Despite the lack of proper diet and medical supplies, the proliferation of tropical disease, constant enemy bombardments, and the threat of being overrun by a fanatical enemy, American forces held on to “The Island of Death.”

As the premiere episode of the new PBS documentary miniseries shows, America’s involvement in Vietnam can be tracked back to World War II.

The Japanese continued to push hard to take Henderson Field, yet they never got as close to victory as they had the night of the attack on Edson’s Ridge

“It was too much death to contemplate, too much savagery and suffering; and in August 1945 no one was counting. For those who had seen the face of battle and been in the camps and under the bombs—and had lived—there was a sense of immense relief.”

Alone, the bell is a small gift. But in the context of a global, world-changing moment, it becomes invaluable.

Glass and the crew of the USS Enterprise survived Guadalcanal to fight another day—barely.

Hundreds of the ship's crew floated on the Pacific for days. Their location and fate were unknown to the US Navy. 

Nicknamed the “Long Lance” by naval historian Samuel Eliot Morrison, the Japanese Type 93 was the best torpedo of World War II. This gyroscope helped keep it on target.

A US Navy sailor survives off of Guadalcanal thanks to a life belt with a remarkable connection to home. 

The idea of using American Indians who were fluent in both their traditional tribal language and in English to send secret messages in battle was first put to the test in World War I with the Choctaw Telephone Squad and other Native communications experts and messengers. However, it wasn’t until World War II that the US military developed a specific policy to recruit and train American Indian speakers to become code talkers.