My 6th Grade teacher was one of those 450 Marines. He was one hell of a disciplinarian, worse than any nun. OTOH, when I brought a training grenade, a gas mask and a bayonet to school one day for Show and Tell, he was the only teacher who wasn't losing his shit. That was in '75, but it was still unusual for a kid to bring a fragmentation grenade to school. Nowadays, I'd probably still be in the nuthouse.
7:30-7:37 American "BB Guns" aren't always shooting plastic pellets, or at least they didn't when I was young in the 1970s and 1980s. They fired a metal ball about 2-3mm in diameter using the force of compressed air. Some BB guns can fire a half gram metal sphere at a velocity exceeding 500 feet per second / 152 meters per second which can actually break bones, and are sometimes used as a means of exterminating wild vermin or very small game hunting
Retired Navy here, one of the ships I was stationed on was the USS Elrod, named after Hammering Hank! I was a Plankowner (first crew) on the USS Elrod, the ship is no longer in commission but we do have an annual reunion. I enjoyed this reaction. Thank you.
As a former squid (navy), I am reluctant to admit this publicly but we are very proud of our marines. They do the impossible and have been doing so since they were first established. The marine hymn is an ode to impossible situations. It mentions the "shores of Tripoli". In effect, a naval officer named Stephen Decatur filled a rowboat with a bunch of marines and attacked a "battleship". They won. Even your Lord Nelson was impressed.
@@shannonotoole3526 "From the Halls of Montezuma" refers to the War with Mexico in 1846-1848. "to the shores of Tripoli" refers to the Barbary Wars and is about the Decatur incident and the rest of the campaign. The Marines were indeed the heroes of the Boxer Rebellion but that was a separate "impossible situation."
I wish you would watch til the end. He usually has something at the end. This one has the actual footage of the one guy saying they didn't have a dog on the island. Not all his videos have something at the end but a lot of them do.
When I was a kid I had a freind whose father was a Marine in the Pacific War. Actually in the 50s and 60s most of our fathers were WWII vets, some were Korean War vets.
@@user-wc8fp4cx6c nah, not the international. The American Christian family. 10s of millions of armed and free people that will not be subjected under any circumstances
As I thought. I'd rather support my system then a system that has killed over 100 million people. If you're in the US the nice thing is you can leave if you're a communist or socialist. You're not allowed to do anything capitalistic in a socialistic society.@@user-wc8fp4cx6c
The reason you know the human body is 80% water is because the Japanese would weigh prisoners and put them into a convection oven until they were beef jerky and then weigh the bodies. Look up Japan's Unit 731
Just so you know the BB referenced, I believe is the older model made of lead and dipped in copper fired with air pressure or spring power. It is not the much safer Airsoft BB made of plastic.
I realize y'all are relatively new to TFE, but you need to keep playing until the very end. He almost always has a little extra after the credits roll. On this one he says he'd have kept the rugs then shows footage of the surviving men from that battle and has a couple of them talking about the movie he referenced at the end. He does this on almost all of his videos.
Former President George H.W. Bush was a naval aviator during WW II. Because he flew Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers, the nickname for the USS George H.W Bush (CVN-77) is "Avenger." That was the last of the Nimitz class aircraft carriers built.
Marines back then were trained in near death conditions But the number one thing that was Trained into them was Accuracy Rifle Accuracy is the number one priority second only to close Quarter combat
You talk like that's changed but after we fought in Fallujah there was an investigation done to see if Marines were executing people. We weren't, we were just landing that many head shots.
Wake Island is both a heroic story of what Marines and Americans can do when they are put into a dangerous situation together and a common enemy. It is also one of the most TRAGIC stories from WW 2, due to the way that after doing such a remarkable job of defending their island, they get "left behind" by politicians who were too afraid of failure to even TRUE to get them out. I mean, it is clearly one thing to attempt a rescue mission and it doesn't work. But it is entirely something else to LEAVE people behind and do NOTHING to give them hope, or help.
