Houston, tells the story of the year early stages of the Aleutian Islands campaign during world war ii and depicts the weathersher harsh and toured by u. S. Forces. The Aleutian Islands are situated in a chain that extends westsouthwest from the alaskan peninsula toward siberia to form the boundary of the sea. Four groups. Territory part of the of alaska, the usa. A volcanic origin, there are numerous on the chain, numerous of them are still active. The surf wall rising immediately in a deep bold, mountain. Aleutians are the part of the western world. A permanent lowpressure area prevails. Whipping] announcer cold masses against the war moistureladen masses form cyclonic disturbances. Earths rotation, these disturbances move from west to east and this phenomenon constitutes one of the most dangerous weapons in the arsenal of our enemies. It enables the japanese to move behind the curtain of a storm. Of june 1940days two they employed this advantage in an attempt to secure absolute domination of the entire pacific ocean. To invasionhed fleets. Midway island in dutch harbor. Designed to break the american line of c defense. The security of the Pacific Coast depends. American air forces and at midway, achieving a historic victory. Swarmed down, seemingly out of nowhere to knock out, two, transports. Aircraftoyers, one carrier. In pursuit of the enemy, our 1 5 on instruments, 4 5 on lack. 20 out of 24 sometimes. Down through zero ceiling not lateng if the enemy fleet the low. Sweating it out for our after blind hour of continuous flight to landirectional beam on an unlighted runway and take off again in a gray, blind health. There is no monument to the many who went out and did not return. Patrolled innd many instances knowing they would be forced down etsy by the unwilling to break up content they had made with enemy forces. Few are alive that flew against the japs. If you wish to see their monument, look behind you. Undertook theely offenses. Along the bridge stored asia. A largeaugust of 1942, detachment of troops landed on an island several hundred miles out along the chain in under two hours by tom. The name of the island it is closer to japan than any other american outpost. Its sole value is that of a map. N a staff majors but strategically it is one of the most important locations in the world. 11 days after the occupation, the first two u. S. Bombers sat down. Flights took off later on a Bombing Mission with complete fighter protection. Since that time, missions and become a daily affair. The airfield is the heart of the island, beating with the power of the bombs. Amphibians, ships. Engines movinge upstarts before dawn at going back from the mountains. Day weather, bombers take off on at least one mission. On good days, the first flight takes off with the sunrise with others following at regular intervals. Every hour until nightfall. Equal and important to the airfield and without which the earphone could not exist is the tower. Landlocked on three sides. Intoables truffles to come the shore and unload under almost any weather conditions. If the airfield is the heart, the harbor is its hungry mouth. Its demand always on the increase. I day and night, freighters, others depart and leaving men on the beach. The defense installation, coastal battery, antiaircraft basement, machine gun posts. There is nothing honorable about this any longer. Announcer these guys are constantly circled my aerial patrols in neverending relate. Pt boats, those seagoing in fighters standby in readiness for surprise landing attempts. Offshore destroyers keep endless vigil keep slipping like ghosts in the fog. With undersea ears for the beat of an engine. Scanning the seas for the plume of a periscope or slipping into port on the flank of a convoy. Although the feelings are constantly traveled in contact with enemy some and is a daily occurrence, sinking sand these waters have been few and far between. Submarineth an enemy may continue on and off for hours during which time they venture within length of the onlyys undersea detectors two crashed ivana and likewise on the bottoms as the enemy releases depth chargers. Thedestroyers harold undersea enemy well in check. The flow of supplies goes ceaselessly on. Gigantic task of furnishing every American Expeditionary work with materials needed to fight the army enemy falls to the services. It is the bloodstream of the hold military body, maintaining its every organ and muscle. The island produces nothing toward human need save drinking water. Everything else must he brought here. And motors,or men machines, munitions. Basic requirements raised to the and power. Tractors, can openers, replacements, plus the transporting, delivering. It becomes apparent why the job military force is now dignified by a 12 word like logistics. Since the original landing of the manpower it has been constantly augmented. First it was hundreds, now it was thousands. A voyage thatfor may take anywhere from a week to a month. It took more than one month to land them here. The month of training to toughen them. To teach them to handle their weapons. At that to the voyage. The texas drawls and brooklyn x dirt farmers, x college men, soldiers now. All their lives they have been nothing but. Orders for the day, special orders and news of care on the bulletin board. Since newspapers and magazines are usually a month to several months out of date, this is often the only way soldiers know what is going on outside. Meat. Sh no vegetables. Can tomatoes and potatoes, peanut butter, canned fruit and coffee make up the basic diet. Biscuits, merrill falls of