Exhibits: World War II

World War II

“Uncommon Valor” recalls hard fought battles against a formidable opponent in the Pacific. The Marine Corps entered World War II as a small expeditionary force with outdated equipment and an unproven new mission – amphibious assault. The Japanese swept away several Marine outposts across the Pacific in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. But these early losses turned into later victories.

The gripping story of the Pacific campaigns are told with the help of tanks, artillery pieces, aircraft, small arms and the everyday “junk on a bunk” that belonged to the individual Marine. Exhibits highlight war time innovation in tactics, equipment, special units, Women Marines, racial integration, the Code Talkers, and Navy corpsmen.

In one immersive exhibit, visitors are briefed on their pending assault landing on the island of Iwo Jima before boarding a Higgins Boat for the perilous trip to the beach. Motion, sound and video provide a realistic experience. Close by is the flag raised on Iwo Jima and photographed by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. In a poignant display, some 6,000 small Marine and US Navy insignias represent the cost in human lives to take that one island. The Uncommon Valor gallery honors the sacrifices and accomplishments of America’s “Greatest Generation.”

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Uncommon Valor: 1940 - 1945 (part 1)

World at War
Pearl Harbor
U.S. Outposts Attacked
Desperate Days
Turning Points
The Battle for Guadalcanal
Isolating Rabaul
Close Air Support
The Home Front

World at War

World War II began with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ended with the Japanese surrender to the Allies on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. The war claimed sixty million lives worldwide, the majority of them civilians, including six million Jews exterminated by German Nazis. The war created millions of refugees. America entered the war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 7 December 1941. The United States mobilized twelve million men and women and endured 300,000 fatalities in its 44 months of global combat.

Pearl Harbor

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, shocked complacently isolationist America. Japanese bombs and torpedoes ravaged the Navy’s mighty battleships, killed more than 2400 Americans, and wounded 1200 others. Images of exploding warships and burning installations riveted attention on what President Roosevelt aptly called "a day that will live in infamy."

Japanese planes also devastated American airpower, most of it caught helpless on the ground. Fortunately, the U. S. Navy’s irreplaceable aircraft carriers were at sea, and escaped the inferno. They would play an essential role in holding the line through 1942.

U.S. Outposts Attacked

"Rumors that reinforcements were on the way…spread rapidly….It was too good to be true."
- Lt. Woodrow M. Kessler, USMC, Wake Island

So devastating had been Japan’s surprise strike against Pearl Harbor that even six months later the U.S Pacific Fleet was still unable to mount a credible relief expedition to the Philippines to rescue the besieged garrison at Corregidor. Meanwhile, the Japanese had smothered every Marine outpost west of Midway, including China, Guam, Wake Island, and northern Luzon. The Marines’ stout-hearted defense burnished the Corps’ legend and inspired the American public, but in the end their sacrifice produced little more than a certain immortality and long years of brutal imprisonment.

Desperate Days

"The Marine Corps throughout its history has specialized in brush warfare and amphibious operations."
- MGen Thomas Holcomb, February 1942

The Marines’ wartime mission endured high-level tinkering as the Roosevelt administration struggled to fight a global war. Roosevelt wanted the Corps to form commando units. Other officials sought to deploy small units of Marines to the Azores, North Africa, or the Caribbean. The Joint Chiefs of Staff ended the debate by committing the Corps to the Pacific as amphibious assault troops. The Marines welcomed the mission but worried about attaining the means to accomplish it.

Large-scale offensive operations seemed unlikely. The Navy lacked sufficient amphibious ships, landing craft, and escorts, and the Japanese Combined Fleet still ruled the seas. The Marines advanced a brigade to Samoa and deployed experimental raider and parachute battalions. On the home front, the Commandant struggled to preserve traditional Marine professionalism amid pell-mell expansion and hurried training.

Turning Points

The U.S. Pacific Fleet remained chronically short of carriers, destroyers, submarines and oilers as it tried to stem the Japanese tide. Naval task force commanders like William "Bull" Halsey, Jack Fletcher, and Raymond Spruance could at best conduct hit-and-run sorties.

The gravest threat to the United States arose in late May 1942 when the Japanese Combined Fleet sailed towards Midway and its Marine defenders. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto sought to seize Midway, draw the crippled U.S. fleet into a decisive naval battle and sink its remaining carriers. Japanese aircraft based in captured Midway could then bomb Hawaii relentlessly. Yamamoto’s campaign would represent Japan’s best opportunity for victory in the Pacific. At the critical moment, the Americans broke the Japanese naval code, alerted the Midway garrison, and deployed its carriers in a desperate effort to intercept Yamamoto.

