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Second World War · 1941–1945 · 31 files

Pacific

Researched stories and films about the people who served on the Pacific in the Second World War, with the sources behind every account.

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Written stories

Case files from the Pacific

Painting of Coast Guard landing craft evacuating Marines under fire near Point Cruz, Guadalcanal File 042Article Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands · 1939–1942 “Did They Get Off?” Douglas Munro joined the Coast Guard because its job was saving lives. On Guadalcanal in September 1942 he steered his landing craft between hundreds of trapped Marines and the Japanese guns so the others could load. Shot as the last boats pulled away, he asked one question before he died. He is the only Coast Guardsman ever awarded the Medal of Honor. Private First Class Jacklyn H. Lucas, U.S. Marine Corps, Medal of Honor recipient File 039Article Iwo Jima · 1942–1945 Two Grenades in a Trench Jack Lucas lied his way into the Marine Corps at fourteen, stowed away on a troopship to reach the fighting, and turned seventeen at sea on the way to Iwo Jima. On his second day ashore he threw himself on two Japanese grenades to save his friends. He became the youngest Marine ever awarded the Medal of Honor. Judy, a pointer, sits on the deck of HMS Grasshopper listening to a sailor File 037Article Yangtze River; Sumatra · 1936–1946 Prisoner 81A: The Dog Called Judy Judy, a Royal Navy ship’s dog on the Yangtze, survived two sinkings, a crocodile, a jungle trek across Sumatra and three years in Japanese prison camps. A starving airman shared his rice with her and talked a drunken camp commandant into registering her as a prisoner of war: the only dog ever to be one. Two Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats of Fighting Squadron 3 in flight off Oahu, 10 April 1942 File 035Article Off Bougainville; the Gilbert Islands · 1942–1943 Four Minutes over the Lexington On 20 February 1942 Lieutenant Butch O’Hare flew alone into a formation of nine Japanese bombers heading for his carrier, USS Lexington, and broke up the attack. He became the Navy’s first Medal of Honor aviator of the war. His father had been murdered for helping to convict Al Capone. Chicago’s airport bears his name. Major Richard I. “Dick” Bong, portrait File 033Article New Guinea and the Philippines · 1942–1945 America’s Ace of Aces A Wisconsin farm boy who once looped the Golden Gate Bridge became the highest-scoring American fighter pilot in history: forty Japanese aircraft, all in a P-38 Lightning. Sent home to safety, he died testing a jet fighter on 6 August 1945, the day the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. Official portrait of Lieutenant Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington File 025Article Solomon Islands and Rabaul · 1941–1945 The Black Sheep Who Came Back Gregory “Pappy” Boyington brawled, drank and argued his way through the peacetime Marine Corps and the Flying Tigers. In the Solomons he led a squadron of misfits to fame, equalled the American record, and vanished over Rabaul. He was given the Medal of Honor as a dead man. Twenty months later he walked out of a Japanese prison camp. Private First Class Ira Hayes, aged 19, in parachute gear at the Marine Corps paratroop school, 1943 File 024Article Iwo Jima · 1942–1945 The Pima Marine on Suribachi Ira Hayes, a quiet Pima from the Gila River reservation, helped raise the flag in the most famous photograph of the war. Then his country turned him into a symbol he never wanted to be. He hitchhiked 1,300 miles to tell one grieving mother the truth. Jimmy Doolittle’s B-25 bomber takes off from the deck of USS Hornet, 18 April 1942 File 023Article Tokyo and the East China Sea · 1942 Sixteen Bombers, One Way Four months after Pearl Harbor, Jimmy Doolittle led sixteen Army bombers off the deck of a Navy carrier to strike Japan, knowing they could not come back. He crash-landed in a Chinese rice paddy convinced he would be court-martialled. Instead he was given the Medal of Honor. Doris Miller after receiving the Navy Cross, May 1942 File 020Article Pearl Harbor · 1941–1943 The Mess Attendant at Pearl Harbor The Navy of 1941 would only let Doris Miller cook, clean and wait tables. When Japanese aircraft struck Pearl Harbor, he carried his dying captain to cover and then fired an anti-aircraft gun he had never been trained to use. Corporal Hershel W. Williams File 019Article Iwo Jima · February 1945 Four Hours with a Flamethrower Turned away by the Marines for being too short, Woody Williams landed on Iwo Jima in February 1945 carrying a seventy-pound flamethrower. For four hours he went pillbox to pillbox while his covering riflemen fell. Desmond T. Doss File 012Article Okinawa · 1944–1945 Lord, Help Me Get One More Desmond Doss refused to carry a rifle. On a cliff on Okinawa he lowered wounded men down a rope one at a time, and became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. U.S. Marines land on Guadalcanal, 7 August 1942 File 002Article Guadalcanal · 1942 The Scout Who Would Not Talk Captured behind Japanese lines on Guadalcanal with a small American flag hidden in his clothing, Jacob Vouza was tied to a tree, bayoneted and left for dead. He chewed through the ropes.
Films

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All 19 films →
Manuel Perez ▸ Film Pacific Manuel Perez One pillbox stopped his whole company — so he took it alone and killed 18 Rodger Young ▸ Film Pacific Rodger Young The nearly deaf soldier who demoted himself — then crawled alone into the guns The Flying Undertaker ▸ Film Pacific The Flying Undertaker He took on 13 enemy planes with one wingman and shot down 7 Hershel “Woody” Williams ▸ Film Pacific Hershel “Woody” Williams One man, a flamethrower, and four hours alone on Iwo Jima Welch & Taylor ▸ Film Pacific Welch & Taylor They fought back at Pearl Harbor — then were denied the Medal of Honor Judy ▸ Film Pacific Judy The only dog in history officially registered as a prisoner of war Ira Hayes ▸ Film Pacific Ira Hayes He raised the most famous flag in history — his country paraded him until he broke Pappy Boyington ▸ Film Pacific Pappy Boyington They gave his Medal of Honor to his mother — months later he walked out of a POW camp Jimmy Doolittle ▸ Film Pacific Jimmy Doolittle He bombed Tokyo on a one-way mission — then expected a court-martial Dick Bong ▸ Film Pacific Dick Bong America's deadliest pilot survived every dogfight. He died on the day of Hiroshima Ben Salomon ▸ Film Pacific Ben Salomon He was a dentist. He killed 98 enemy soldiers alone so his patients could escape Wendell Fertig ▸ Film Pacific Wendell Fertig He promoted himself to general and built a 35,000-man army behind enemy lines