Erwin Niebling receives a Distinguished Flying Cross with gold star

Lieutenant Erwin W. Niebling receives a Distinguished Flying Cross with gold star from Rear Admiral Osborne B. Hardison ( Chief of Naval Air Primary Training) on May 17, 1945, at Naval Air Station New Orleans for his actions as a pilot in the Philippines.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-K-5302
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/80-G-K-05000/80-G-K-5302.html

Bio of Admiral William Halsey

William Frederick Halsey Jr. (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He is one of four individuals to have attained the rank of fleet admiral of the United States Navy, the others being Ernest King, William Leahy, and Chester W. Nimitz. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Halsey graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1904. He served in the Great White Fleet and, during World War I, commanded the destroyer USS Shaw. He took command of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga in 1935 after completing a course in naval aviation, and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1938. At the start of the War in the Pacific (1941–1945), Halsey commanded the task force centered on the carrier USS Enterprise in a series of raids against Japanese-held targets. Halsey was made commander, South Pacific Area, and led the Allied forces over the course of the Battle for Guadalcanal (1942–1943) and the fighting up the Solomon chain (1942–1945).[2] In 1943 he was made commander of the Third Fleet, the post he held through the rest of the war.[3] He took part in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of the Second World War and, by some criteria, the largest naval battle in history. He was promoted to fleet admiral in December 1945 and retired from active service in March 1947.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Halsey_Jr.
https://www.historynet.com/william-bull-halsey-legendary-world-war-ii-admiral.htm

Chester W. Nimitz Sitting in a Bamboo Chair

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, in his office at CinCPac / CinCPOA Advanced Headquarters at Guam, in July 1945. Note Bent bamboo chair, and green stockings worn with his tropical khaki uniform.

Chester William Nimitz, Sr. (February 24, 1885 - February 20, 1966) was a fleet admiral of the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, commanding Allied air, land, and sea forces duringWorld War II. Nimitz was the leading US Navy authority on submarines. Qualified in submarines during his early years, he later oversaw the conversion of these vessels' propulsion from gasoline to diesel, and then later was key in acquiring approval to build the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, whose propulsion system later completely superseded diesel-powered submarines in the US. He also, beginning in 1917, was the Navy's leading developer of underway replenishment techniques, the tool which during the Pacific war would allow the US fleet to operate away from port almost indefinitely. The chief of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation in 1939, Nimitz served as Chief of Naval Operations from 1945 until 1947. He was the United States' last surviving officer who served in the rank of fleet admiral.

Source :
NHHC (Naval History and Heritage Command), courtesy of Tobi Moll
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=296158311653000&set=pcb.1502070179978400&type=3&theater&ifg=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_W._Nimitz

Charles de Gaulle Met with American High Ranking Officers

6 July 1944: French military commander and head of the French Provisional Government (and later President), General Charles de Gaulle (left), is met at Washington National Airport (later renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) by Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General George C. Marshall (right), accompanied by Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces, General Henry H. Arnold (behind de Gaulle) and Commander in Chief of United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Admiral Ernest J. King (behind Marshall). General de Gaulle visits President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, and while in New York City he addresses the American people. During World War II, de Gaulle made two official visits to the United States (July 1944 and August 1945). He also went to Moscow in December 1944 and signed a pact of alliance and mutual assistance with Stalin.

Source :
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/french-military-commander-and-head-of-the-french-news-photo/103371909
http://www.marshallfilms.org/filminfo.asp?enlarge=1&id=44.07.06A

Allied Leaders in Yalta Conference

Group portrait of Allied leaders photographed in the courtyard of the Livadia Palace, Yalta, in the first day of Yalta Conference (4-11 February 1945) with (seated from left to right): British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Also present are (from left to right): Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov; Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham, RN, Marshal of the RAF Sir Charles Portal, RAF, (standing behind Churchill); Fleet Admiral Ernest King (standing behind Brooke), General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army (blocked by Leahy), Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, USN, (standing behind Roosevelt), Major General Laurence S. Kuter, General Aleksei Antonov, and Admiral of the Fleet Nikolay Kuznetsov. They're met for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. The conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta in Crimea. The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. Within a few years, with the Cold War dividing the continent, Yalta became a subject of intense controversy. To some extent, it has remained controversial.

Sources :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference
http://www.gettyimages.com/photos/yalta-conference?phrase=yalta%20conference&sort=best&excludenudity=true
http://www.net-film.ru/en/film-22029/

The "Big Three" in Potsdam Conference

The "Big Three" pose with their principal advisors at Cecilienhof Palace near Berlin, Germany, in 1 August 1945, one day before the conclusion of Potsdam Conference (17 July - 2 August 1945). The meetings were held to decide how to administer punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on 8 May (V-E Day). The goals of the conference also included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaty issues, and countering the effects of the war. The three heads of government are (seated on wicker chairs, left to right): British Prime Minister Clement Attlee; U.S. President Harry S. Truman; and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. Standing behind them are (left to right): Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, USN, Truman's Chief of Staff; British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin; U.S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes; and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, who had been at first nine days' sessions, learned on July 26 of Tory election defeat, were replaced by Laborites Attlee and Bevin. Just before photograph was taken, two Soviet agents and a soldier hurriedly scraped shiny black paint off chair arms at request of the official Russian photographers. They had barely finished job as Big Three arrived.

Sources :
LIFE magazine, 17 October 1955 edition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Potsdam_conference_1945-8.jpg

Admiral Ernest J. King

Admiral Ernest Joseph King, USN (United States Navy). Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The picture was taken circa 1942-44. Someone once asked Admiral Ernest J. King if it was he who said, "When they get in trouble they send for the sonsabitches." He replied that he was not -- but that he would have said it if he had thought of it. Although never accused of having a warm personality, Ernest J. King commanded the respect of everyone familiar with his work. His is one of the great American naval careers, his place in history forever secured by a remarkable contribution to the Allied victory in the Second World War. "Lord how I need him," wrote Navy Secretary Frank Knox on December 23, 1941, the day he summoned King to take control of the Navy at its lowest point, the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. In the early months of 1942, King's strategic brilliance earned him the complete confidence of President Roosevelt. When none of the British or American war planners even dared to think of going on the offensive in the Pacific in 1942-43, King successfully lobbied to do just that. "No fighter ever won his fight by covering up -- merely fending off the other fellow's blows," he wrote. "The winner hits and keeps on hitting even though he has to be able to take some stiff blows in order to keep on hitting." It's easy to see why even those who despised Ernest King were glad he was on their side.

Source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ernest_King.jpg