The Battle for Guadalcanal

The Marines captured the primitive Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal and renamed it after Major Lofton Henderson, killed at Midway. Henderson Field became the focus of a prolonged battle for control of the air, the sea, and the island itself. Ill-supplied, malnourished, malaria-ridden Marines clung to positions in dense jungle on "starvation Island." Marine aviators challenged Japanese aerial might. Violent naval battles in surrounding waters sank dozens of warships. The intense conflict gradually yielded decisive American success. Japanese Admiral Raizo Tanaka, a key combatant in the campaign, concluded, "Japan’s doom was sealed with the closing of the struggle for Guadalcanal."

Isolating Rabaul

"Consider Rabaul as the center and make every effort for a protracted defense."
- Imperial Japanese Headquarters directive, 1943

For more than two years, the mighty Japanese fortress at Rabaul dominated operations throughout the southwestern Pacific. From Rabaul, Japanese ships and planes contested the invasion of Guadalcanal, and subsequently of the more northerly Solomon Islands. A magnificent harbor, ample airfields, and a location at the hub of Japanese defenses made this powerful base in northeastern New Britain a major objective.

U. S. aircraft bombed Rabaul daily. Marine landings on New Georgia, Bougainville, and Cape Gloucester won sites for new airfields that steadily tightened the noose. When the impossibility of seizing Rabaul without prohibitive loss gradually became apparent, American air and naval power isolated the enemy stronghold. Cut off from resupply of men and material, Rabaul’s 100,000 defenders withered on the vine. By isolating Rabaul, American forces won the Pacific War’s longest campaign.

Close Air Support

"The air-infantry team takes the highest degree of understanding and coordination to be successful."
- LtCol Lewis W. Walt

The unique relationship forged in the Pacific between riflemen and aviators became a Marine benchmark for future conflicts. Men trained first as riflemen and then as aviators expertly called in air strikes from comrades flying Marine fighters and dive-bombers. The long anticipated arrival of the Vought F4U Corsair in 1943 gave Marine aviators convincing superiority over the Japanese Zero and also provided the infantry a first-class ground attack capability. By assigning experienced aviators as forward air controllers with front-line infantry units the Marines enhanced the success of the new Corsairs, causing the riflemen to nickname the gull-winged plane "the Bent-Wing Widow Maker."

The Home Front

"You may see me in the newsreels if you watch."
- Marine William J. Quinn, letter to his wife

Halfway through America’s longest conflict since the Civil War, citizens at home planted "Victory Gardens," clipped ration coupons, and avidly followed the war in magazines and theater newsreels. Guadalcanal Diary, by correspondent Richard Tregaskis, fascinated millions of readers.

Civilian women like "Rosie the Riveter" worked in factories in unprecedented numbers. Women Marines served in billets ranging from aircraft maintenance to cryptology. Home folks heard from their overseas sons by postage-free "Victory Mail" ("V-Mail"). An agonizing number received government telegrams announcing casualties to loved ones.

Uncommon Valor: 1940 - 1945 (part 2)

Central Pacific Campaigns
Tarawa
The Marshall Islands
Marine Aviation at Sea
Assaulting the Marianas
Peleliu
The Battle for Iwo Jima
Marines in the Philippines
Okinawa

Central Pacific Campaigns

"Our time has come to attack!"
- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN, 11 November 1943

The Pacific War changed dramatically on 20 November 1943 when an enormous U.S. fleet appeared unexpectedly in the heart of the Japanese-occupied Gilbert Islands and launched concurrent amphibious assaults against Tarawa and Makin Atolls.

To this point the United States had fought desperately with limited resources in the South Pacific while waiting for the nation’s industry to reach full wartime production. That day had come. Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, abruptly found himself possessing more ships and planes than any commander in history. Included in this new arsenal were enough Marines, amphibious ships, and landing craft for the Leathernecks to spearhead a drive across the vast Central Pacific to the very doorstep of Japan.

Yet first it was essential that the Marines validate their still unproven doctrine of offensive amphibious assault against a heavily defended shoreline. Betio Island, in Tarawa Atoll, the first objective in the new campaign, would provide that trial by fire.

Central Pacific Campaigns: Tarawa

"Tarawa was one of those rare battles in which every participant became a hero in spite of himself. Just getting ashore, or trying to, was a major act of courage."
- Lt. George D. Lillibridge, USMC

The Japanese bomber strip on tiny Betio Island, lying within Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, became the first objective of the U.S. Central Pacific campaign. In American hands, the airstrip would facilitate the subsequent invasion of the Marshall Islands, 600 miles westward. MajGen Julian C. Smith’s 2nd Marine Division received the mission of forcibly seizing Betio and Tarawa Atoll.

