By March of 1944, World War II had turned decisively in favor of the Allies. The war was far from won, but the Allied nations were advancing on all fronts, in every theater of battle, all over the world.
The Allies had broken the Japanese on Papua New Guinea, German U-boats were dropping to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Army Air Forces began bombing Italy, Berlin, and Palau.
On the homefront, life was beginning to return to a kind of normalcy. Dartmouth College was set to play the University of Utah in the NCAA Division I basketball tournament. “Casablanca” would win Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards, and Jimmy Dorsey’s "Bésame Mucho" topped the Billboard charts.
