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00:00In 1942, the shockwaves of war flood into every corner of the Pacific, from steamy island jungles to the bitter
00:11Alaskan cold.
00:13It was the worst place. I froze to death.
00:17In these unfamiliar lands, enemies that were an ocean apart will soon come face to face.
00:26Midway was our first real encounter with the enemy.
00:32With rare personal films and color combat footage, bullets and heavy aircraft fire were coming at me from every direction.
00:42Hear the voices and feel the fight.
01:07You didn't know when you were going to sail. Wives didn't know any given day if they would see their
01:12husbands again.
01:14We didn't know where we were going.
01:20All they said was, you all aren't going to need no winter clothes. You're going overseas.
01:26Then, one morning, we were underway.
01:39We left out underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Things looked pretty good. It was a really smooth ride.
01:50Then, we got out, and the ocean got rough. The waves got big, and that little boat was bouncing around
01:57like a cork.
01:58We were all sick as hell.
02:03Before I was out of the harbor, I was feeding fish over the side.
02:07Freshly trained men in brand new uniforms jammed onto ships heading to an unfamiliar world, 6,000 miles away.
02:21We were sleeping on the hangar decks, the flight decks, anywhere we could find a place to lay down.
02:36Some are barely 18.
02:39I was just a kid. I had never spent a night away from my mother or father.
02:45I spent a lot of time in my bunk just thinking about home, and even crying once in a while.
02:52They can only imagine what war is like, and where they're going to fight it.
03:04Service man, Dan Rocklin, lands in a jungle on the other side of the ocean.
03:12He brings his own camera to capture how exotic it is.
03:22He's near Port Moresby on the island of New Guinea.
03:29Rivers are infested with crocodiles.
03:36Kids climb trees for coconuts, then trade them for cigarettes.
03:49The tribe is welcoming, but can't help staring at the strange man pointing cameras at them.
03:57They'll be calling this home.
04:00But they aren't here for fun.
04:04The Japanese are quickly closing in.
04:11The Japanese already hold the Solomon Islands and most of New Guinea.
04:17Now a fleet is on the way to complete the conquest.
04:21If they can kick the Allies out of Port Moresby.
04:26If New Guinea falls, Australia fears it could be next.
04:35But Americans see the Japanese coming.
04:45Codebreakers sniff out the plan.
04:51Admiral Chester Nimitz decides to gamble.
04:58He sends an armada, including four aircraft carriers, to meet them head-on.
05:09The battle of the Coral Sea starts with a big blow.
05:16Americans spot a Japanese carrier.
05:21They dive down through piercing anti-aircraft fire and sink it.
05:29The Japanese respond by swarming American ships.
05:41It's dogfight after dogfight.
05:43But neither side's navy can see the other.
05:47Planes do all the fighting, long distance.
05:52The planes flew right around us, and the guns couldn't keep up.
05:59And the boys couldn't twist that gun fast enough.
06:08Then, Americans hit a second enemy carrier.
06:13But Japan responds with two mortal blows.
06:17A bomb rips through the deck of the USS Yorktown, killing 40 men.
06:24And the USS Lexington is blasted beyond repair.
06:36Both sides suffer heavy losses.
06:41But the Allies have halted Japan's momentum.
06:51Those left behind will never know the historic impact of the Battle of the Coral Sea.
06:58Not once do opposing ships spot each other.
07:04Not once do they exchange a salvo.
07:11It's a new kind of naval battle, fought entirely with airplanes.
07:19And it's a sigh of relief for Australia.
07:27Australians feel safer.
07:32Fears of a Japanese invasion are waning.
07:36But another invasion is underway.
07:42Suddenly, the Yanks were here.
07:44They all seemed to have big mouths and square teeth.
07:47And came from places I'd never heard of.
07:49Like Nebraska.
07:55Cities like Brisbane are overrun by Americans.
08:04A parade of U.S. troops shows the scale of this friendly invasion.
08:11Up to a million men.
08:17Their reputation precedes them.
08:23The Americans, they had a good record for saving people.
08:27I knew that from watching westerns.
08:32It's a marriage of convenience.
08:37Australia gets extra protection.
08:43America gets a new home base for South Pacific operations.
08:51The two allied forces train together.
08:56And play together.