Admiral Keiji Shibasaki defended Betio with 5,000 Special Naval Landing Force troops ("Imperial Marines"). The Japanese had so shrewdly fortified the island with high-velocity weapons and blockhouses that — yard for yard — Betio would become the most heavily defended beach front the Marines ever assailed.

Tarawa’s carnage shocked the nation. Seventy-six hours of bitter fighting left 4,000 Japanese and 1,100 Americans dead on a tiny island. Yet the Marines and Navy had validated their new doctrine of amphibious warfare and learned invaluable lessons. Six weeks later they would invade the Marshalls with improved naval gunfire and air support, many more tracked landing vehicles, and innovative flamethrower tanks, waterproof radios, and underwater demolition teams. A grim confidence appeared among the veterans.

Central Pacific Campaigns: The Marshall Islands

Admiral Raymond Spruance’s Fifth Fleet, bolstered by its victory at Tarawa, hit the Marshall Islands with vehemence. Using his carriers as an effective shield, Spruance bypassed the eastern Marshalls to strike directly at Kwajalein and Roi-Namur, then moved swiftly against Eniwetok on the far western edge of the islands. Sharp fighting ensued, and a thousand Marines and Army soldiers died in a dozen landings, but nowhere did conditions approach the level of desperation seen at Tarawa. The Marines had converted the amphibious assault lessons learned at great cost at Tarawa into improved tactics, firepower, and mobility.

In less than three months the amphibious forces had taken a thousand-mile bite out of the Japanese perimeter.

Central Pacific Campaigns: Marine Aviation at Sea

"The Marine aviator and the Marine foot soldier must be a team."
- Brigadier General Louis E. Woods, Director of Aviation,
Time Magazine, 12 June 1944

The Marine air-ground team, a distinctive characteristic of the Corps since the 1920s, lost cohesion after the Rabaul campaign because land-based Marine aircraft could not keep within range of the fast-paced, island-hopping war in the Central Pacific. Resuming the pre-war practice of deploying Marine fighter squadrons aboard Navy carriers took months because the Marines had unwisely halted carrier training for their pilots in 1943. As a consequence, Marine riflemen had to put their faith in Navy carrier aviators for close support of each assault landing from Tarawa through Peleliu.

The return of sea-based Marine aviation came just in time to intercept a deadly new threat: the massed Japanese kamikaze suicide attacks that dominated the Okinawa campaign. The Navy requested eight Marine squadrons to augment the fleet carriers for Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The accelerated qualification program proved costly to Marine aviators, losing 13 aircraft to accidents in the first nine days. Once qualified, the Leathernecks contributed significantly. They provided spectacular close air support to the Marine landings at D-Day on Iwo Jima, participated in the first fighter strikes against mainland Japan, helped sink the battleship Yamato, and flew desperate interception missions against massed kamikaze attacks throughout the Okinawa campaign.

Central Pacific Campaigns: Assaulting the Marianas

"Now we are up against mountains and caves where the Japs can really dig in. A week from now there will be a lot of dead Marines."
- LtGen Holland G. Smith, Fifth Amphibious Corps

America’s wartime production reached full capacity by June 1944, enabling the U.S. to launch two enormous amphibious operations simultaneously on opposite sides of the earth — D-Day at Normandy, France, and the other in the Marianas.

By seizing Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Marianas, the Marines for the first time breached Japan’s "Absolute Defensive Sphere" and secured airfields within strategic bombing range of the enemy’s homeland.

In a desperate sortie, the Japanese Mobile Fleet threatened the U.S. invasion armada clustered around Saipan, but the Fifth Fleet won an epic victory in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. While the Marines still faced fierce fighting ashore on each island, they no longer feared Japanese counter-landings in their rear.

Central Pacific Campaigns: Peleliu

"Everything about Peleliu left a bad taste in your mouth."
- Colonel Merwin H. Silverthorn, USMC

Peleliu would be the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff regarded the island’s Japanese bomber strip as a major threat to General Douglas MacArthur’s imminent "return to the Philippines." While subsequent enemy losses in the region diminished the danger, the Marines’ mission remained unchanged.

Riflemen of the 1st Marine Division stormed ashore at Peleliu to encounter a well-armed Japanese force defending 500 caves that honey-combed the sheer coral cliffs of the Umurbrogal highlands, a nightmarish maze the Marines soon nicknamed "Bloody Nose Ridge."