@@gordonbone3689 Afghanistan was a policy thing and had nothing to do with hoarding resources for the fight to come. It was about abandoning the fight.
My father and an uncle had served with the Marine Corps in the Pacific during WW-2. That's whey I joined out of high school in 1964. We still had some WW-2 and Korean war vets. as our instructors in boot camp at that time. Best thing I ever did. Tom Boyte GySgt. USMC, retired Vietnam 1965-66/1970-71 0331, Infantry machine guns / 0369 Infantry unit leader
My grandfather was one of the Marines on Wake Island. After he was captured, he was sent to China, Korea, and finally Japan till the end of the war. The high survival rate was partially due to the fact that the camp was regularly visited by the Red Cross and that unlike the Philippines, the island was way too small to march them to death. He still ended up losing a hundred pounds due to malnutrition but had no ill will towards the Japanese people.
Have a friend who’s father was did the Bataan Death March. Went to his grave hating the Japanese. Remember going to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Was very uncomfortable seeing Japanese tourist there thinking y’all shouldn’t be here. That was the only time in my life I felt that way about foreigners.
@@gregdavidson670I'm a US Navy veteran . During my ten years I served as a Navy MP in Yokosuka Japan. One day an elderly Japanese man saluted me and said : Thank You for beating us " I asked him " Why are you thankful " ? He explained that if Russia had defeated them Japan would be Communist . Imagine that .
A lot of.his servive was probably just sitting there taking in coded messeges and decoding and sending new ones out. Not really thrilling combat but such a key role nonetheless
Another David vs Goliath (US vs Japan) story from WW2 is the story of US naval Task Force Taffy3 at the Battle of Samar. This time it's Navy badassery on display. Worth the watch.
At one time there was an original order from command. That was "Hold until relieved." Officers knew that could mean that their unit was to be held as expendable.
If you really want to Japan's treatment of POW's, the Fat Electrician's "Ghost of Bataan" video mentions both the Bataan death march and hell ships. The death march was a forced march from the captured allied base in Bataan to a faraway prison camp that killed most of the prisoners. Hell ships were prison boats that left prisoners exposed to the elements 24/7 with zero shelter.
@@mlcsellaNo, not to the extent the Germans were. A good example being the personnel of Unit 731. Most of them, including the leader of the unit, were cleared of all crimes they committed against humanity, in exchange for the medical knowledge that they acquired through their horrendous human experimentation programs. I like Japan. I appreciate their culture and their people, but I will never cut them any slack or give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their actions during WW2. They still have not apologized enough for what they did, and are probably the most professional victims in the world with how much they play the underdog because of the A-bombs. It was tragic what happened to them, but it was 100% justified in every sense of the word.
10:45 I LOVE the way this guy tells historical events. So much more entertaining than all the history classes I took in grade school, middle school, high school, and in college.
My great uncle was taken prisoner and killed in a prisoner of war camp on the island of Hokkaido. My grandmother had a seething and uncurable hatred of anything Japanese until the day she died. One of the survivors of his regiment refused to tell her how her brother was killed.
10:50 on a strategic level it makes sense to hold onto ships as we had just had our asses to us at Pearl Harbor so a large part of our Pacific fleet was out of action. We treated the forces in the Philippines the same way. Any force that would have been sent would have been sunk and unrecoverable.
As cold as this seams, strategically it was the right decision. As a retired grunt, I am concerned about this idea. To be honest, no one wants to be the sacrificial lamb. Sometimes it is a HARD direction to make. I also know that SOMETIMES a sacrifice must be made for the greater good. I can cite many MoH, DSC (including chair-farce in this)/Navy Cross, Silver Star/DFC and Bronze Star (with "V" device - fuck those that received this for "service") for someone holding the line while the rest of the unit "tactically moves to the rear " for a better position.
Guys guys! He has 2 post credits scenes in this video! I was really hoping to see your reaction to them! Also remember his ad reads add to his comedy. His ad reads are amazing! Definitely don't skip them!