08:59Americans provide the baseball.
09:05And Australians provide the beer.
09:09The men seem to get along famously.
09:12Until.
09:15We liked everything about the Yanks.
09:18In fact, we just couldn't help stare at them.
09:22The Americans have sharper uniforms.
09:25And deeper pockets.
09:27They earn up to twice as much as the Aussie soldier.
09:30And splash their cash when they hit the town.
09:33We had the chocolates, the ice cream, the silk stockings, and the dollars.
09:38We were able to show the girls a good time.
09:47In Sydney, you were competing with Americans for the attention of women.
09:51And some of the Australian girls really chased the Americans.
09:57Australian men start taking offense and adopt a slogan describing Americans as overpaid, over-sexed, and over-hear.
10:11They're welcome is wearing thin.
10:17Arguments among troops turn into street fights.
10:21Street fights turn into riots.
10:23Melbourne and Brisbane erupt into chaos.
10:33General Douglas MacArthur is well aware of the problem.
10:37He's in Australia commanding both nations' troops.
10:41He's about to send these joint forces into battle.
10:45If they can stop fighting each other.
10:53A new Allied experiment is underway.
10:57Americans and Australians deploy as one army for the first time.
11:02Their navies repelled the Japanese enough to hold Port Moresby, the last Allied outpost on New Guinea.
11:10Now, ground troops pour in.
11:15The Allied camp is nestled inside a coconut plantation.
11:20From here, they want to retake the entire island.
11:24But New Guinea is nearly impossible to penetrate.
11:29Mountains rise to 16,000 feet, surrounded by thick jungle.
11:37So, they try to enlist some local expertise.
11:43American pilot Ken Garish takes his own footage of curious tribesmen in the remote highlands outside Port Moresby.
11:52An Australian captain breaks the ice by taking pictures of the chief.
11:58It's the first time he's ever seen a photo of himself.
12:05The tribe agrees on the common enemy, and they're ready to fight.
12:10We were fortunate to get these pictures, as this was a real war party who actually did kill some Jap
12:16soldiers.
12:23Now, this uncommon collection of allies has to fight the Japanese that surround them.
12:32Each side takes punch shots at the other from close distance.
12:38Black smoke rises from Japanese raids on the Port Moresby camp.
12:49Allied pilots strike back on Japanese bases nearby, turning zeros into scrap metal.
12:57One squadron tallies 200 kills.
13:01Their pilots seldom survive.
13:07Those that do become POWs under Australian guard.
13:15A close quarter air war is a dangerous game.
13:20The two sides are on the same island.
13:23If a pilot bails into the jungle, all bets are off on who finds him first.
13:31So every pilot carries a life vest, a knife, and a pistol.
13:36Between the jungle itself and the enemy within, survival isn't guaranteed.
13:44But it helps to have the locals on your side.
13:49Ken Garish brings his camera on a rescue mission to the Wild Interior.
13:58We landed on a river to pick up a downed pilot, an Aussie officer.
14:05The pilot can thank New Guinea's own search and rescue team.
14:10He was rowed to the plane by natives in their log canoe.
14:15He was real happy to see us.
14:23American and Australian flyboys are forming a tighter bond.
14:28Now that their lives depend on each other.
14:33The pressure of combat punctures their pre-war tensions.
14:38Handshakes are replacing fistfights.
14:47I will say that once the scene of battle is reached,
14:51the two bodies of troops get along exceedingly well.
14:56It helps that there are no women on Port Moresby beaches to fight over.
15:06But they are never far from their minds.
15:15All over the Pacific theater, sexual frustration leads to creative expression.
15:22Their beloved planes become the canvas for what they call nose art.
15:28The farther from the public eye, the racier the art.
15:37Some choose cartoon characters.
15:41Others opt for intimidation.
15:46This one goes for sheer size.
15:50This is the largest nose art painting of World War II,
15:54called The Dragon and His Tail.
15:59The average airfield becomes an art museum,
16:03albeit without a roof.
16:08When rain soaks New Guinea,
16:11nothing and no one escapes the deluge.
16:15The rain averaged about two inches a day.
16:19We didn't fly one mission.
16:24Most of the time was spent in the tents,
16:26except for chow or latrine business.
16:31It's tough going for the soldiers.
