poor kid. into the rest camp for christmas. christmas in the year of grace, 1950. last christmas. ♪ christ is born of mary and gathered all above ♪ ♪ while mortals sleep the angels weep their watch of love ♪

♪ oh, morning stars together proclaim the holy birth ♪ ♪ and praise and sing to god our king ♪ ♪ and peace to men on earth ♪ ♪ we hear the christmas -- >> christmas eve and all those kids again on their funny ice sleds.

this man out there on guard duty. merry christmas, joe. fleet post office. mail, stuff from home, flown in by the navy, and is that welcomed. cigarettes, candy, newspapers, letters. did you remember? did you? some of the boys didn't get back for christmas. they stayed where they fell. and these are the replacements, the new men to take their hon

honored places, to fill the gaps. look at their faces. young faces, american faces, new york, georgia, idaho, texas, maine and california. your sons, with the pride in the corps and the will to do. chow line. for real feed this time. no k-rations wolfed in a foxhole. the first hot meal. get that, the first hot meal in two months. steaks that the navy flew in for christmas dinner. hot coffee.

fleet marine force headquarters and a formation for decorations. for gallantry in action, the silver star. with the general himself making the presentations and the hard-bitten marine guard of honor marching past in formal ceremony. ♪

>> well, it started the summer before at the inchon landings. it was part of the eighth army under general walton walker. the marines move out to snatch it back again. our faces look younger, less tired, cleaner, maybe, but don't kid yourself. they know what's ahead. a hard job. tough job. dirty job. so let's grab a bite and get on with it. here come the babies they'll need. version tanks rumbling up to spearhead the action to come.

and the trains loaded with war wearies going back for salvage, loaded with supplies for the front. here's our 75 millimeter anti-tank gun to argue with those people. ammunition. all the good old 30 caliber machine guns, always hungry. meet general eddie craig, commanding the first provisional brigade. keen fighting man with his operations officer. ammunition.

it's dangerous work. let's remember they're supposed to give a little preliminary buzz before they go off. number one gun, fire! hard rubble roads.

that's one of theirs burning. and the hills. you could light your cigarette on that gun barrel. [ gunfire ]

hill after hill. some theirs, some we made ours the hard way. the bazooka. the 81 millimeter mortar. firepower and maneuvering. an enemy shell. duck!

where that guy is with the rifle is the front of the war. the 75 recoilless rifle. and the direct hit. ammo up.

the auto writer. navy air comes strafing. marine air with rockets and napalm to burn them out. another hill and another village. and the marines move on up.

carrying their homes on their backs. but hills cost and how they cost. these are the boys who paid, in spite of all the gallant work of the hospital corpsmen. walking when they still can, carried when they can't walk. loading the ambulance jeeps.

getting them back to the caring station. for dressings and shock treatment. and hypos to kill the vicious pain. and life-giving transfusions. aren't you glad you gave that pint of blood last week? or did you? but you will now, won't you?

out by helicopter from the front lines while the fighting goes on below.

the clean sheets and food and the best of medical care the navy can give them. and so into seoul, lost once but taken again. and still, the poor hungry kids.

south korean recruits, raw then under a few weeks' training, not so raw. now look at this. and look at it. and look at it. that's what the korean republic is fighting for. miles and miles and miles of homeless refugees set adrift by the red scourge. whole families starving, without hope beyond the united nations. shots for smallpox and typhus.

and they don't understand. but they will. it was a big problem, what to do with the orphan kids they picked up. they had to leave them somewhere before they reached the front. so they asked these good women to take them. little babe ruth dimaggio was not quite sure what it was all about. solemn, confused, frightened until he found friends and smiled in trust. he'll be all right now.

>> nuns don't smoke, you dope. >> candy, chewing gum for the kids. but you have to teach them how t to eat it. poor frightened little fellows. then we move out once again.

it's colder now and how cold it gets in korea. brass monkey cold and that's cold. wet, too. moving north into war's desolation. hills and more hills. rivers and more rivers. rice paddies and more rice paddies.

[ explosions ] still going forward. general puller, four times winner of the navy cross. >> put some more fire down on those people.

>> and we keep on moving. napalm again, hot as the living hinges. the infantry moving up under the fire curtain.

always moving up. to the power plant on chosen reservoir. and another hill. always another hill. the orange cloth on that guy's back is an air marker to indicate the front lines to planes.

