00:17These are the men of the 2nd Marine Division.
00:21We're now embarking on a full-scale amphibious operation
00:24after many months of intensive training.
00:35The transports are combat loaded.
00:38The ships of the Navy and Coast Guard form our convoy.
00:42Squadrons of carrier planes cover us in the sky.
00:46Several days from our destination,
00:48the destroyer brings us sealed orders.
01:06It won't be long now before we know where we're bound.
01:11The relief map of our objective is broken out.
01:15The fortified island of Betio and the Tarawa Atoll,
01:19a very important Jap air base on the outer fringe
01:22of their Pacific defenses.
01:24Our platoon leaders started explaining the terrain to us.
01:27By the time they were finished, we knew that island and its reefs
01:30as well as we knew our own backyards.
01:34We built more machine gun ammunition.
01:45Check and test fire all weapons.
01:53Exercise helped to relieve the tension.
02:00Navy and Coast Guard coxswains receive last-minute instructions
02:03on formations, rendezvous areas, and departure times.
02:08Services are held on the last evening before D-Day.
02:19We liked listening to Father Kelly,
02:21even with us at Guadalcanal.
02:24He had a way of saying what we wanted to hear.
02:34Many of these men were killed the following morning.
02:44We are ready.
02:49D-Day.
02:50This is the day we attacked.
02:51Long before daylight, we were over the side
02:53into amphibian tractors and landing boats.
03:04At daylight, our naval vessels opened fire,
03:07and for four solid hours, they found Tarawa with high explosives.
03:25We were all the best.
03:26Everything went like clockwork.
03:27When the ships stopped firing, the Navy planes would take over.
03:31Bombing.
03:34Straphing.
03:36We were a team working together.
03:40Then, again according to plan, the planes withdraw and the ship's batteries open up again.
03:54H-hour, the hour we attack, is getting close.
03:57For three days before we moved in, over four million pounds of explosives have been dropped on the island.
04:03It didn't seem possible that anyone could live through that bombardment.
04:15.
04:33From this Jap hulk, machine guns constantly strafed our assault waves,
04:49We found them out twice, but each time a new crew took over.
04:53One of our planes scores a direct hit.
05:00As we approach the island, we have the feeling that the show is just about over.
05:04There doesn't seem to be any organized resistance.
05:06However, we're taking no chances.
05:10Suddenly, we're met by heavy machine gun and mortar fire.
05:13It takes a heavy toll of our boats and men.
05:16It doesn't stop us.
05:30We find our way onto the beach.
05:56Our men wait ashore from wrecked amphibians.
06:06A long pier extending across the fringing reef gives protection to a lot of our boys on
06:10the way in.
06:14We have a pretty good toehold on the beach, but Jeff fire pins us down for hours.
06:35Casualties are pretty high, but as we found out later, blood plasma saves a lot of lives.
06:47When reinforcements arrive, we start moving up.
07:08It isn't easy knocking those Japs out of their positions.
07:11They're hidden in trees behind revetments, buried pill boxes, bomb proofs, bunkers.
07:39That's all for us.
07:47Oh, my God.
07:49Oh, my God.
07:51Oh, my God.
08:02Oh, my God.
08:04Oh, my God.
08:49Oh, my God.
08:56Oh, my God.
09:13Oh, my God.
09:54Oh, my God.
09:57Oh, my God.
10:21Oh, my God.
10:40Oh, my God.
10:56Oh, my God.
11:04Oh, my God.
11:30Oh, my God.
12:03Oh, my God.
12:35Oh, my God.
12:39Oh, my God.
12:41Oh, my God.
12:42Oh, my God.
12:45Oh, my God.
12:49Oh, my God.
12:52Oh, my God.
12:53Oh, my God.
12:55Oh, my God.
13:21Oh, my God.
13:33Oh, my God.
13:54Oh, my God.
14:00Oh, my God.
14:31Oh, my God.
15:17Oh, my God.
15:25Oh, my God.
16:03Oh, my God.
16:51Oh, my God.
17:12Oh, my God.
17:20Oh, my God.
18:15Oh, my God.
18:18Oh, my God.
19:01Oh, my God.
19:12Oh, my God.
19:13Oh, my God.
19:43Oh, my God.
20:13Oh, my God.
20:14Oh, my God.
20:14Oh, my God.
20:15Oh, my God.
20:17Oh, my God.
20:18Oh, my God.
20:20Oh, my God.
20:20Oh, my God.
20:23Oh, my God.
21:12Oh, my God.
21:15Oh, my God.
21:57Oh, my God.
22:40Oh, my God.
22:41Oh, my God.
23:11Oh, my God.
23:59Oh, my God.
24:24Oh, my God.
24:28Oh, my God.
25:15Oh, my God.
25:44Oh, my God.
25:54Oh, my God.
26:29Oh, my God.
26:32Oh, my God.
27:19Oh, my God.
27:35Oh, my God.
28:11Oh, my God.
28:24Oh, my God.
28:28Oh, my God.
28:40Oh, my God.
29:10Oh, my God.
29:14Oh, my God.
29:41Good luck, fellas, hang on the beach.
29:45Watch the ball, watch that reach.
29:52Out we go, over the side.