16:46This endless rain creates a problem even bigger than mud.
16:54Practically all our men had malaria at one time or another.
16:58I had it twice, along with the bout of dengue fever.
17:01The South Pacific is a hotbed for tropical diseases.
17:06Insect bites cause more stretcher cases than enemy bullets.
17:12Even when the sun comes back out,
17:14fevers rage inside the medical tents.
17:18On New Guinea alone,
17:20the average soldier endures malaria four times.
17:25Your bones and everything would ache.
17:27You would be weak.
17:28You could hardly hold up a rifle.
17:33You could walk, you could crawl,
17:35but you couldn't do much else.
17:38It's a crippling manpower problem.
17:42Fighting malaria will take a whole separate war.
17:47The Army's medical department rushes into action.
17:55Malaria control units spray DDT liberally across the island.
18:02Training films urge troops to take strict precautions.
18:21They speed up trials of the anti-malarial medicine, Atabrin.
18:25The chemical was very, very bitter, very nasty tasting.
18:29My men hated it like poison.
18:34Even the nurses experience wicked side effects.
18:38We started taking these little yellow pills.
18:42They turned your skin and eyeballs yellow.
18:47Soon, rumors fly that Atabrin causes infertility.
18:52The pills are so unpopular that medics are deployed in chow lines to monitor their intake.
19:00The disease affects both sides.
19:03Up to 90% of Japanese troops suffer from malaria and dysentery.
19:11Americans who rushed to enlist are now feeling every mile of ocean between them and home.
19:18What they need is a home away from home.
19:24This place looks like heaven.
19:31Especially for disease-ridden troops.
19:39They're getting shipped to New Zealand, a green and spacious country with fewer people than Detroit, Michigan.
19:50When I went to New Zealand, I was reminded of a western town in the late 1800s.
19:57By the summer of 1942, American troops are arriving by the thousands.
20:07New Zealand puts out the welcome mat.
20:15They set up 19 hospitals with the latest medical equipment.
20:26Local farm families take in troops like second sons and nurse them back to health, New Zealand style.
20:35Once they got out into the countryside and were able to do hard work, eat good food, and drink copious
20:41amounts of milk,
20:43they soon became very well.
20:52There is little of the tension that followed Americans into Australia.
20:58That was a forced marriage.
20:59In New Zealand, it's more like a loving adoption.
21:06Troops get healthy and get ready to rejoin the fight.
21:11There's a big one brewing ahead.
21:17By June of 1942, allied teamwork is holding Port Moresby and protecting Australia.
21:26Japan has hit a wall in the South Pacific.
21:29So the Empire looks east to Midway.
21:34It's a critical halfway point between Asia and the U.S.
21:39The American forces protecting Midway are meager.
21:43The approaching Japanese fleet is four times bigger.
21:49Like the Pearl Harbor attack, they could annihilate another huge chunk of the U.S. Navy and leave them almost
21:56helpless.
22:00But this time, Americans have surprise on their side.
22:06Once again, they've cracked the Japanese code and know their plan.
22:16Even though he's outgunned, Admiral Nimitz doesn't run.
22:26Instead, he'll wait for the Japanese to attack the island,
22:30then launch a surprise of his own.
22:36But it means the men on Midway are sitting ducks.
22:45At sunrise, Americans hear the approaching buzz.
22:50They steel themselves for an onslaught.
23:05The few planes they have scramble to intercept the attackers.
23:36The Japanese bombed the runways.
23:38And obliterate the command post.
23:42Smoke billows high into the sky as they tear into the American base.
23:50They set the hangars ablaze.
24:00American Marines desperately scramble for cover.
24:05Hoping the Navy can summon a counterattack and save the island.
24:15The loudspeaker came on and said,
24:18We've got enemy planes approaching.
24:22Judson Brody is aboard the USS Yorktown.
24:28There were so many Japanese planes falling at one time that it looked like a curtain coming down across the
24:34sky.
24:36American guns fill the air with flack.
24:40But the Japanese are relentless.
24:44The second attack, they got two torpedo hits on us.
24:49You have never in your life felt anything like it.
24:54Japan thinks it has America's Navy on its knees.
24:59Instead, it's on its way.
25:07Americans saw the Japanese coming.
