “the point system”. Points were awarded for time overseas, military decorations, campaigns, and dependent children. The needed point total to return home started at 85, but lessened as the need for soldiers overseas decreased after the war.

V-E Day: May 8th, 1945, was Victory in Europe Day. On this day, German military leaders signed a document of unconditional surrender, marking the end of the armed conflict in Europe.

V-J Day: August 14th, 1945, was Victory over Japan Day. President Truman announced the surrender of Japan and the official end of WW2.

Little Boy and Fat Man: These two innocently-named devices were the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, 1945.