5 Dollars To the Heroes of the Battle of Midway

The Marshall Islands sits roughly 1,300 miles from Midway Atoll, yet the connection is not arbitrary — the June 1942 battle was fought in the Central Pacific, and Marshallese territory was under Japanese occupation at the time. The commemorative program the Marshall Islands launched in the early 1990s relied heavily on American military themes, partly as a commercial venture targeting U.S. collectors, and partly reflecting the islands' post-independence relationship with Washington under the Compact of Free Association signed in 1986.

The battle itself destroyed four Japanese fleet carriers in four days, a loss from which the Imperial Japanese Navy never strategically recovered.