With combatexperienced divisions in north africa, the junglecovered islands of the pacific, the aleutians, where they had wiped out the japanese on attu. Now, the bloodied veterans of the north African Campaign had landed on sicily in a drive for the italian mainland. Millions more were training in the united states. We were well on the road to the ultimate victory. [rousing music] in 1940, our army numbered a little more than a quarter of a million men. Three years later in 1943, it numbered almost 7 million and would continue to grow grow to 8 million. But numbers alone do not make an efficient fighting force capable of winning the final victory. An undisciplined and unequipped rabble, even though the cause be war against the trained and well disciplined, well armed, and well led force. To the intensive training soldiers hadican never been as well trained and equipped to fight as were our soldiers in world war ii. The northns of African Campaign learned intensive training pays off. N
Arthur godfrey for example. It was a big thing. I told him i liked it very much. So we got cleaned up and out the door. He said i want to tell you one more thing. He said you be good to the corps, and it will be good to you. I never forgot those words. And so from there, there had been applications posted on the Bulletin Board in the stuff that you read every day about a new school in new york for the march of time. You know the march of time . It was a leading newsreel film of the day. It was a half hour show produced only once a month and it was about anything in the world. That was good because our country, the people in our country were not wellversed in what was happening in the rest of the world. We were an agrarian country. The kids coming out of high school didnt going to college was not sincerely the first thing they thought about. It was a good thing. People would go to the movies. They would wait for a good movie that was coming to go at the time of the march of time was sho
Hopping in the central solomons. But, the battle for nazi held italy was only beginning. On the 3rd of september, two british divisions crossed the straits of messina to land on the toe of the italian boot. Six days later, American Forces struck the beach at solar no, 30 miles south of naples. Four days after the landings, the enemy launched a strong counterattack pouring in some of its best troops. For a time, our foot hold was precarious. Supported by a concentration of combined firepower from aircraft, naval guns and artillery, the allies held the beach head. The heavy pounding by land sea and air was too much for the nazis. They fell back as our own forces pushed on towards naples. By then, italy had surrendered unconditionally, now officially out of the war. October 1st, 1943, elements of general clarks army entered the city of naples. They were greeted not as conquerors but liberators. The citizens of naples knew that we and our allies were the only hope of driving the germans fr
Serving as a cameraman for the marine corps. He captured footage of the battle of tarawa that helped marines win an Academy Award for best documentary short in 1945. The World War Ii Museum spoke with mr. Hatch for its oral history collection. This is the first of a twopart interview. Norman one day i was doing press releases and i got i went up into the head on the third floor. I am standing there. Commandantn but the in civilian clothes. He looks at me and says you are marine, arent you . I say yes, sir. He says how do you like your job . What are you going to tell the commandant . I liked it very much because i went to town and the press club, got to know the reporters, the godfrey for example. It was a big thing. I told him i liked it very much. So we got cleaned up and out the door. He said i want to tell you one more thing. He said you be good to the core, and it will be good to you. I never forgot those words. , there had there been applications posted on the Bulletin Board in t
Americans still missing. Since moved into a new role as Research Historian where he spent the majority of his time helping family members discover their loved ones world war ii stories throughout our services. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome james dausey. [applause] thank you, pete. It is a great honor to be a part of this incredible conference. It is my third of these and a great delight to moderate a panel with such esteemed unfamiliar speakers. Twoink you know our speakers very well. I will keep the introductions brief for both of them. First, going in the order of presentation first, james , holland. Historian, writer, and broadcaster. We have seen him on countless tv shows and documentaries. Hes led many of our tours here at the museum. There are too many books i would take 10 minutes going through all of his books. Just to mention a few of them italys sorrow, a year of war, 194445, fortress malta, the battle of britain. Hes working through a threevolume new history of the Se