Watched this as a five year old with my submariner dad. He got so exicited at these episodes and gave me the background to each episode having been a student of the war's history. Real connection to decades gone by as i view from the couch and leave the arm chair to his eternal patrol presence
My dad was at Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester and Rendova. He was a Navy Corpsman attached to the fleet Marines. My mother had two of her older brothers both at D-Day in Normandy. My Uncle Luther was in the first wave at Omaha Beach and servived that but was badly wounded in the hedgerow fighting a couple of weeks later and ended up spending the rest of the war in a hospital in the States. My Uncle Enoch was a Pathfinder in the 101st Airborne and he ended up MIA remains never recovered so he didn't make it home.
My Dad and his four brothers all served during WWII. They all survived against all odds. Dad was a chief aboard the Intrepid after surviving Pearl Harbor aboard the St. Louis. Two were on destroyers in the Atlantic and Med. The youngest drove landing craft including Utah beach. The oldest brother was the one they worried about, he was Captain of a merchant marine vessel and crossed the Atlantic several times. I hope I’ve lived up to their expectations.
Keep their memories alive will make them proud. My dad was a Chief on the USS Missouri. My uncle a gunners mate on the USS Columbia. Another uncle was a fighting Seabee.
My father was both a WWII and Korean War Vet and was in French Indochina. As a kid in 1950s my parents and I along with my brother and sister would sit and watch this show on a 19inch b/w TV.
Shots of Australian sailors standing in line reminds me my late uncle who served on the destroyer HMAS Arunta in and around New Guinea. Thanks for posting - Victory at Sea was compulsory viewing in our house when I was young.
My father was on the HMAS Canberra when it was sunk in the battle of Savo Island. He survived and continued to serve for the remaining 3 years of the war.
Both my parents are in WWII. My father Army, 3 Purple Hearts, Silver Star... infantry, D-Day into Germany. My Mother worked for Department of the Navy processing Axis prisoners brought to US. We loved this show. 🇺🇸 Real heroes not draft dodger. 🤬
I lived by the beach for 35 years. When we used to share the surf report with one another, if the waves were blown out from wind chop and white caps, we said, “It’s Victory at Sea out there”, referring to the opening shots of each episode. I grew up watching this series.
An obscure gem, this episode is brilliantly edited for varied pace, and integration with the music. I especially enjoyed the lengthy clips of the Japanese at the beginning. It's interesting how the soldiers and marines of the opposing forces looked and fought somewhat differently, but the opposing navies are started out almost like carbon copies of each other. It was superior manpower, wealth, leadership, and industrial might that made one side victorious. Still the best doc series ever!
I was VERY lucky to have my Grandfather (a W.W.II Vet) until I was 15 years young before he passed in '79. We watched these together and I tried to learn everything I could from his generation. I just hope he cannot see the state of this country today. When I die I will do my best to find you, Perry, and tell you you were right Sir !!!
Yes, Perry might not recognize it. Yet, much like this video narrations, hope can rise again. We just need leadership and less politicians working to divide us.
I watched this show with my Dad when I was a five year old, and watched the reruns whenever they came up. Today it's easy to see it's pretty much just a victory narrative rather than a documentary, understandable as it was made ten years after we'd won the war and we were still celebrating that victory. But I still have a soft spot for this series and every once in a while I'll trot out my DVDs and run it all the way through from beginning to end, watching every minute and savoring every note of Richard Rogers' score.
My Dad is in episode 13 Melanesian Nightmare... twice! Invasion of the Philippines... The Narrator says " Dawn will bring the test of combat the ordeal of fire! " That's my Dad sleeping on his bunk right before the Navy Salvos open up... Then towards the end it shows a crew heading for a beachhead in a Higgins Boat...my Dad is far right center and looks right up at the camera... yup ✌️
My older brother, aged 13 and I 10, were allowed to stay up late to watch this fantasticly exciting TV series. It was 1954, on the BBC, shown at 9pm , I loved the music, Written by the Great Richard Roger's', of Roger's & Hammerstein Years later, I bought the sound track, AND the DVD. This award winning series spurred several other war series around the world. I particularly liked the music called'' Beneath the Southern Cross'', which later had lyrics added, and the title became ''No other Love'', which was a world-wide hit.