biscuits. Appetites are huge. Men, as often as not an officer does not display the insignia of his rank. Istomary military formality replaced with plain and simple civility. Post likehs at an us this, there is a tendency on the part of a soldier to think and live only in terms of the present. The faraway world from which he thegins to seem letter in his hand is proof of that. , dances, shaving in the same year with the old man. A letter means more than his paycheck to a soldier. In the airns to be flight, he would gladly make one kiska just over for a letter. Nothing to drink. Not even a cope. , and bars, chewing gums cigarettes are russian. It you will not hear any bellyaching. Gets strongerly as the troops come closer to the enemy. Morale actually gets stronger as the troops come closer to the enemy. Music it was originally a lagoon. Army engineers drained waters for a channel. It was there that it made a National Formation that made possible the completion of the field. Shifted thousands of tons of lava. Gain to the core that built the panama can now. Canal. E panama as the waters recede, grading crews follow leveling the area. This is not to be the usual concrete runway but a steel one whose sections have been prefabricated and american males. It is put down by the infantry of course, and 36 hours. A million and a half square feet. From then on, only the severest weather kept our planes grounded. Storms dissipate within a few minutes. Cloud bursts to rainbows. If you know like the weather, hang around a minute the airman says. Snails, ind, snow, a pilot, sideline local squalls. The greater amount of casualties occur as the bombers make it back but they are often sorely crippled, with wounded or dead aboard. In my Fathers House there are many mansions. So, whynot show would i and where i am, there you may be also. Taps] aying eyes turned skyward. Devontrained for the b engine. At the first sound, and alert is flashed. Units clear for action. Ammunition is broken out and all is put in readiness for an enemy. Six bombers went out. Six are coming back. The first ship lands. The remainder circle. Those with wounded aboard are given priority. Much a revelation how punishment one of these big bombers can take and still navigate. Unless an explosive shell finds the gas tank, the odds are all in favor of her making it safely home. Anyone who has been over will rideyou the most wonderful in the world is the ride back from kiskas. There is just something about the scenery you on the way home. The crews proceed to the Field Operations tent where they will be questioned as to the results and observations. There jokes are reports are compared a end cross checked and a complete and the active account of the records is assembled. Dismissed,they are with nothing to do until tomorrow. But tomorrow begins today with a direct dirt. The bombero follow and record the immediate results of a bombardment. These photographs are studied by specialists and interpreters and submitted for comment. At kiska, with her gun installations, her steel holdings, one of the hottest spots on the earth or above the mission isive of any destructive of buildings on the alive and the broader aspects have been decided upon. Details. Ut its among consideration are the tight. The altitude and direction of the attack. All of these are interrelated. Factorrall determining is a weather. For this reason the Navy Meteorologist lots is charred up to the very time of takeoff. A change of weather at the last moment may mean a complete revision of tomorrows plans. Tomorrow is sunday. At their outpost on the island, catholic, protestant, jew, catholic, priests, rabbis, all are leading men in their devotion. Under the snow of an allusion night, these defenders of the fight exercise the first of therefore freedoms. Music] announcer as far as the business of war is concerned, there is a Mission Going out at 13 00. Bombs must be camouflaged. Heavy bomber carrying 12 500 pounders or eight 1000 pounders. The size of the bomb to be deployed depends upon the nature of the target. Since the target is small, there is a better chance of hitting it with several 250 pounders then one larger one. However, a blockbuster could come into its own. And assembled bomb headed into the bombs they. When the time comes, bombs can be released individually, in sticks, or in salvos. Builds of ammunition are brought to machine guns and ready for fire. They are put on an sections of three. Each moving part of each gun had care and everyh bit of ammunition cleaned, will, and checked before takeoff. 12 40 00 and the pilots who are going to fly the mission received final instruction. Be 70flights, to have dropping two others, 500 pounders on antiaircraft installations and proceeding along because sign, striking to the western limits of the camping area. The second strike at 7500 the to drop bombs on the camp area. The third flight to destroy hangers with 500 pound bombs. To second and third flights follow. Three fighters to precede each primer flight at 600 feet and three fighters to afford overhead attention from enemy aircraft. Narrator crews begin to assemble, awaiting the appearance of their officers. A bomber crew is a team, and the longer together the better the teamwork. Narrator trust is implicit to toh a relationship if it is endure. Maybe at the beginning you may not like the color of a bellows hair. But these men in each, sleep, fly together. Their voices become familiar to one another on the intercom. Every gunner knows the quality of the each others. They can plot a course and make a landfall. Eight men can testify. Trust