The fighting did little to enhance MacArthur’s return to the Philippines and cost the joint force 10,000 casualties, a price many survivors considered excessive.

Central Pacific Campaigns: The Battle for Iwo Jima

"Victory was never in doubt. Its cost was. What was in doubt, in our minds, was whether…the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gunner."
- MGen Graves Erskine, commanding general, 3d Marine Division, Iwo Jima

Located roughly half way between Saipan and Tokyo, and directly under the flight path of B-29 Superfortress bombers headed to Japan, the island of Iwo Jima was a Japanese stronghold of crucial strategic importance and could not be bypassed. Not only would Iwo Jima make an excellent base for Allied fighters escorting B-29 raids, but it would also project the flank of the forthcoming invasion of Okinawa.

Three Marine divisions, more than 80,000 men, were assigned the task of taking the island, which was barely 10 square miles in area and dominated by 556 foot Mount Suribachi. These Marines were veterans of earlier island assaults and knew that the Japanese would defend the island to the last man. LtGen Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commander of the 20,000 strong Japanese garrison on Iwo Jima, ordered this troops, augmented by civilian mining engineers, to dig miles of tunnels to connect hundreds of key defensive positions. In effect, the Japanese could hide their forces underground and strike at a time and place of their choosing. The assault began on 19 Feb. 1945 following a terrific naval bombardment which LtGen Kuribayashi described as “far beyond description.” The first wave of Marines had more trouble with the terrain than enemy fire, but the Japanese responded quickly from their dug in positions and swept the beaches with concentrated fire. Iwo Jima would be a very tough fight.

On 23 Feb. 1945, the Marines took control of Mount Suribachi. Onlookers cheered as the assault platoon fought to the summit and raised a small flag. Later that day, different troops raised a larger flag while others respectfully lowered the original. Several combat photographers captured these stirring events on film, but Joe Rosenthal’s snapshot of the men struggling to raise the second flag in a stiff wind became an enduring symbol of American resolve.

The battle for control of Iwo Jima lasted 36 days. The final death toll among Marines was 5,931 killed in action, died of wounds or missing in action and presumed dead — more than twice as many Marines than had been killed in all of World War One. An additional 209 deaths occurred among the Navy corpsmen and surgeons assigned to the Marines. The Fifth Fleet and participating U.S. Army and Army Air Corps units suffered other fatalities during the battle. In all, more than 800 Americans gave their lives for every square mile of Iwo Jima’s black volcanic sand.

Central Pacific Campaigns: Marines in the Philippines

"I have never seen such able and accurate close support as the Marine flyers are giving us."
- Army BGen William C. Chase

Marine aviation’s greatest contribution to victory in the Pacific War came during 1944-45 when the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing supported General Douglas MacArthur’s celebrated "Return to the Philippines." Marine pilots flew F4U Corsair fighters and SBD Dauntless dive-bombers from a dozen expeditionary fields to sustain the Army’s recapture of each of the major islands. Here the Marines markedly improved their doctrine of close air support to infantry units. Their unique practice of placing experienced, radio-equipped aviators with the infantry as Air Liaison Parties improved both the responsiveness and the accuracy of dive-bomber strikes against the Japanese threats to Army soldiers and Filipino guerrillas.

Central Pacific Campaigns: Okinawa

"Gains were measured by yards won, lost, then won again."
- 1st Marine Division Action Report, 18 May 1945, Okinawa

The three-month battle for Okinawa was the largest, costliest operation of the Pacific War. The fighting involved a million combatants - Americans, Japanese, British, and Okinawans.

The slender island constituted an ideal staging base for the pending invasion of Japan, 350 miles away. The Japanese 32d Army, 100,000 strong, defended Okinawa. The desperate Japanese would launch 2,500 suicidal kamikaze aircraft against the invasion fleet.

On 1 April 1945 — nearly 30 years after the disastrous Allied landing at Gallipoli in World War I — the Fifth Fleet landed 60,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army on Okinawa in a flawless ship-to-shore assault.

The ground battle for Okinawa reflected attrition warfare at its worst — three months of bloody pounding into the teeth of well-prepared Japanese defenses at an average advance of 55 yards per day. The Marines had never faced such an abundance of heavy artillery. Nor had they previously fought amid such a concentration of civilians. "The children won our hearts," admitted PFC Sledge, but the brutal fighting would claim the lives of nearly one-third the Okinawan population.