This series and The Twentieth Century are two of the seminal programs that attempted to educate us in the b&w days of 3-channel TV without resorting to propaganda.
He was no relative of mine, but in my long-vanished youth I knew Jack Bertram. He was in the 2/2 Independent Rifles on Timor. A smallish, balding man, quietly spoken, mild mannered. My father, who rightly wore his Pacific Star with pride, was driving us home from Jack's funeral when he told us Jack's story. I had no idea. So pass all our heroes, mostly unseen. May he rest in peace forever. So may they all, or there is no justice.
My father-in-law enlisted in the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor, had one brother who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force before the US entered the war and became a bomber pilot in Europe. That brother was killed in 1944. Two of his brothers joined the Navy and a sister enlisted in the WAVES. That was the greatest generation. My father-in-law endured a voyage of several weeks in a slow troop transport, zig-zagging across the Pacific, and was among the troops landed in New Guinea as a tank unit. I can't help but wonder if his tank was one of those seen in this episode. His joke was that he spent more time at sea, in the US Army, than one of his brothers who had the good luck to be attached to the staff of an Admiral and who flew from island to island. New Guinea left him with a skin disease that scarred his back for the rest of his life. He later participated in the invasion of the Philippines where he also saw combat. In July 1945 his unit was issued new tanks for the invasion of Japan. Needless to say, he had no doubt about the wisdom of the use of the Atomic bomb to end the war.
Was it a greater generation than that of the Rebellion of 1770-1776, or the Attempt to Take the Colony Back of 1812, or the constant Wars and Invasions of both Mexico and Cuba, or better generation than WW1, or of South Korea, or of Vietnam, or of Gulf One or Gulf Two? USA established 1776 and to the current time, ignoring the so-called "Indian Wars", the invasions of Canada, and the constant warfare against Mexico, the USA has had 23 years of peace. So you have had many generations of "the greatest" to choose from, why the generation closest to yourself? My dad, unlike your family relatives, fought from 1939-1945, none stop against the Nazis. wasn't he part of the GREATEST generations. Fighting from 1939 to 1945 was clearly tougher than fighting from December 1941, but only getting into combat late in 1942, would you not agree?
My Father was a B.A.R. man in the 65th Infantry in France, Germany and Austria. Two of his brothers also went to Europe. One was a Pathfinder in the Italian campaign, The other was wounded in France. My Mother sewed Uniforms. We are losing the finast people that ever walked the face of the Earth. Remember Them!!! I hope that if the worst happened, as it did to them, that today's kids would be one-quarter the soldiers, sailors and airmen and women that out parents were.
They are! The problem isn't today's young troops. The problem is the Bush's, Clinton's, and Obama's that have sold our nation out. They have ripped the constitution and the bill of rights to shreds. The sheeple just sit and watch, because they are afraid of the unknown. They get what they deserve. To bad the 5% of people with an IQ have to pay also.
I'll always remember them. My dad was a radarman on the u.s.s . john d. Henley ( dd-553 ). He seen more than his fair share of combat. Never talked about it much until the last few years of his life. "Lest we forget".
@@ProperLogicalDebate YES!!! Things are far better now with Joe Biden than they were under trump. Stock market is up, US economy is recovering from the trump recession, and farmers are making money again due to grain prices recovering from the trump Chinese tariffs.
