archival films. there is a 1945 film documented the course of world war ii in the pacific theater, from japanese invasion and the japan death to the ceremony aboard the uss missouri on september 2, 1945 which was presided over general douglas smith on or. -- macarthur. features-long film many graphic scenes of combat which may be disturbing to some viewers as many racial slurs on japanese. ♪

february 1942, the japanese objective. a president's order to leave. a soldier's promise to return. appointmentope, and in tokyo. ♪

>> may 5, 1942. the enemy lands. general jonathan wainwright, defender of the rock. the death march.

♪ they moved on. ♪ until australia itself lay open to invasion. at his milburn headquarters, general macarthur faced grim facts. 500 planes against .he thousands of japanese ofinst him more thousands

miles of japanese invested islands and controlled cds. against him was time, space, power to preparation. a new area that seemed huge against the united states. american industry and laborers were converted from the nonessentials of peace to the necessities of war. conversion was slow, than the european theater at first call. there was little to spare for the pacific. little to travel 10,000 miles from factory to foxhole. the longest supply line in the byld, i supply line secured naval victory in the coral city -- coral see, and land victories in the galapagos islands. ♪

the japanese were still on the move. march 2, 1943. a strong enemy convoy was crawling through the bismarck sea. the fifth air force struck with every plane they could get off the ground. ♪ score, 22 shattered hulks.

enemy ship. this was the turning point. the job of fighting back to the philippines and beyond to japan required the closest teamwork of see, lands, and air forces. this front together douglas macarthur and chester nimitz. they had a plan, two rows back to philippines. hawaii.along the this was a job for label and army forces under general nimitz. the other was for the soldier that had made a promise to return. ♪

first, the air arm reached a head. second, amphibious assault. from australia, and across double clad new guinea, we learned amphibious warfare and used the sea lanes for surprise, until we had cut them off and stood on the admiralty's.

by now, they were dug in and ready to so we surprised them. strategy, surprise, up the stairway of islands. ♪ more anti-, they were ready for the main event. to get here, they had left a lot of japanese behind them. dead, 160,000 bypassed. japanese has 312 cost us $13,000 tags mailed to white crosses.

meantime the forces commanded by admiral nimitz faced a different kind of war. island we invaded would have to be taken. ♪

westward, through the central pacific, new names in american his drape. taipan, guam in the marianas. palau and maritime. we had breached the pacific. ♪ in early october of 1944 and a combat loaded convert from pearl harbor was on its way to strike enemy stronghold.

one afternoon a top-secret code message broke radio silence. for three years are expanding navy and air forces have probed the pacific, cutting the japanese supply lines, smashing airstrips, blasting garrisons, until the losses made possible in the change of plans. from admiral nimitz, instructions to change course, the invasion canceled, rendezvous for task forces headed for a new objective. the philippines. >> now get this. these are the philippines. manila, they are expecting us here. down at the bottom is another place they are expecting us.

got it? so we don't hit these places. we had here, right in the middle. now remember, don't get careless. they are the same ones they have always been. any questions? >> questions? sure. the silent kind. there are always questions. >> and the lord said, i surely seen the infliction of my people. and i heard their cry by reason of the task masters, and i'm come down to deliver them out of the land unto a good land.

and army is a collection of men, and a man is a collection of needs. one of these needs is prayer. prayer is a form of remembering. remember. back in those canvas hotels in the staging area, i remember. joe getting polished up to go nowhere. what a character. funny how the unimportant things are important. like the first year you had in nine months. and you remember packing. whatwhat you need, because you take your take on your back.

and remember the things you left behind. all the things you want to say and could not. and all the things you want to take, and could not. ♪ you remember watching the submarines slipped by thin

i'm on my is it, way. 10were all on the way, there wasn't much to do about it. just sit around and wait for the navy to take us to the japanese. ♪ funny how you remember all those things, at a time like this. ♪

>> october 20, 1944. the men of macarthur have returned.

the assault waves. the untried. the veterans. the superstitious. the first to land, some, the first to fall. captured, the enemy weights. -- waits.

[gunfire]

♪ >> ghq on the beachhead. directing the battle. the general was determined to hold at any cost. he siphoned troops from neighboring islands. ♪ more captured film. treatment -- infantrymen poured in. we answered with reinforced positions.

while the gis pressed forward, suddenly a new threat develop. the japanese fleet of your heading directly for both entrances. the last are told in the philippines and there was not much ground troops could do about this threat from the rear. this was a job for the navy. the first engagement was fought at night. ♪ onshore, everybody sweated it out and from g.i. to general.

are heaviest artillery was turned around from -- toward the sea. they looked big. -- they our carriers put the sting of death into the gulf area japanese fighters and bombers reinforced their cstring. -- sea strength.

some of our laptops, swallowed by flames, there planes still aloft, running out of gas. captured strips were still wet, but not as wet as ocean. meantime, the third engagement. floating wreckage and floating japanese, we had one a naval battle.