I’m 65, so glad I got to see and talk to these men. They hardly said a word about what the saw and did. However they would tell you their units. Many of my football coaches fought in WWII, Korean, and Vietnam. They used many of their words from the military like Chow Hall and others. In football words like kamikaze, red dog which turned into blitz. They were men and carried themselves as such.
A Slight Correction - A US Naval Fleet with reinforcements for Wake Island was just east of Wake when the radio on Wake announced that they had surrendered. The Fleet was ordered to return to Pearl Harbor. Marine Major Devereux was Second in Command at Wake. Naval Commander Cunningham was in Command and he is the one who ordered the surrender.
I'm fascinated with WW2 history, myself. So, I appreciate the fact that you also seem to share this interest via many of your videos. I'm an American "Baby Boomer" (born in 1952), so, I have a great appreciation for the accomplishments of the Allies, primarily the Brits and Americans working together, to ultimately defeat the Nazis and Imperial Japan in the greatest and most consequential war (so far) in history. Never was a war so clearly a good versus evil proposition. It's unusual for young people of your generation to have an appreciation for both the horror and eventual glory of this period in history. Most young people simply have no idea, let alone an appreciation. Good for you, Beesleys! Keep up the good work.
Its the philosophy of Sun Tzu If you are stronger then your enemy attack. If you are weaker, retreat. Never show your enemy your winning hand, so to speak. If the enemy thinks you are weak, then appear so until you lay a trap.
To see how well the US and UK worked together, Please check out the Fat Electrician's "Biggest Logistical Flex Of All Time - Berlin Airlift". It is a feel good history lesson.
Winfield Scott Cunningham was the Officer in Charge, Naval Activities, Wake Island when the tiny island was attacked by the Japanese, December 8, 1941. Cunningham commanded the defense of the island against the massive Japanese attack. After 15 days, he surrendered the island to the Japanese. Cunningham was taken prisoner and held as a POW in Japan. James Patrick Sinnott Devereux was a Major at the time of the attack. He was the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the 1st Defense Battalion Detachment during the defense of Wake Island in December 1941. He was captured on Wake Island as a prisoner of war, along with his men, after a 15-day battle with the Japanese. Cunningham was in command of Wake Island. Associates far as the continued battle, the Marines were running out of food, water and ammunition. In addition to the Wildcats, the food stocks for the Marines and the two construction camps had been destroyed. The hospital, Pan Am hotel and just about every above ground structure had been destroyed. What he missed was that the Japanese planned on running two destroyers ashore and using the Imperial Marines on the ships if needed and use the ships guns at point blank range. Had the Marines successfully continued their counter attack, the outcome would have still been a Japanese victory. As for the Americans, a very small task force had been deployed but due to poor logistics and changes in the command of the Pacific Fleet, by the time the ships were closing, the massive Japanese task force seal the fate of Wake. The Saratoga was leading this effort but our ships were poorly armed and our pilots not as well trained nor equipped. At that time in the war, Japan simply had the world’s best pilots
Wendigoon gas an amazing video in a horrific Japanese unit and research facility that covers some of the more horrific war crimes of that era. And that's saying something because competition for that gold medal was fierce.
The Makin island raid helped to boost morale at home when it was sorely needed. It also had a unfortunate side effect. It caused the Japanese to fortify their island's more heavily, against future raid's, and caused more casualties against invading Marine's.
My uncle, was a marine stationed at Pearl Harbor, on Dec.7 1941 when the Japanese attacked. I didn't know until recently that he was on a troop transport to reinforce the Marine garrison at Wake Island. The task force turned back to Pearl after learning that Wake Island had been taken by the Japanese. RIP uncle Roland 🙏
If you want to do research on Japanese atrocities look up stuff on Nanking and unit 731. Unit 731 was the reason we know the % of human is water because they baked humans alive and weighed them to find out how much water evaporated.
