Warden was just going back for seconds on both hotcakes and eggs when this blast shuddered by under the floor and rattled the cups It had become very quiet and everybody had stopped eating and looked up at each other. "Must be doin some dynamitin down to Wheeler Field," somebody said tentatively. -- James Jones, From Here to Eternity The brass band on the stern of the U.S.S. Nevada kept on playing The Star- Spangled Banner for the 8 a.m. ...

Part 1 of TIME's Return to Baghdad series. An hour after landing at Baghdad International Airport, I found myself stuffed into the backseat of a blue station wagon, clenching my fists to keep my hands from shaking. The first time I drove this road was more than 4 years ago in a Bradley fighting vehicle. The road, known to Americans as Route Irish, was one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. Units before us had dubbed it ...

They were there for the view -- spectators awed by a vista of massive waves smashing against the rocky shore. But then one wave struck violently, sweeping three people into the churning ocean, one of them a 7-year-old girl. What spectator Mary Ellen Martel saw next were bodies bobbing along in the frothy waters. And in a heartbeat, a day of spectacular surf turned tragic. Watch a dramatic rescue at sea » Thousands of people ...