Helps tell a story of the 208th century. Hollywood directors making films for the u. S. Government during world war ii. We featured john ford. He made for the u. S. Navy about the june 1942 battle of mid way. The film presented a victory and vivid color to an American Public eager for some good news. First, we speak with author mark harris about john ford. Author harris focused on the five books. Heart atta mark harris, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. What can you tell us about the work of ford . Hes the most respected before the war. Between 939 and 941, he went on an unmatched terror in hollywood making the grapes of wrath and how green was my valley and drums along the mohawks. Just a set of movies that gave him the reputation as one of the most intelligent and serious minded directors. He was also the most precious of the five directors i wrote about in realizing that war was inevitable and three months before pearl harbor, ford was already in uniforms. He also understood that hollywood need tobd prepared. He gotten the navy to agree and almost a year before the award and let him create something that came to me known as the field photo unit. He recruited men from his Hollywood Studio spending times and night doing things like shoot and films under wartime conditions. In some way, it was kind of a mark for ford, he loves ceremony and militar military. To of the most significant events, dday where john ford witnesses the event unfolded atom what beach and a battle of mid way until which hes wounded, right . In the battle of mid way was the first time that american film maker white house there for the engagement. All of the news and all the concentrations and all the efforts was spent in the specific, trying to hold off the japanese in various places while the navy attempted to rebuild itself flute to full strengths after the damage is done by pearl harbor. Most of news in the six months after pearl harbor coming out of the war waycros not good for th u. S. There were not a lot of victories being tallied in the newspaper. There was a lot of valor in terms of hall lies holding the line for a long time before you, know, the ten or curricular or you know the plhilippinesfell. Midway was the first point at which we won a successful major invasion. Ford was there, he said later he assumed he was there to make a documentary about life at a remote naval outpost. Instead when he got there, he learned that a japanese attack was imminent and that the u. S. Was prepared. On the morning of midway, he was stationed on the roof of a powerhouse with a camera and a couple of men from his unit with cameras who were perfectly positioned to capture incoming japanese zeroes. He was alternating footing footage and being on the phone to the naval officers below, just telling them what he was seeing. And he shot until a piece of shrapnel hit him in the arm and knocked the film and its camera out of its sprockets. And, you know, he was the first hollywood filmmaker to be wounded in action. And were going to see his work, part of an 18minute film titled the battle of midway. But mark harris, our audience watching in just a moment, what should they look for . Its impossible to overstate the impact that this movie had. By the end of its run, because its a short movie, it didnt show instead of hollywood features, it showed in addition to them. By the end of its run it had played in threequarters of all the movies in the united states. What you should look for in this movie is first of all the fact that it was made in color. We take that for granted now, but it was shocking and unprecedented for audiences then to see real events like this in color. The color had been reserved for fantasies like the wizard of oz or historical epics like gone with the wind, Fashion Shows or lavish musicals. Black and white was considered, oddly as it may sound, more realistic. This was one of the first examples of color realism. Also, if you listen to the movie, youll hear that there are four offcamera voices. He was a really interesting technique of kind of alternating narration and commentary. And two of the voices youll hear, which are sort of a surrogate elderly woman and young man, maybe her son, who are sitting in the audience, those are the voices of jane darwell and henry fonda whom ford had just used in the grapes of wrath. Its a fascinating mixture of hollywood technique in terms of the narration and pure raw footage especially in the middle of the movie when the narration drops away and the battle begins. Mark harris, thanks for being with us. From 1942, with director john ford, this 18minute film titled the battle of midway. Navy patroller plane. Routine patrol. Only behind every cloud may be an enemy. Midway island. Not much land right enough, but its our outpost. Your front yard. These are the natives of midway. Tojo has sworn to liberate them. The birds seem nervous. Theres something in the air. Something behind that sunset. Excitement this morning. The dawn patrol has sighted an enemy fleet. During the night, an Historic Council of war is held. Is