CORREGIDOR TO IWO JIMA

[Music] for five months from December 41 through April 42 Corregidor stood as a symbol of American fortitude and American suffering on the 6th of May and 42 it disappeared into the darkness of capture to their Asiatic neighbors our enemies showed the pictures of their conquest and of the Japanese flag rising over the fortress of the Philippines about that time this commando was being built these paratroopers were in training training for revenge 34 months later they flew over the narrow drop zone atop the rock and then down on Corregidor they've jumped to wipe out a black page of our history down near the old barracks on Corregidor topside their mission to capture Corregidor guns from the rear veterans of lye and Salim our they parachuted in teams of ten one team at a time for almost two hours [Music] meanwhile a tremendous naval bombardment prepared the way for the amphibious assault shell fire swept the beaches clean driving the defenders inland overhead aircraft roared in from the bay some to strafe shore defenses and some to lay down high-explosive and fragmentation bombs the combined destructive power of aerial bombs and heavy naval gunfire left the shores of San Jose Bay an undefended chaos [Music] on schedule with clock-like precision the assault force moved up to San Jose Bay hundreds of landing craft bearing the men of the 24th division plowed ashore from the beaches wrecked by bombs and shell fire came little opposition they streamed ashore to force a juncture with a paratroopers in command of the heights above Corrigan or lost in 42 after five months of bitter battle was retaken in a matter almost of hours this time we had the stuff moving northward in the China Sea the Navy's carrier forces had swelled the total of [ __ ] ships sunk as despite heavy weather they draw closer to Japan itself Helldivers avengers Hellcats Corsairs unleashed in increasing numbers are carrying destruction to [ __ ] held bases shipping oil reserves and industries from Saigon to Tokyo [Music] now they are learning the fury of the Corsair and they are taking lessons and destruction from the Avengers of the fifth fleet [Music] gasoline and oil coming up through the China Seas from Java and Sumatra is one of our prized targets were in a war of mechanized pike the lifeblood of an army or Navy is oil and hundred octane gasoline [Music] in one attack 25 Japanese ships were sunk off the Indochina mainland this tanker was just one that tangled with a hell diver and washed up second best dead ahead a jet fighter planes of course and much too fast for him now the formations are hitting the Japanese coasts on the road to Tokyo itself fuel dumps harbor installations army and navy bases heavy industry and aircraft factories these are our targets today and to reach them were chasing [ __ ] planes right into their own backyards [Music] bomb incendiaries and rockets hurtled down upon Tokyo assembly lines as the power of production lines 10,000 miles away in Akron Trenton Columbus and Bridgeport is brought to bear upon the industries whose products oppose ours in a three-day attack upon Japan in Tokyo we destroyed 517 planes and 55 ships we lost nine fighter planes [Music] from now on to the aircraft of our carrier forces Fujiyama will be a familiar landmark pathway between Guam and Tokyo lies yo Jima an island of eight square miles its capture was vital for at SUNY beach lying exposed beneath the commanding heights of Mount Suribachi was the immediate objective February 19th was d-day for the fifth and fibia score and some 800 naval ships and craft that poured rockets and projectiles in thousands of tons upon the little island he was defended with fanatical zeal everybody took it in the assault ships took it mentally but the bombardment went on climaxing 75 days of aerial and offshore attack then the attack went ashore it was 9 a.m. [Music] bombardment had driven the jets from the water's edge but as the Marines hit the surf they knew a bloody job lay ahead of them mortar shells rained down on the beach from the heights of Suribachi [Music] [Applause] the Japs knew he was value they had packed it with 15,000 men hidden in the mountains one Suribachi is 500 feet high it was nicknamed mortar Mountain its defenses blanketed the beach and a plane at its base naval guns at close range added to the fury of the bombardment the roar of Kurtis Helldivers could be heard above the din then the thought of their deadly load bursting on the mountain slope one after another the sb2c zoomed in skimming the foxholes of the Leathernecks on the beach blasting the little cave mouths that hit the Japs deep in the rocks of the mountain they called it hell's acre and compared it to Tarawa it was reported as the world's most heavily defended island [Music] more than 15,000 Marines were wounded 4000 died to win he was eight square miles [Music] the fanaticism of the japanese defense was unparalleled when 12,000 864 dead had been counted only 81 had surrendered these were among those few for each one captured 155 were killed [Music] [Applause] i surf that enemy fire knocked out almost a third of our craft but still the equipment piled in to shore and this time we had it we had the ships we had the planes we had two parts the gas the oil the shells the rockets but above all we had the unparalleled courage of the United States Marines [Music]