[To The Shores Of Iwo Jima ]

[Music] this is the Pacific as you know it wide stretches of water but this is the Pacific is the Joint Chiefs of Staff view a battlefield a vast fortress studded plane on which key strongholds Ankara Japanese defense line guarding the heart of the homeland the American frontlines in advance of Guam and Saipan ahead now stood huge EEMA the most heavily fortified island in the world buried deep underground laid twenty years of [ __ ] preparation for murder 20,000 of their toughest fighting men waited for us to make the first move [Music] and they don't have to wait long the name he begins to soften up the island so we can land [Applause] [Music] [Music] waitin for my carrier force take off the strafing bomb [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] gunboats moving close to work over enemy Beach installation enemy fire gets closer [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] djay beginning of the toughest 26 days and Marine Corps history we watched the central control vessel when this flag drops our landing craft will head for the beach 500 landing craft in 10 waves advance on 3,000 yards of beach [Music] and wait fire keeps us pinned down we want to pull the beach over our heads like a blanket [Music] maybe medical corpsman Guerra wounded out fast [Music] our tanks come ashore and grind inland [Music] we're able to advance from yellow beach but it's slow-going [Music] run into trouble on green beach in their fortified positions on mobster Abacha the chaps look right down our throats [Music] we need help we call the command ship standing offshore our message is received the situation map is checked portare Director contacts carrier plane circling the target the plate leader receives his instruction [Music] we insert a bocce from the air supporting ships deliver point-blank fire [Music] after 72 hours of continuous pounding our patrols move forward mortar barrage first is out hidden machine-gun nest keep a sharp lookout for snipers [Music] Turner gives the order to cease fire our guns are quiet as they make the climb we wait for a sign Suribachi is ours Suribachi is ours but old on the southern tip of the island but ahead the main strength of the chap garrison was entrenched in steel and concrete the show was just beginning Navy and Coast Guardsmen rush supplies ashore for the big push north [Music] [Music] [Music] you never saw chat but fire was coming out of every hole in every Rock [Music] [Music] it was tough going many didn't make it [Music] crossfire ahead is murderuss rocket trucks go into action spot our position we don't even have time to remove our dead [Music] there are heavy defenses on the ridges overlooking this plain they draw a bead on us again they chase us off there five times we came back six [Music] we brought in our wounded and we took a breather [Music] the injured are carried to the rear plasmas given on the way Hospital dugouts are ready for anything and we are ready to advance again we call for artillery [Music] our tour until develops at night [Music] have our ammunition dumps goes up [Music] two weeks we've cleaned out plenty of Japs between here and Suribachi but there's still a lot of island to be taken with thousands of chaps fighting from block houses pillboxes and teams we have to go in and pick them up one by one [Music] we can take them out we burn them out [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] while we fought we prayed [Music] Wreckage along the beach was only a small part of the cost of 26 days of fighting [Music] beautiful Queenie [Music] there are other names to names of our friends [Music] we stacked the helmets of our dead in these files helmets of 4,000 men who died to take a tiny island somewhere in the Pacific you're right marine you've taken a tiny out but it's not just eight square miles of rock today it's an American fortress only four hours from Tokyo today from your little island giant striking forces are launched against the heart of Japan today our planes and ships are blasting the enemy into ashes of the foot of Fujiyama with confidence in our armed forces with the unbounding determination of our people we will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Pirela Coral Sea Midway Guadalcanal santa cruz North Atlantic Sicily Norman [Music] these were your battles these are your victories you have a right to feel proud today tomorrow and forever it took some doing but you did it let's go back to the beginning might be a good thing to sum it all up most of you were civilians when this thing started truck drivers painters riveters clerks teachers students actors everything in the book but no matter what you'd been before in due time you became sailors and by and large most of you adapted yourselves whether stateside or in forward areas when the time came you did a good job there were bad times there were good times [Music] sometimes the food was good sometimes it wasn't so good there were those uniforms currently designed by a guy who thought it was immoral to carry anything concealed in your pockets there were restrictions there were those inspections there was Mon leanness sometimes [Music] were those who watches that seem so long that you wondered if you'd ever done anything but stand watch that was that chief you swore you were gonna kill some day and that JG was a pain in the Duff more serious things things that count there were those guys who were hurt for those guys who are gone for good some of the best no man can deny that this victory has been won at great cost what did we get out of this useless war nothing but Texas death and Bolshevism and the time will surely come when someone will try to persuade you that this victory your victory was not worth the cost when that time comes it might be well to remember what defeat would have meant to you to your families to your children born and unborn [Music] here is the record here is history as your enemy succeeded in writing it for millions of others this is history as they would have written it for you if you had not prevented them this would have been America but for you and your comrades and arms these are some of the millions of children who've looked on defeat children now in rags and in tears without food without laughter grown old without youth never believed that the people of this nation are not grateful to you for having kept such tragedy away from this land never believed that these your people are not moved at the thought of what you have done some will be will not have the power to utter their gratitude for what you have done and as such gratitude is unutterable but the feeling is there sailor feeling is in the hearts of the mothers of America the children you've spared from hunger death [Music] it is in the hearts of all those who came to these shores to seek a freer fuller life it is in the hearts of those who fought before you to preserve the precious birthright that you once again have saved it is burned in the hearts of children who think you're the greatest bunch of guys ever is in the hearts of all those who have given their sons in battle [Music] is in the hearts of all those who love this land of ours and sailor that's just about everybody and it is in your own hearts as well you have good cause to be grateful to yourselves for having kept this land this way of life intact look at this one sailor this way of life these are our villages our towns our cities [Music] this is our history of what you have written the latest bright chapter [Music] this is the tale of our struggle for liberty these are our people at work and at worship these are our people at leisure these are our people at play [Music] this is our art our sculpture our music a penny for a spool afraid a penny for a needle that's the way my Barney go [Music] this is our age-old custom of governing ourselves in free assembly where every man can speak his mind without fear and without restraint should be snowed up for six months in the year and I tell you that if 10 Higgins won't get us snow fences I say we ought to elect someone who will [Music] these are some of the things that add up to a way of life that we rightly judge to be the best we know these things you fought for these things you shall keep this is a way of life that we may alter but that we shall alter for the better and after our own fashion [Music] the Secretary of the Navy I salute the men and the women of the Navy you have completed your mission you have taken part in the winning of the bitterest war in history you have carried out this mission in a manner which has earned you the respect and the gratitude of the entire nation now your service in that Navy draws to a close the readjustment says you return to civil life may be difficult for some of you but as you adjust it yourselves to the ways of war with a speed and an efficiency that our enemies thought beyond our power so too I am confident that you will adjust yourselves to the ways of peace All Hands stand ready to help you who have served this country so well as the secretary of your Navy I bet you could by and say well done as your fellow citizen I welcome you home to live in peace among your own people [Music]