♪ >> battle one, beachhead secure. but to the infantry, it was just another day to keep pushing. first -- theof the speed of the first the days are gone. front-pagewrong t headlines anymore. you march in mud. you eat in mud. you rest in mud. you sleep in mud.

and as long as you know -- as man remember war, they will remember mud. when you're hit, guys take care of you. you're kept alive, if it is possible. this is the battle behind battle. courage and medicine are the weapons. sometimes they are not enough. ♪ , a large cathedral

church in a small town. church ofs only one one town of one island, and there are thousands of islands were people like these are waiting. and always other islands, life under the japanese is hard. we knew we japanese domination meant. guerrillas had kept us informed. ♪ their schools were closed. their altars destroyed. their freedom gone.

their harvest stolen. death ray, american prisoners, increasing. american prisoners, outside, grades for the dead, inside, grades for the living. all of these people, filipino and american, were waiting. general george casey's far east air force was delivering bombs. anything worth hitting was hit. ♪

>> manila bay. the core of japanese power in the philippines. 4, the largest convoy in history of the pacific. ♪ january 9, 1945. four divisions landing of rest. -- abreast. we had expected a very different

kind of creating the least during filipinos who told us the japanese have pulled back two days before. these are guerrillas. don't let the close value. men like these cap war going in the philippines long after the japs said it was over. ♪

to protect the main thrust to you look, we pushed our left flank deep into the mountain to the north. some targets, a ground soldier cannot reach. some targets a sky soldier cannot see, so they work together. >> i think they are doing ok. they are flying 20 degrees out for. they are doing ok.

they are flying too much from northwest, too much from northwest to southeast. >> that is right on the bubble. >> bomb. bomb. very nicely placed. target area. the strafing was effective. >> they are moving out right here. we have the mission of attacking this ridge directly to our rear. the company is moving to f ,ompany's present position located on this high ground right there. past through the left and attack up the same hill, 2380.

you give me concentration on that helpful >> we have the mortars all zero. on that hill to drop it right in there. >> right in here. ok. thent to market well for artillery concentration. it well for mark the artillery concentration. ♪ >> gay though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil. up the slow going

hillside. it slow because you've got the hill against you along with the enemy on it. it's slow going up. sometimes slower coming down. force bedthe main down the central plains. back of enemy lines was an important human objective -- the prisoner of war camp. if we fail to reach these men, they will be taken with the retreating japs on another death march. the rangers start another mission, 25 miles behind enemy lines.

the living ghosts of a tan. batan. a thousand days and nights ago, the death arch began. these are the few who finished it. today, they are free. it was a grim reminder that filipinos and americans were waiting in manila.

♪ manila -- now caught in a stranglehold of armies as new forces landed and the human vice close. gis were in the outskirts. a ballpark fence is an old american custom.

this is the stadium, a baseball diamond. no game today. [gunfire] battle never stands still. from baseball park to business district, this is a new type of jungle for island hopping gis. a jumble of broken buildings and smashed streets. theyhe same kind of japs have always been.

[gunfire] there were orders from tokyo -- hold manila or burn it.

manila -- the pearl of the orient. innocent looking piece of paper translates as follows -- "japanese field order of 13 february, all filipinos found on the battlefield will be executed. japanese field order obeyed.

between us and the walled city was the river. and japs. [gunfire]

[explosions] >> building to building, room to room, street to street, we ,rought battle to the japs until they close themselves behind a fortress within the city.

the jungle did not thought to soldiers. neither did this wall. back of the program, broken japs

. and all around them, broken homes. away,thousands of miles but american homes. because the people who lived with them shared with us the american spirit. battle.off of the silent word. many have fallen. that this one may rise. this one may smile. it's one may forget. heal.ne may this one may walk. this one may find a home. this one may find these.

i have surely seen the affliction of my people, and i have heard their cry by reason of their task esters and i am come down to deliver them out of that and unto a good land.

>> february, 1945 -- american objective, corregidor. the general had an appointment with the past. corregidor -- the name of a rock . but it's more than a name. the way valley forge in the alamo are more than names. these men would be jumping into the middle of american history. those that live will be saying in the years to come, "i was there. corregidor."

♪ while c 47th still emptied their human cargoes, our low-flying

fighters pave the landing beaches for water going gis who had crossed over from batan. 12 days after we had landed on the rock, corregidor is again an american fortress.

a soldier's promise had an cap a soldiers hope could now be realized. on to tokyo. while vast armies were being marshaled in the philippines, the marines one iwo jima. navy, and marine forces took okinawa. naval guns were knocking at japan's coastline. and saipan-based super forts were pounding the skyline for atomic bombs on hiroshima and not a sake -- hiroshima and not a sake. all of this and macarthur's invasion broke the army. had nowson of japan

set. the light of a free people had come to triumph over the lords -- the lords of warfare. the last beachhead -- japan. august 30, 1945, at the airport, the general the army, douglas macarthur, commander-in-chief of the united date army forces in the pacific, designated allied the premium commander to accept

the surrender of the japanese. lieutenant general eichelberger commanding the eighth army. september 1, 1945. >> it is my earnest hope, and in thatope of all mankind, from this solemn occasion, a better world shall emerge out of

the blood and carnage of the past. faith andunded upon understanding. dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice. representatives of the emperor of japan and the thenese government and japanese imperial headquarters to sign the instrument of surrender at the places indicated.

the supreme commander of the onied powers will now sign behalf of all the nation that war with japan. general wainwright and general percival step forward. the representatives of the united states of america will now sign.

let us pray that the now thatred to the world and god will preserve it always. these proceedings are closed. you, beloved comrade, we

♪e this solemn vow ♪ the fight will go on, the fight will still go on ♪ ♪ ♪ the fight will go on ♪ >> you are watching american history tv -- 48 hours programming every weekend on

c-span3. follow us on twitter at c-span history. and to keep up with the latest -- historys for news. preserves access to films, televisions, radio broadcast that sound recordings. american history visited the packard campus to learn about the earliest public affairs films, including u.s. residents, spanish-american war, world war and the first ever political ad created by the democratic party. like this is the earliest ad in our collection. may 1958, quadra flex tape. this is the inauguration of color television ad and nbc owned and operated station in washington, d c