30:01Spread out, spread out.
30:04Come on, come on, come on.
30:10All right, bring that gun over here.
30:15Catch you. Watch your cover.
30:17Oh, get up ahead.
30:34Yeah, that sniper.
30:39Hey, Joe, Joe.
30:41Fire Direction Center.
30:42FTC, urgent.
30:54Come on.
30:55Come up a little.
31:07Come on, come on.
31:08Let's go.
31:09Let's go, you guys.
31:17Don't praise dead with me.
31:24Mopping up.
31:26The phrase sounds tame and unexciting.
31:30Actually, mopping up is one of the most gruesome and dangerous jobs of the war.
31:36The last hysterical fanatics must be captured or destroyed before victory is complete.
31:45We've returned to Guam.
31:48It's ours again.
31:51But the cost has been high.
31:53There's a lot of history.
31:54And we're off to the deep.
32:05The most gruesome and defeat will be taken on the piano.
32:06We've had a lot of history.
32:06The young and mighty...
32:08Good morning.
32:08Good morning.
32:09Good morning.
32:09Good morning.
32:10Good morning.
32:34One thousand, two hundred and twenty-six Americans have died.
32:40In dying, each man disposed of ten jets.
32:45But one thousand, two hundred and twenty-six fellow Americans have died.
32:57Here are the sons of heaven.
33:02These are the members of the divine race.
33:06These are the men who set out to conquer the earth.
33:09Where now is the imperial arrogance which went forth to destroy the world?
33:23The loudspeaker called,
33:24Geneva Convention, we will not hurt you.
33:29Out of the hills where they've hidden come a throng of Japanese civilians.
33:33They're bewildered.
33:35Not so much by the bombardment, though that was severe enough.
33:39Their emperor has failed them.
33:42Not so long ago, they turned their backs on their sacred mountain and sailed to Guam.
33:47This was to be their colony, their promised land.
33:51And the Chamorros would be their slaves.
33:54They came to stay forever.
33:56Now the plans of empire lie in ruin.
34:00Guam's destiny as a fortress of Japan has been smashed.
34:12Now a new marine garrison takes up the watch on Guam.
34:16Today, an American task force controls the waters off Guam.
34:25Two months after his rescue, George Tweed, now warrant officer and holder of the Legion of Merit for his aid
34:31in the recovery of Guam,
34:33returned to the island to prepare a final report on his strange adventure.
34:38I came close to dying a hundred times during the last two and a half years.
34:42But when those American planes and ships came over, I almost died of joy.
34:48All that power, that was a sight for sore eyes.
34:52The Navy sure had the stuff.
34:55I didn't have to wonder anymore what the folks back home had been doing
34:59while I was playing hide and seek with the Japs.
35:02But the Japs did a few other things besides chase me around.
35:05When they started fortifying, they built up their defenses like mad.
35:10They were racing against time.
35:13A lot of Chamorro blood was mixed up in that concrete.
35:17The Japs forced them to work for practically nothing.
35:21And the ones who couldn't stand the gaff were beaten and tortured.
35:27I'll bet they were a little too busy to mistreat the natives when we started coming over.
35:32Not the Japs, sir.
35:33They always find time for that.
35:36When they got worried about the Americans coming back,
35:39they treated the Chamorro as even worse.
35:41When the natives could get together in groups,
35:44it wasn't for celebration.
35:46Not at first.
35:48They prayed for their dead.
35:51Some of these were victims of terrible butchery.
35:54This one had his head cut off for turning it up to a sky filled with American bombers.
36:02This one couldn't hide his joy when a zero crashed into the sea.
36:09This one tried to help one of our pilots.
36:14This is Jap justice as I saw it.
36:20The Japs brought slavery and misery and death to the natives of Guam.
36:26These people are my friends.
36:28They saved my life.
36:29When I returned, the Chamorras were getting their first good meals in a long time.
36:35And their first decent medical care.
36:38Some of it for babies born during the occupation.
36:44I would like to visit them again when the war is over.
36:47Until then, I want to do everything I can to knock the hell out of those Japs.
36:51I was there in the beginning and I want to be there to finish.
36:59People of Guam, the government of the United States.
37:03Your government promises your homes will rise again.
37:07Your losses will be restored.
37:10What is done for Guam is only part of what Guam will do for the people of America and the
37:15peace of the world.
37:16Guam will now become everything that a powerful American base should be.
37:22Great installations will rise as sentinels of our security and the peace of the world.
37:27From Guam, the attack goes forward.
37:30From here, the winning blow may be struck against Japan.
37:34On to Guam, on to every other place we win, we must pour the power that will clear the path
37:40to Tokyo.
37:42This base, which was lost and is now redeemed, may now fulfill its destiny
37:48and launch the action that will help win the war.
37:55The End
37:55The End
38:02The End
38:06The End
38:06The End
38:12The End
38:15The End
38:21The End
38:21The End
38:24The End
38:25The End
38:25The End
38:28The End
38:34The End
38:38The End
38:40The End
38:50The End
38:51The End
38:52The End
38:58The End
38:59The End
39:02The End
39:05The End
39:06The End
39:06The End
39:07The End
39:08The End
39:13The End
39:13The End
39:13The End
