This is a short and Untold Stories of the Extraordinary World War II - Courage, Survival, Resistance and Rescue Mission.

As a guide to understanding the enormity of the impact of the war, there were more than 16 million Americans who served in World War II. There were 60 other countries also involved in the war. There were about 70 million people killed in the war. This is about one-quarter of all the people on earth at that time.

Many of the heroes were not recognized in their lifetimes and some ended in lessened circumstances or torture and death because of their efforts to save lives during the agonies of war.

Millions died but millions were saved by thousands of actions by people caught in a war that seemed like it would never end. Some of the stories are captured here.