25:11So before they arrived,
25:13they launched whole squadrons of torpedo planes and dive bombers.
25:20150 airplanes raced a strike back,
25:23leaving their home ships under fire behind them.
25:38Without air cover,
25:40American ships face an onslaught.
25:49Japanese pilots have a field day.
25:55But when the American planes reach the Japanese fleet,
25:58catch them off guard.
26:03They, too, have no air cover.
26:09American pilots make it count.
26:11They destroy all four Japanese carriers.
26:25The Battle of Midway is a stunning turnabout.
26:32America cuts deep into Japanese naval power.
26:35It's their first clear victory at sea.
26:42It's not without sacrifice.
26:45America loses one carrier
26:47and 307 servicemen.
26:50More are injured in a drift,
26:53awaiting rescue.
26:57But they prove America can fight back
27:00and win.
27:05The Japanese high command is shaken.
27:12The tide is turning.
27:22When news from the front lines reaches home,
27:27Americans are jubilant.
27:36Downtown Philadelphia becomes a stage
27:38to express support for the war.
27:48Officially, this is a rally to buy war bonds.
27:51Unofficially, it's a party.
27:55Star power draws a crowd.
27:58On stage is James Cagney,
28:00Lucille Ball,
28:02Mickey Rooney,
28:04Dick Powell,
28:05Paul Henry,
28:08and Harpo-Marx.
28:10Besides fanfare and parades,
28:13there's another reminder
28:14that a war is going on.
28:21Civil defense drills.
28:23They become routine for American school kids.
28:28But for everyone on the mainland,
28:30war remains abstract.
28:36For Hawaiians,
28:37it's real.
28:41Pearl Harbor still looks like
28:43it was flipped upside down.
28:45Paradise is now penned in.
28:48The beach is off limits,
28:50framed by barbed wire.
28:53The entire territory is under martial law.
28:57Thousands of school kids are registered,
29:00fingerprinted,
29:00and made to wear ID badges.
29:05Locals line up for ration cards
29:08and gas masks.
29:12Older kids practice how fast
29:14they can get them on.
29:22The youngest ones have to get
29:24into a full body bag.
29:28As if they aren't scared enough.
29:35More than a third of Hawaiians
29:37are of Japanese descent.
29:40They're nervous,
29:41and trying to blend in
29:42by removing any signs
29:44of their ancestry.
29:49But here,
29:50there's no talk
29:51of mass internment.
29:55Such is not the case
29:57on the mainland.
30:10The Ishikawas
30:12are a fishing family.
30:15living in California.
30:28These are their home movies
30:30from before the war.
30:38They are Japanese immigrants,
30:40building a life
30:41life on the American West Coast.
30:46But in 1942,
30:48that's just where
30:49suspicious government
30:50doesn't want them.
30:58We had to get rid of everything.
31:02We were given one month.
31:07people who live closer to the ocean,
31:10they only had 24 hours.
31:13Takeo and Roberta Sharoma
31:15are children
31:16when the U.S. government
31:17puts their families
31:18on a train.
31:21The night before we left,
31:24my parents didn't know
31:25where we were going.
31:36They are headed inland
31:38to one of the ten
31:39hastily built-in
31:40term in camps
31:41ordered by President Roosevelt
31:43at the start of the war.
31:49There would be two families
31:51in one room.
31:55When we got there,
31:56my mother had to
31:57stuff canvas bags
31:58with hay,
31:58which were to be
31:59our mattresses.
32:10I can't remember
32:11the food.
32:14I can remember
32:15not wanting to eat it.
32:19I would just look at it.
32:26They study.
32:29Work.
32:32Even join the military.
32:39But they are not free.
32:44The government rounds up
32:45more than 110,000
32:47Japanese Americans
32:48claiming it's
32:50for their own safety.
32:52But not everyone
32:54buys it.
32:55If we were put there
32:57for protection,
32:58why were the guns
32:59at the guard towers
33:00pointed inward
33:01instead of outward?
33:10Back on the battlefront,
33:13Midway is a colossal victory
33:15victory for the Americans.
33:22But during that four-day battle,
33:24the Japanese puncture
33:25through another front.
33:32The empire races
33:34into the North Pacific
33:35and seizes two islands
33:37in the Aleutians,
33:38Kiska and Atu.