you can see almost anything you want on the internet, just get firefox and some apps that block adverts. I don't watch television unless I am on a trip. :)
@@maineoutdoorsman677 So true! I haven't turned my TV on in several years now, why would I, the only things we hear are how we are all going to die unless we obey 'Big Brother' and bow down to them through a fake pandemic and an attempted left-wing rigged election. There is NO WAY Joe Biden won that election, he couldn't even fill a parking lot with his mythical supporters/voters! And since when does the "News" media call elections in America? (By the way, Maine is the most beautiful state in our Union)
My dad served in the South Pacific during World War ii, US Navy aboard the USS light Cruiser montpelier. My dad was 17 when he joined getting his wish to see the world and get into action. The Montpelier was in action from the jump starting down around New Guinea down through the slot, the Philippine sea, she shelled Saipan for several days, Iwo Jima and finally Okinawa and then sailing into Tokyo bay to be part of the occupation Force. Needless to say she was in the thick of it from the jump. At the Battle of the Philippines Sea she took one kamikaze and then became a target for four other incoming kamikazes which didn't do much damage. This was my father's Nightmare and we used to hear him wake up screaming in the wee hours of the morning. There is not a day goes by that I don't miss my father and I'm so very proud of him⚓️🙏💖
Thank you! Nicely done. It is wise to remember this about the US Pacific fleet: it was only half the total US Navy.. Admiral Yamamoto knew the odds he was trying to overcome in at Pearl and Singapore and the Philippines. He sought to make a shield around the Empire. He promised his emperor six months of victory before the inevitable would begin. He was right almost to the day. (6June 1942) No axis power would believe what US industry could do. Japan gambled the US had no fighting spirit.
@jarrod yuki It would have made no difference, it would have extended the war a year or so but, the tremendous amount of material and man-power produced by the US ensured the inevitable.
My Father's unit, 40th Naval Construction Battalion, is shown in this episode at 10:09. The 40th was actually the first Seabee unit to land about 1 March 1944, and worked on Momote Airstrip on Los Negros, while defending the airfield and preparing fighting positions for the Army and Marines, and had it's first airplane land on 7 March. The field referenced in this episode and the battle to take Manus was well after the nearly ill-fated initial invasion of Los Negros starting on 29 February, where the Japanese outnumbered us 4 to 1.
My Dad was in that invasion of Los Negros! YUP... He said that at one point they got pushed back to the beachead and while regrouping and briefing ( he noticed that the crystal of his watch came off) they headed back out and quickly got into another firefight when Pop took cover he found his watch crystal! YUP ✌️
You Yanks came down and saved us in our hour of need. You didn't have to-at one stage the logic was 'Germany first'. Thousands of young Americans died saving us. Thank you.
Guadalcanal was the finale of the turning point in the war. Rabaul was an example of the Allies we’re going to do to the rest of Japans military. “Continue to fight and we will utterly destroy you. Where you gave no quarter to your foes, none shall be given to you.”
Well Kenny, this is the way it should be. Since you are clearly still wet behind the ears, you could not hope to appreciate what it was like to have lived during or right after the war. This means something to us.
My long gone uncle was a See Bee landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942 and finally got relieved in Nov 1942. It was a living hell and he didn't talk much about except to say he was there.
I love it when they talk like they did in 1940 about God and Country talking of a Christian nation, showing Holy Communion and prayer. I like it not forgetting our Christian foundation. If America kicks God off the throne, we could fall as a nation.
Resolved White thank Margaret Sanger and the birth control league. now called planed Parenthood. it inspired the German eugenics program for the master race. now we need Mexican emigration to bring us up to 2.1 kids per family. that's the bare minimum to not implode the population.
America has no State Religion, nor does any Religion possess a privileged position under the Law. Christianity of various denominations have , and still are the majority but can no longer simply assume a cultural dominance.
I'm a Japanese, US & Allies, guide that do research to know more about WWII 1942 historical history. But I am trying to establish a wide understand between US and it's Allies. As a Solomon Islanders building up of PEACE after WWII with the company everyone peace loving nation now working together to build trust and peace amongst mankind as now 🌎 world needs peace ✌️✌️✌️🕊️🕊️🕊️.
Watching the footage of Japan at the beginning of the war, it is easy to see why the Japanese were so massively over confident. While watching it I am aware that all those ships and planes would be destroyed and the majority of soldiers and sailors seen in that footage, were dead within two, three, or four years years.
Japan really got caught with its pants down when Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay. They realized it was modernize, militarize, or end up like China, walked over by everyone. Then Japan kicked Russia's ass around the year 1900, so that was encouraging. Now, why's a small nation like Japan try to take on a large part of the world? Well, it had worked for England, another small nation. Japan needed raw materials and it needed territory. They also honestly thought if the US got "stung" at Pearl Harbor, the US would leave 'em alone. The US had a strong isolationist faction at the time.