that one of those flying fortresses . Yes, maam, it is. Hes from my hometown, springfield, ohio. Hes not going to be flying that. Yes, maam, thats his job. Hes the skipper. He was an engineer, 38 years on the old railroad. And his mother. Shes just like the rest of us mothers in springfield or any other american town. Theres his sister patricia, as pretty as they come. Id say so. Good luck god bless you, son. Suddenly, from behind the clouds, the japs attack [ gunfire ] there go the marines [ gunfire ] yes, this really happened. Meantime, our warships stalked the jap fleet. And suddenly the trap is sprung. Navy planes from the decks of our carriers, bombers, marines. Destruction over a 300mile battle area. The invasion forces were hit and hit and hit again. Men and women of america, here come your neighbors sons, home from the days work. You ought to meet them. Theres jimmy patch, seven meatballs on his plane. How many more today, skipper . Back as midway, tojo swore he would liberate the natives. Theyre as free as they ever were. The battle of midway is over. Our front yard is safe. A big job is still to be done. Day after day, the search for survivors. Every tiny coral reef. Every distant mile of sea. Search for men who fought until the last round of ammunition and through to the last drop of gas and then crashed into the sea. Eight days. Nine days. Ten days without food or water. His first cigarette. That first drag sure tastes good. 11 days. Well done, matthew hughes. Morgan hansey. Frank sesslor. Thats 13 for frank. Get those boys to the hospital. Please do, quickly. Get them to clean cots and cool sheets. Get them doctors and medicine. A nurses soft hands. Get them to the hospital. Hurry, please. There was a hospital. Clean, orderly. 100 beds. And on its roof, the red cross plainly marked. The symbol of mercy. The enemy was bound to respect it. The next morning, Divine Services were held beside a bombing crater that had once been a chapel. [ bell ringing ] at eventide, we buried our dead. The last salute from their comrades and their officers. Of thee i sing land where my fathers died captain simon of the navy. Colonel sanders. Major hillsvelt. Of thee we sing the 1942 film battle of midway by director john ford. Joining us from new york is author mark harris. How did john ford view his service in the u. S. Navy . Ford was really proud of his service. He was the oldest of the five directors i write about. In fact he became a grandfather during the war. He had been old enough to serve in the First World War although he didnt. So for ford, i think the war was a proving ground. He really wanted to test his courage. And although he was at least once directly in the line of fire, i dont think ford really believed he was courageous. He said i know im not a brave man, im a coward. That was after he had been at dday. Ford was proud that he had served. In fact when he completed his sort of decommissioning papers, he said he would do it again if called upon. One of the things ford did right after the war was start a place called the farm, which was sort of a combination rest home, clubhouse, barroom, getaway for the men in his field photo unit. And it was a place that he decorated with, you know, every medal and recognition that he had ever won during the war. That was something he was really obsessed with. But it was a huge part of his identity. And he kept it in operation for almost 24 years after the war. I wanted to ask you about his work and how it now lives on in the films he put together. Just how important was it to the allied efforts and to the American People who saw these films in the 1940s . Oh, fords war work was tremendously important. I mean, especially the battle of midway, which was really the first visual evidence that home front movie going audiences had that the u. S. Could win this thing. It was the first really good news that movie theaters brought about the war. And also i think beyond any one movie that he put on screen, ford will always have a place in the history of world war ii filmmaking efforts because he was the first of anyone, whether in hollywood or the war department, to realize and believe and act on the conviction that there should be a wartime filmmaking effort. He understood that it was going to be absolutely essential to document this war, and that film, which at the time, we should really remember, was sound film was only ten or 12 years old. It was newer to americans by far than the internet is to us today. Ford really understood that this fledgling medium would play an absolutely critical part in american perceptions of the war effort. The boo book came out earlie this were, five came back, and among the directors featured by author march harris is george stevens, john ford, frank capra. Thank you very much for being with us. Thanks for having me. Next, veterans discuss their roles during the battle of midway. August 30th, 1945. At sugi airport. General of the army douglas macarthur, commanderinchief designated to accept the surrender of the japanese. He was met by the general commanding the eighth army