33:41Both are part of the Alaska
33:43territory.
33:47The Japanese are now
33:50on North American soil.
33:52It's way too close
33:53for comfort.
33:574,500 troops
33:59rush to the nearby
34:00outpost of Adak.
34:03From here,
34:04they'll try to build a runway
34:05and launch counter-strikes
34:07on the occupied islands.
34:09If this island
34:11doesn't kill them first.
34:18Adak is barren,
34:20windswept,
34:21and merciless.
34:22It was the worst place.
34:25I froze to death.
34:26They sent us up there
34:27from Pearl Harbor.
34:29They didn't have
34:29any wear clothing.
34:32Frigid air rips in
34:34from the Arctic.
34:39The tropical dangers
34:41of insect bites
34:42give way to frostbite.
34:49Windswept waves
34:50envelop everything in ice.
34:52Men can only fight back
34:54with pigs.
35:00weather is one problem.
35:04Isolation is another.
35:13Everything must come in
35:15by ship.
35:20Every man.
35:25Every machine.
35:29Every meal.
35:37It's like camping
35:38on another planet.
35:40There were no trees up there.
35:42Someone flew one in
35:43from the States
35:44and planted it.
35:45I don't think it lived.
35:51News appears
35:52on bulletin boards
35:53since newspapers
35:55might be three months
35:56out of date.
36:01Even though they're
36:03on American soil,
36:04home seems a world away.
36:09But mail call
36:11thaws their moods.
36:16Baseball
36:17eases their minds.
36:21And music lifts
36:23their morale.
36:25After all,
36:26whining won't keep them warm.
36:28Work will.
36:34Building an airfield
36:35on the frozen tundra
36:36takes brute force.
36:40Engines groan
36:41in the cold.
36:50hammers sting their hands.
36:53But there's a payoff.
36:55An airstrip paved with steel.
36:59Plates come together
37:01like building blocks.
37:05It's done in only two weeks.
37:09And it's weatherproof.
37:13Now they can stop
37:15fighting the weather
37:16and fight the war.
37:25American pilots
37:26gear up for the first raids
37:28against Japanese
37:29camped on U.S. territory.
37:35They fire up nine bombers,
37:3812 fighters,
37:38and 100 men.
37:48Alaskan skies are unforgiving.
37:52Challenges start at takeoff.
37:58Fierce winds
37:59pull formations apart.
38:05For two hours,
38:07it's a battle
38:07just to stay on the flight path
38:09and stay together.
38:22As they near Kiska,
38:2510,000 Japanese
38:26reveal their defenses.
38:42They hurl flack
38:44to try to punch
38:45holes in the planes.
38:48Or at least
38:49force them off course.
38:53Any deviation in flight
38:55and they will miss
38:56the target.
39:00American gunners
39:01trying to clear the way.
39:04It's an airborne game
39:06of chicken.
39:08Finally,
39:09the targets appear.
39:13And the bombs drop.
39:18Japanese mutå“¡
39:19on the fortress.
39:21Introducing the Nouwen
39:21säger
39:21to the Kiest.
39:44Japanese hangars go up in smoke.
39:49In just a few white knuckle minutes, the damage is done.
39:58This is just the beginning, the raids are relentless, dawn to dusk, every day, for over
40:07a year.
40:10It's called the Kiska Blitz.
40:14The Japanese endure six million pounds of bombs.
40:20Americans want their islands back, at any price.
40:28By now, Japan's reach extends from the frigid Aleutian Mountains to the edge of the towering
40:37Himalayas.
40:40Japan has tightened its grip on Asia by closing the Burma Road, the main Allied route supplying
40:47China's fight against Japan.
40:54The only other route is scraping the sky.
41:01Allies attempt one of the most ambitious aviation efforts of World War II.
41:06Flying supplies over the Himalayas, nicknamed the Hump.
41:12It would push the limits of man and machine.
41:17But these pilots are willing to risk it in a Pan Am Clipper.
41:26These Pan American airmen volunteered to risk everything through the most treacherous mountain
41:31passes and weather known to man.
41:35flying tigers escort these retrofitted commercial planes.
41:43But extreme winds toss them around like kites.
41:47Sudden storms take their toll.
41:50Hundreds of planes and pilots perish.