and respect for the bombardier, the radio, the engineer come the copilot, and trust and respect for the ship they fly. A monument ought to be put up for that prewar fraternity for out of their ranks our Fighter Pilots are largely drawn. They bring to their undertaking splitsecond judgment, darren. Overieutenant, 12 missions kiska. Another, 14 missions. Been, 15t lyle missions. Major milton nash can, 15 missions. Ski,enant henry struck up 11 missions. Her knowledge action all of the flying tigers, he has a zero on a submarine to his credit. Weatherinute observation is made. The ward is given to go. It is good luck and over the hill. The aerial camera goes aboard the bomber pilot informs his crew the exact part their crew is to pay in the mission. Different. Breed is the bomber pilot is responsible, determined. Because of the size and ability of the ship, there are no lastminute decisions for him and decides the big, and you get, costly piece of machinery a heavy bomber is, he has the lives of six or eight others to think about. 100 men. Nine bombers. 12 fighters. Setting out to attack and obilize 10,000 men beat behind naval and military defenses. This is the significance of aerial supremacy but behind this supremacy lies the enormous system that makes it possible for the ships to take off. A ff. Naval convoy. Army transport. The corps of engineers. Army and navy intelligence. Signal corps. Ordinance. Ground forces. These have done their part for today. The stage is set. Rehearsals are over. The actors are ready. The curtain is going up. But, this is no makebelieve drama. They will be playing for keeps. [music and engine noise growing louder] narrator the first bomber down and the original mission led over kiska. [engine noise] [engine noise] narrator colonel william noise] narrator the thunder of engines makes the earth terminal and the ravens rise, the echelon proceeds towards kiska. Its about an hour and three quarters from adak to kiska. One of the most hotly defended of areas, kiska is also one of the most strongly fortified. The japs have dug in like so many moles. An estimated force of 10,000 goes underground at the sound of our approaching engines. We cannot by by air attack hope to annihilate. We must keep the enemy from adding to its resources while he builder on fighting strength to the day of the hour when we shall undertake a landing operation. Radio contact is maintained between the bombers and adak throughout the flight, which proceeds at military speed. 165 miles per hour. During the first part of the journey the guns are swung into position. Turret mechanisms are tested and trial rounds are fired. [gunfire] narrator time moves slowly. Known tobers have been poker. Ud is quite familiar by now. Many pilots and crews have made the flight 25, 30 times. Along about the time the island decided, they look out for enemy airplanes. Them in his regular job it is say no matter how many times of fellow has gone over, a man feels funny over kiska. At a signal from the leader, the pilots will open throttle and the airplanes will go to the bombing run. For 1. 5 minutes to two minutes they will proceed a level flight in an absolutely straightline towards the target. Thereby enabling the bombardier to make his computations. Wind velocity, speed, temperature, altitude, drift. There can be no deviation whatever in the flights if the bombs are to find the target. 10 miles and three not to be objective. Narrator before Kiska Volcano mission to place, each flight goes to its designated altitude in preparation for the run. The enemy will endeavor to throw the flights off their runs. At this he will bring all his all his firepower to bear. Our ships will he then rock. Machine gun bullets may make a filigree of their wings. High explosives may open up for a man to crawl through. Little kiska, out of defensive kiska harbor. Bombay doors open. Bombay doors open. Six degrees lateral. Narrator the object is to hit the target, not avoid antiaircraft. The best way is to forget was happening outside and make the run by instruments. That way if it comes, just look over your shoulder and say good morning, father abraham. I went every man to sit by his guns until i say he can leave. Use every round of ammunition on this ship. Fire until they stop. If we have to bailout, they will be plenty navy around to pick us up. Narrator kiska. [gunfire] [explosions] enemy aircraft at 3 00. [gun fire] second life, low altitude. Second flight, low altitude. [gunfire] falling] enemy aircraft. [explosions] narrator second flight, low altitude. Lightning. In over [engines] explosions] on target, let him have it. Plane engines, explosions] pour it on, make em like it. Engines, gunfire] narrator third flight at 4500 feet. Bombs away. Explosions]ing, checkin. Bombs away. [explosions] [plane engines, explosions, gunfire] checkin. Ok. Slugin war,a but im ok. Narrator kiskas hangars are destroyed, burning. Our bombers found the target. Nine bombers came out and nine are going home. Saints go rolling playing] by the light of the moon announcer youre watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming on American History every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter at cspan schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. American history tv was at the American History denver,ion meeting at colorado. We spoke to professors, authors, and graduate students about their research. This interview is about 20 minutes. We are with jennifer who is a phdcandidate and rachel, a candidate at columbia. Here to talk about immigration and student visas in the 20