[ gunfire ] 60 millimeter mortar bites like a 75 gun shell. grenades. flame throwers.

pry them out, burn them out, cook them. we found them dug in, ten feet deep. colder still. sawtooth wind. 20 freezing degrees below. makes a man wonder what he did with his last summer's pay, don't it. now the prisoners come in. prime-looking lot, aren't they? we searched them. we smashed their weapons. we questioned them.

this young kid says they killed his mother and father and gave him a gun. that's all he knows about the war. but these wise mugs were tough. they clammed up. they wouldn't sing. hey, three on a match. and then it happened. you remember valley forge? well, look at it again.

snow, ice, wind and all the time we were there, ten enemy divisions held us boxed in, surrounded, short in all supplies.

the carrier planes had to break thick ice to get off in support. but boys will be boys. they'll keep clean and warm when they can, and share their chow with those poor korean kids always. chow line again. sorry, this is not a chow line.

winter decisions had to be made in tokyo and an old soldier made them. pearl harbor. admiral radford's headquarters. the decisions are passed to the navy for action. back to tokyo again. vice admiral turner joy,

commander naval forces for east. >> the situation in korea is so critical that we in the navy must give the eighth army the maximum practical support. i direct that the commander of the seventh fleet, the commander of carrier division 15, the fleet marine air wing and the commander of the united nations blockading and escort force be directed to provide the maximum possible air gunfire support. make it move. >> meanwhile, the air force under lieutenant general stratemeyer is alerted. >> this task force 77 refueling at sea right in the middle of a winter storm.

we think the admiral is praying for good weather. then the weather broke, and "uss missouri," the mighty mo, comes in. and vice admiral arthur strubel's seventh fleet joins the battle. carriers stand by and the pilots are briefed.

napalm, that is. and the planes are launched to support the marines at the front. that helicopter in the background is ditch patrol. then somebody ditches.

and he gets him. nice wet work.

back at the reservoir, wounds and frostbite take their toll. and the casualties go out by plane. then the heartbreaking withdrawal order comes. burn everything and bug out.

but not before the payoff. and not leaving the dead, either. [ explosions ]

[ explosions ]

'. >> the first air wing pilots slam their rockets into those commies.

[ explosions ] >> a direct hit on a bridge. back to the 38th parallel. back to our own guns.

then we're out and far enough back to hear the thunder of the mighty mo. and all night long, the mo pounded the beach.

[ explosions ] so that's how the faces got fired. hill after hill. and then we go back again. the long, weary shuttle begins once more. another enemy position to take. and this is how we take it. first the air burns in in close support.

>> the artillery softens up the survivors if any. and whoever runs gets cut down with small arms fire.

then we move in on foot. and we go in for this is korea, chums. this is korea. carrier planes in close support. with napalm again.

>> follow me!

>> if you ask these guys what they're fighting for, they can't put it into words. maybe it's pride in the marine corps, a job to do, duty. and wounds don't count and dead men tell no tales. thy kingdom come, thy will be done. but for little babe ruth dimaggio, it's his whole future and all of his life ahead. and that goiz double for our own

sons' lives, and yours. for this is everybody's fight, that the doctrine of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness shall not perish from this earth. remember us. and remember us. and good luck. >> tuesday on capitol hill, treasury secretary jock lew testifies on the state of financial security before the house financial services committee. that's lye here on c-span3. then securities and exchange commission chair mary jo white will speak before a house appropriations subcommittee about her department's budget.

that's live at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >> i am a history buff. i do enjoy seeing the fabric of our country and how things -- just how they work and how they're made. >> i love american history tv. the presidency, american artifacts, they're fantastic shows. >> i have no idea they do history. that's probably something i would really enjoy. >> with american history tv, it gives you that perspective. >> i'm a c-span fan. >> about 25 years ago on february 27, 1991, president george h.w. bush announced a cease-fire in the gulf war, bringing an end to a massive air campaign launched a few years earlier to remove iraqi forces from kuwait. up next on american history tv's real america, the story of operation desert storm is told from the perspective of several

u.s. air commanders. "winds of the storm -- the air campaign of operation desert storm" is a 37-minute defense department report detailing the strategy and technology used in what was then seen as a new kind of precision weapon war. >> this is the road to basra. the iraqi army jammed this road and others as coalition ground forces moved into kuwait.