That's a good video this guy can really tell a story can't he 👍👍👍 great video James and Millie. I look forward to seeing the live stream this Friday😊😊😊
Midway was in 1942, and was primarily a naval battle fought over an island. Not that the island's forces did not fight hard, but in the largervpicture, they were defensive and not equipped to fight off a naval fleet. Wake is not too far from Midway, but the fight was in 1941 when the US Navy was still trying to figure out if there were even any rowboats still floating at Pearl, and in no shape to help Wake even if they could have gotten a force there in time. They didn't *have* a war-ready force.
They left because we didn't have enough ships to adequately protect the carriers. It would have been far worse to have lost wake and a carrier then to just lose wake. Someone has to make the calls - and while we can disagree all we want there was a valid reason for it.
I watched a video, 10 pleasant realities about the USA. One of the things was that all Americans aren’t patriotic. How is that pleasant! I am proud of how patriotic that my country is! Even with a dementia stricken president, we are still the greatest country on earth! Not because of our government, but in spite of it! It’s the people that make America great, and the support that we give our troops they deserve. It’s a shame that every country on earth doesn’t give the same respect to their troops!
You should look at his first videos, you could do about 5 of them at a time since they are really short tiktok style videos, but they are interesting. Mostly going over general military ranks.
I know a lot about WWII in the Atlantic Theater but not as much about the Pacific Theater. This was very interesting and educational. You do what you have to do and never give up. That’s all. Nice ending although Mao was a murderer. .
One thing y’all need to know the women and men alive during WW2 were cut from a different cloth and are considered the greatest generation they were a bunch tough people cause they went through a lot
By letting the Japanese ships close to 4,000 yards, Not ONLy could the 152 mm [ 5 inch] guns be employed, but the 3 inch, 76.2 mm AA guns could be lowered level, and take on the Destroyers near the beach. It gave Cmdr. Deveraux MORE guns to work with. 5.21
A BB gun and Airsoft are similar bit different. A Airsoft gun is at least semi automatic or full automatic. Meaning at least one plastic pellet is fired per pull of the trigger. A BB gun shoots 1 metal pellet or ball at a time. Often they are spring or air powered. Reloading speed is often minimum 5 seconds.
In the scheme, of things. We might still be the young country, of the world. But we'll never give up easily! Military, or civilian. We'll fight for what's ours if needed!!
if you want to watch videos of Japanese war crimes you should watch videos of unit 731 and the rape of Nanking. in some ways Japan committed worse crimes than Germany to the point that a nazi party member tried to help Chinese civilians escape Japanese soldiers during the Nanking massacre.
If you guys really want to delve into the rabbit hole of Japanese war crimes in WW2, I have a few recommendations for you. 1st. Wendigoon: "The most disturbing Human experiment ever", a 45 minute video about the infamous Unit 731. Of course a long video might not fit in with your schedule or format, so I have a shorter video on the same subject is 2nd . World War Two: "Japan's biological terror! - The horror of Unit 731 - WW2 special" coming in at 15 minutes Of course the cover up story of the war crimes is just as morbidly intriguing as the actual acts themselves, so I have two recommendations for these too. 3rd. Hello Future Me: "The US covered up Japan's worst warcrime. Here's how", this is the longest video at 1 hour and 45 minutes, but i can personally attest that it is as engaging as any movie. 4th. Knowing Better: "Playing the victim | Historical Revisionism and Japan", once again a shorter version coming in at 25 minutes. If you guys decide to react to the shorter versions of the videos, I still recommend checking out the longer videos on your own time, as they are documentary level quality in their research, detail, and presentation. I do understand if you don't do an official reaction to them of course, due to the length. Hope you guys enjoy the videos, and learn about a sorely neglected part of human history in Western education.
Japan technically didn't consider that they committed war crimes because they never signed the Articles of War. But they thought anyone who surrendered were cowards and deserved to die because of their Bushido code.
After WWI the US military was reduced to hardly any personnel at all. At this stage in the war we were not ready with personnel or equipment. That is one reason todays military is so strong.