My dad served in world war II on board the USS New Mexico battle wagon he was a radar operator he was supposed to go up on a float plane to help spot a Japanese radio but a Kamikaze hit the ship before he could do that my dad and his friend were coming down the counting Tower when the Jeff hit shrapnel flew up through the cutting Tower my Dad's friend caught all but one piece of it my dad caught the other piece needed even though he was hit but he survived the war I'm not too sure about his friend I think his friend that was in front of him was killed with a jet bomb the hospital he was in I'm not sure but I think that's the story my dad told me but the USS New Mexico got hit by that kamikaze and without I can't think of what island it was the USS New Mexico supposed to relieve my dad's ship but the USS New Mexico turned chicken and didn't even come in it didn't want to get hit by a kamikaze like a Kamikaze would have done very much damage to that ship anyhow but to all world war II veterans from a veteran who served from 1978 to 81 in the army I salute you you are all heroes the greatest generation that lived God bless you all
@C. Michael it's always the ones who insult their betters that reveal the lowest levels of semi-mentality. Japan was provoked into attacking China and enjoying the rape and murder of multitudes off Chinese. You say the US should have ignored that? Crawl back under your trash can.
I bt today's 100M+ aircrafts can't land on these "airport" on the fly like these no more. What a shame. Those 40's aircrafts can even land and take off in rice paddies which cost like 100K each can handle lots of shitty airstrips while 100M+ planes nowadays cannot. Lol.
True to that bro.. Not just that...the more expensive the aircraft the less it flies because of high cost maintenance and man hours..these so called hi tech aircraft are as fragile as cheap chinese products.lol
While modern jet fighters can’t land on dirt runways, those old fighters wouldn’t stand a chance against modern fighters. Plus the modern fighters have more accurate bombs, not to mention missiles, that allow one modern fighter do the work of a squadron of old fighters.
Another of many oversights by the USmilitary, not conducting daily recon over the Japanese held portion of Bougainville, which allowed the enemy to move its artillery in place for the second attack.
Bougainville. Who cares about the 40000 Japanese soldiers left on the island?? That was ignorant to think they weren't going to have to deal with a force like that. And they don't have enough control of the island to see the artillery being put on the island? How do you miss that? Didn't the Japanese do that during the battle of Guadalcanal?
For you to criticize anything that these young men did or did not do disturbs me and makes me think your captain of nothing other than your own delusions.when you point your finger at someone and criticise, you have three fingers pointing straight back at you.☮🍻
Of course these were originally made as US propaganda they are for the most part factually accurate. However, it is humorous to hear the narrator talk about Japan's Imperial aspirations in the Bismarck Archipelago and New Britain.
It was a series of its time.I remember watching it in the late 50s when I was a kid with my family,it gave everyone the feel good factor.They wouldn’t dream of making a documentary series like this today.
Oh sure. At the outbreak of war, the US was totally unprepared. Almost no ships, far behind on aircraft and tanks, and our soldiers used cars with cardboard tank cutouts and brooms as rifles for training. Now, we can move an army far into enemy territory at the roof of the world and defeat an enemy that stopped the Soviets in a short couple of weeks. Remember, this was before the drones, which has upset everything in a few short years.
I used to love watching these when I was a little kid Then I found out the truth about pearl harbor That so called sleeping giant was actually a wide awake monster fishing for war WW2 was a colossal waste of skill flesh and finance
Irony indeed at the start complaining about Japan ‘over stepping it’s boundaries’ and 'trying to be bring 700 million people under its rule' Meanwhile the USA had the Phillipijes as a colony before the war, Britain: Malaya, HK, Singapore, Borneo and Burma , France: Indo-China and the Netherlands: Indonesia. Got to love people falling for Propaganda without blinking an eye.
It may look like propaganda from a long way away in time. But this was a series that explained to the people who lived it, what happened, where, and when. It is a documentary.
I think it is more a celebration of how America overcame the Nazis and Japanese. It was a narration of something that was over, and designed to be watched by the veterans of the war. It was the 1950's. It was wonderful to watch.
Wish they would not have blown our brains out with all that overbearing music. I came to see history, not listen to the symphony with the volume cranked up.