for coalition war planes overhead, they were per nefect targets. it became known as the highway of death. and a harsh example of allied air power during operation desert storm. the coalition used overwhelming air power to defeat a brutal dictator and free a nation. in this program, the air commanders talk about how they fought the war and the air force's role. august 7, 1990, president bush responding to the iraqi invasion of kuwait orders american forces to deploy to saudi arabia.

u.s. central command air forces had to move its forces 7,000 miles quickly. within days, five u.s. air force squadrons and two u.s. carriers arrived in the gulf. the commander recalls the deployment. >> initially we had to get people over here rapt rapidly because of the threat of an iraqi invasion. so we brought over those kinds of airplanes you need to depend and deter such air defense, aircraft awacs, f-16s and a-10s through ground attack missions. and also the f-15 e for capability at night. >> in just five weeks, the coalition air force outnumbered the iraqi air force. >> when it became apparent we were successful in that initial effort, we then fleshed the force out with more aircraft, primarily aircraft such as

b-52s, more a-10s, more f-16s. >> the coalition organized its air power for wartime with general horner as the single air commander or air boss. >> we created four air divisions. one handled the tankers and bomber aircraft. the second one handled the fighters and attack aircraft. glen profitt, warfare and another for air lift operations. we were able to define each air division by function and that way we could provide the command and control we needed to execute the war. >> we began to open locations throughout saudi arabia. and as we began to get more operating locations, we moved tankers into location s locatio. >> the coalition would have eventually close to 3,000 planes.

these fighter and attack planes patrolled the desert providing cover for the largest military air lift in history. air laft, the hidden part of air power. it was the fastest way to get enough men and material over to defend the desert kingdom. the prig deer general that commanded the air lift forces -- >> then the deployment of the c-5s, 141s, the craft aircraft, the kc-10s, they all just hauled as much as they could as fast as they could 37 very early on, it was evident that desert shield was going to surpass by far the number of strategic air lifts that we had ever had before. >> military and civilian cargo planes delivered 91,000 troops and 72,000 tons of cargo in the month of august alone.

to places like riyadh, dahran. >> in the early going, it was wall to wall planes. literally planes would be holding until a plaep took off so another plane could land. in november and december, after the president decided we needed more forces, we actually went through a second peak. we went through a same thing, strategic forces to bring things into the theatre. >> the allies began a military offensive to liberate kuwait. general schwarzkopf was the commander-in-chief in theatre. his concept for operation desert storm called for an intense massive air campaign to prepare the way for the allied ground offensive. >> found amential towards any air campaign is seize control of the air. >> experts of the air staff and commands throughout the air

force helped build the most successf successful air power in history. >> our target was the field army deployed in the kuwaiti theatre of operations. our mission was to eck pell that army from kuwait. on the airside, our concept really is summarized here. first of all, we knew we needed to operate in iraqi air space. so he was going to have the home court advantage. we had to penetrate into his territory. to do that, we had to take apart and disrupt his ability to stop us from coming in. in other words, we had to disintegrate his integrated air defense setup. >> brigadier buster glausen was the director of campaign plans before the war and commanded fighter and attack aircraft during the war. >> targeting strategy from the start was to take down his ability to command and control his military. whether it be in the air or on the ground. of course, we were obviously most concerned about taking it

down in the air to start with. >> the coalition would have to overcome saddam's integrated air defenses. brigadier general glen proffitt ran the combat forces during the war. >> it's set up so that the s.a.m.s have an envelope at medium to high altitude as you fly into it. in order to avoid that, you go in low. he puts his aaa up with the redundancy he had with large barrages. so basically you have to fly through it. if you can avoid the aaa and the s.a.m., his fighters will engage you in other flass, t place, t engagement zones. it's made up op the is a.m. missiles, acquisition radars, fighter aircraft and the nervous system, the control system where

you have an air defense operation center, a main one like you had in baghdad, a sector operation center spread out and each one of those has intercept operation centers. that's what that integrated system does. they control which airplanes are going to be sent again against to engage our fighters and which airplanes are going to be engaged with s.a.m. missiles. >> perhaps as many as 17,000 surface-to-air-missiles on the order of 9,000 or 10,000 anti-aircraft artillery pieces. very modern radars all lashed together with high tech equipment. >> so basically it's a totally integrated system and our objective was to tear that system down. one, take away his nervous system, the control of it, the integration. and secondly, start shooting down or tearing up the pieces of it one by one. >> the desert storm air