41:55There must be a better way to get supplies to China.
42:04The care of the Tibetan government for our safety is touching.
42:09Captain Brooke Dolan is on the journey of his life.
42:14If planes can't get over the hump, Dolan will try to go through it by traversing Tibet.
42:23Joining Dolan is Ilya Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy's grandson.
42:31They're on a secret mission for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, the precursor
42:38to the CIA.
42:45The journey starts with a traditional Tibetan ceremony.
42:54Together they arrive in Lhasa with trepidation.
42:59They can't cross Tibet without permission from a seven-year-old.
43:04His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he meets his very first Americans.
43:13To say that we are affected with joy is to put it mildly.
43:19We are permitted to travel the road in which we're most interested.
43:28It takes five months of grueling travel by saddle.
43:37Through a thousand miles of breathtaking beauty and heart-stopping hazards.
43:46Boulders were continually breaking and plunging into the canyon.
43:50Acted on by the fierce weathering forces of the Tibetan climate.
43:54Hot daytime sun and freezing moonlight.
44:00Finally, they reach China.
44:05The journey is a success, but the strategy is a failure.
44:11Distance and difficulties make it impossible for a sustained supply push through Tibet.
44:20The only alternative lies deep in the jungles of Burma.
44:26A plane flies in low.
44:30But it's not dropping bombs.
44:36There are supplies for another secret OSS operation.
44:40A guerrilla war.
44:46Local Kachin fighters are already fighting the Japanese occupation and decide to join forces.
44:57OSS operatives funnel in a steady stream of weapons.
45:03In return, the Kachin offer on-the-ground intelligence and invaluable skill.
45:08We never moved without Kachin guides.
45:12They made us think of a Robin Hood version of the Boy Scouts.
45:17Some could not have been more than 12 years old.
45:30The Kachin jump right into 20th century warfare.
45:36Learning how to parachute behind enemy lines.
45:43In turn, allies learn the tricks of jungle transportation.
45:48Riding high to avoid the snakes.
45:55The covert partnership pays off.
46:00They carve secret pathways through Japanese lines.
46:06More than 4,000 Japanese will die at the hands of these operatives.
46:13All in a secret war fought in the shadows.
46:19Elsewhere, it will take direct force.
46:22In July 1942, American intelligence spots a large-scale construction project on an island few have ever heard of.
46:33Guadalcanal.
46:36It's the framework of a new Japanese airbase, big enough to host long-range bombers that could once again threaten
46:44New Guinea and Australia.
46:49The Americans decide to go on the offensive.
46:55There is no color footage of the invasion, but this is the aftermath.
47:08A Japanese counterattack forces their support ships to pull out, leaving them stranded with few reinforcements.
47:20They set up a base with what little supplies they've scrambled to bring ashore.
47:25The Japanese retreat into the interior.
47:30Now an island roughly the size of Delaware is pockmarked with troops from both sides.
47:38Each controlling a mosaic of territory.
47:45It turns into a bloody six-month nightmare.
47:58Without any clear front lines, it's ambush after ambush.
48:12Guadalcanal becomes a battle of attrition.
48:23In 1943, the Americans finally take control.
48:29The wounds are still raw.
48:31America loses 15,000 killed or wounded.
48:38First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt arrives to comfort the fallen.
48:47Admiral William Halsey advised her not to come.
48:53He feared she'd be a distraction.
49:00But she quickly changes his mind.
49:05She went into every ward and spoke to every patient.
49:08I marveled at her heartyhood, both physical and mental.
49:14She alone did more than anyone who came through my area.
49:25She continues on to other pacific war zones.
49:32A month-long 25,000-mile tour.
49:37She braves the hazards of war to meet more than 400,000 troops.
49:44She affectionately calls them sons of the nation.
49:49All the men are our men, part of our United States, which they have saved, so that we can still
50:00call it the land of the free and the home of the brave.
50:1118 months into the war, the shockwaves have spread far beyond Pearl Harbor.
50:20The war is growing bigger and moving slower.
50:31Quick air and sea strikes giving way to long, bloody land battles that drain time, resources, and lives.
50:42Japan is not deterred.
50:44Instead, it's determined.
50:47The Pacific War is no longer a sideshow to the fighting in Europe.
50:52It will soon become its own hell.
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