Well, now we know where we are going. If you get that about those snakes. I dont mind japs, but snakes. How did the skipper say it . Okie, okie, okie. I heard him. He said okinawa. You know, they say this place looks like the country like frisco. Yeah, but the people look like japs. Dont like what is happening. Spent my honeymoon up there. Drove up from l. A. , made it in eight hours. 400 miles. Eight hours. What was holding you back . I used to make it to buffalo in new york and six flat. That is 370 miles. 370 miles. Why right here we are closer , to japan than that. We are just 320 miles from their home office. 320 miles. You heard him. 325 miles. It is closer to work i always felt pretty safe. It is awfully close. Mighty close. Yes, mighty close, especially a modern bomber with a job to do. About an hours run from any number of jap airfields. But here we were, closer than any fleet in history to a major landbased airpower. At midway, the coral sea, the mariana, distance had been against the japanese air force, but now against the inner islands, the range was easy for any jap plane that could fly. There were those who said no fleet could risk it but the , stakes were high. With okinawa in our hands, we could control the china coast, send swarms of planes to smother japan. We were reaching for the throat of an empire. The risk must be taken. On the island of okinawa, 5000 miles from san francisco, the earth shook from a fearful pounding from ships and planes. [explosion] [explosions] to the south, british allies might,rling their naval raking with shell and bombs. Englands greatest battleship s and newest carriers were there, screening us on the south paying off with pleasure and old , debt to an empire. On the northern flank, the admirals tireless task force 58 stepped up its two weeks old aerial assault on kyushu and the enemy home islands. It was the fourth of in reverse, july on japanese shipping, harbors, airfields, factories. [explosions] there is a jap carrier in trouble. [explosions] [explosions] men of the navy, 400,000 men. Called it monday. Elsewhere in the world it was Easter Sunday 1945. At 8 30 that morning, the marines and army went in. 100,000 yanks were rattling the lock on japans front door. They were plowing sacred soil with american boots, tractors, tanks. Baffling,n days were mysteriously quiet as the army and marines pushed steadily forward, looking for an enemy which had vanished. On the 1400 ships supporting the invasion, men waited at their battle stations, and waited. We knew the blow would come, but how and when . Then it struck. [explosions] they call it kamikaze, meaning the divine tempest. We call them suicide planes, manned by pilots wearing the ceremonial red sash of the kamikaze corps. They specialize in oneway trips. Their destination, the deck or hull of any american ship. [explosions] japans secret weapon was no secret to our donors or gunner or our flyers, who for months had been seeing the pacific with the same red sashes. But to now to meet our latest challenge, every plane that could fly, new or old, from the very heart of japan itself. 16yearolds still in aviation schools were given their wings, a sash, and a mission. It was a maniacal allout effort to smash our sea power and isolate our troops on okinawa. It was desperation. It was suicide. But it would be the pattern from now on to the very finish, a struggle between men who wanted to die and men who fight to live. [gunfire] [gunfire] [explosions] [gunfire] by night it went on, hundreds of planes street low over the streaked low over the sea. [airplane engine] [gunfire] they dove out of the dawn. [airplane engine] [gunfire] again the old battleships were there, and new ships of the line. And a rugged little man named ernie pyle. There was no retreat. This was the fleet that came to stay, that had to stay. Had to stay because the men the navy landed needed tons of steel from navy guns. Even as we beat off fresh waves of jap planes overhead, the big guns of the fleet smashed enemy strongholds miles away. [explosions] had to stay, because our men advancing through the rice paddies and over the steep bridges had to have Close Air Support from the flat tops. In the air control room aboard the command ships, strike upon strike was ordered. Then the navy and marine flyers lay down precise, deadly rocket fire to help make the next 50 yards of advance less costly. [airplane engine] [explosions] this was the fleet that had to stay because always the stream of supplies to those troops must be steady and huge. A bridge of ships was brought across the pacific to bring our men more food, more medicine, more ammunition. And waiting at the end of the longest supply route in any war were the kamikazes. [explosions] this was a fleet fighting like infantry, punching away at the enemy, only there are no foxholes in the ocean. [explosions] march 18 to the 21st, 556 japanese planes destroyed. [explosions] [airplane engine] men fought without sleep, some fought with guns, some with axes, torches, some with fire smothering foam. Thick and fight at the same time. [airplane engine] [explosions] many fell at their battle stations. And some were buried. [gunfire] dont give up the ship became more than a schoolbook legends. It became a fact of life. [gunfire] april 13 brought more planes, and shocking news. Between attacks we were the men afloat and onshore paid honor to the beloved figure in the blue navy cloak, said farewell to the father of the modern american navy. Then they turned and met the next assault. During three fabulous months, thousands of aircraft were hurled against our ships. But only 10 ever slipped through our air patrol, yet the seige by air went on. April 6, 277 enemy planes. April 12, 100 planes. May 3, 97. [airplane engine] [explosions] in the early gray hours of the greatg watch on may 9, news came. Ve day in europe. It came to the lookouts, the men who stand guard what others sleep. Men were glad, grateful, home seemed a little nearer, but for now ve day was simply the 1247th day of our pacific war. From the rolling decks of our carriers, the fighters rose once again to meet the enemy. On the cruisers, and destroyers, and battleships, our heavy batteries once more leveled against the jap studded hills of okinawa. The 20s, 40s sent streams of fiery lead into the worlds last alien sky. May 12, 164 jap aircraft down. June 8, 30. [airplane engines and explosions] for week after vicious week, the most devastating Airsea Battle of all time or on, the japanese paid with their air force, with their newest ship, 4232 planes. The fleet that came to stay paid a price too, but our men, our ships, our planes took everything the land could throw at the sea and handed it back double. The question, could a fleet stand up against the massed fury of landbased planes got an emphatic answer from the men who fight to live, from the fleet that came to stay. You can watch archival films on Public Affairs in their entirety on our weekly series real america, saturday, 10 00 p. M. , sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, here on American History tv. You are watching American History tv, covering history cspan site with event coverage, archival films, lectures in College Classrooms and visits to museums and historic places. All weekend, every weekend on cspan three. Ago, the United States launched an invasion of a quinoa, a 60 mile japanese island stronghold 400 miles from the mainland. During this savage battle, 90,000 of the 100,000 japanese troops were killed or committed suicide and 150,000 civilians may have died. 12,000 americans were killed. On real america, bulletin on the okinawa opera ration operation. This report covers the first 50 days of the invasion. A second bulletin covers the final stages of the battle