Author Archive: Retro

This documentary offers a profile of two of the Marine Corps’ bloodiest battles. Perhaps the better known of the two, Tarawa, has come to symbolize the savage island fighting that characterized the war in the Pacific. Fought within an area the size of the Pentagon, three days of fighting claimed almost 10,000 lives. The second part deals with the return of the Marine Corps to their base on Guam. Seized early in the war, the island of Guam had a close relationship with the United States, and its loss was one that hurt deeply.

From the Department of the Navy.

An Academy Award nominated feature film, “Go for Broke!” stars Van Johnson along with actual veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The film tells the true story of the 442nd RCT, composed of Nisei soldiers, second-generation Americans born to Japanese-American parents, from training through combat. Fighting in Europe in World War II, they were the most highly decorated unit for their size & length of service in the history of the US Army, with one of the highest casualty rates. And they did it all while their families were unjustly interned in detention camps back in the USA.

Nazi propoganda film made for the German people. Documents the frightening hysteria of German citizens.

Dir. Frank Capra. Part of Capra’s “Why We Fight” series, volume 7. A look at 1940’s common America as they prepare for war.

Rare footage shows the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.

Army Singnal Crop footage of the battle for New Britain in December of 1943.

U.S. Govermenent film on how the recently defeated people of Japan should be treated.

Considered a model for wartime documentaries, this film follows the 25th and final bombing mission of the “Memphis Belle”, a B17 which was nicknamed “The Flying Fortress”. Lt. Col. William Wyler flew several missions with the crew, taking on the camera-work himself, at considerable risk.