On May 21, 1941, more than six months before the US entry into the war, the SS Robin Moor became the first US flagged merchant ship to be sunk by a German U-boat, all part of the long path towards US entry into the largest war in human history.
By September of 1944, the Western Allies had broken out of the Normandy beachehead, and suddenly and quickly moved across northern France . By September 7th, the 90th division was stretched across the northern sector on Patton’s Third Army’s left, advancing slowly northeast. As they did so the German defenders made a risky attack in an effort to spoil the allied advance, cutting through Allied lines in a surprise action at the small town of Mairy-Mannville.