Widely considered one of the best commanders in World War II, Erwin Rommel flummoxed Allied forces, first the British, then the Americans, in the North African desert, despite fighting with inferior strength and dimmishing supplies.

U.S. astronaut John Glenn was aboard Mercury's Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962, 10 months after Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Glenn made three orbits before safely splashing down.

U.S. Marines took on the Japanese forces in a small island of Iwo Jima, with both sides suffering terrible casualties. The Marines finally secured the island after 36 days, after the bloodiest assault in the history of the USMC.