Mentioned this in another reaction but not sending help while unpopular was the right move. We didn't have the ships after pearl to protect Hawaii, the west coast of america and send help. A huge chunk of the fleet was in the Atlantic and we had given a bunch of ships to the brits to help protect convoys and even if we wanted to move ships to the Pacific it would take to long to be helpful. Secondly if we did show up risking what was left of the pacific fleet for what in reality is a fairly pointless island compared to hawaii and midway is just a huge risk for no reason. Lastly japan had no chance in a protracted war so risking everything right at the beginning played into theit hands so waiting for our production juggernaut to get up and rolling and just swamp them with so many ships and planes they couldn't even fathom stopping it is the much better strategy.
There's stories like this throughout USMC history. 2 kinds of people know who the Marines are. The Marines and the enemy. Everyone else isa second-hand opinion. As the saying goes.
Wake Island is 1,991 miles from Tokyo, and much, much closer territory already controlled by the Japanese navy and Japanese bases. Wake Island is 2,298 miles west of Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii and Wake Island is 1,170 miles southwest of Midway Island. There were no close U.S. military bases to launch attacks against the Japanese forces and the U.S. Navy was so short of ships, mainly Capital ships, that the risk of losing any plus their crews, sadly, outweighed the loss of the Marines and construction workers on Wake Island. At times the tough call, the hard choice, has to be made in war.
If you want an accurate explanation of how the Japanese treated POWs, go watch The Angels by the Fat Electrician, or read the book Unbreakable. The Book, not the movie. If the movie had included the Japanese treatment it would have been NC-17.
This is going to sound callous, and it kind of was, but also it was the result of facing reality: Wake Island was sacrificed for valid strategic reasons. Specifically, the upper command structure had a reasonably good idea of what shipyards were available to do what work on what ships and approximately how fast they could do it, which gave them a timetable for how long they had to make the existing fleet (and whatever of the Pearl Harbor casualties could be repaired) last, so that the west coast would not be left defenseless until the next wave of ships could be deployed. For the first few months of (our participation in) the war, then, they had to be careful how they used those ships, engaging smaller detachments of the enemy when possible so as to outnumber them, and otherwise committing to only the most critical battles until the shipyards had time to do their thing. This is also why MacArthur had to abandon the Philippines. The situation in the Pacific started turning around *somewhat* after about six months but didn't really look good (from a strategic standpoint) until the first of the Essex class came online, a full year after Pearl Harbor. (The Essex was the first of the fleet carriers that had been ordered in 1940, and they were built in parallel, so once they started to roll off the line, the US Navy was getting about one new fleet carrier a month for the best part of a year, a production rate that Imperial Japan could not hope to match. At this point, strategically speaking, Japan *should* have sued for peace, because things were not going to be going their way any more. The Japanese navy brass had warned Tojo about this before Pearl Harbor, but he decided to go forward with it anyway, because the army needed oil. This was "kick the can down the road" thinking, but now the can was getting heavier and it was going to be increasingly difficult to keep kicking it. By the middle of 1944, the can weighed several tons, had large barbed spikes sticking out of it in all directions, and it was growling.)
Married 2 USMC - one died in Vietnam, the other came back from Vietnam already dead, just nobody knew it. Gave birth to 2 and almost lost one in the 3rd assault on Falujah. "When it absolutely has to be blown up, destroyed, and done in a limited time- call 1-800-US Marines".. The US Military takes a beating from the pansy population who like to talk about what a fighting nation we are. Yes, we are. And many of these "people" sleep at night because of our military striking fear. Learn from history or repeat it. Do not mess with the United States Marine Corp.
Actually, the USS Saratoga, a Ranger class aircraft carrier and her escorts were on the way to Wake to reinforce the island by dropping off air wings and supplies. They were ordered to turn around, because at that time the US only had 3 operating carriers in the Pacific, the Saratoga, the Lexington (a Lexington class carrier) and the Enterprise )a Yorktown class carrier). These ships and their escorts were all that was left to stop the Japanese at that time and were not to be risked unless absolutely necessary to defend Hawaii or the west coast of the US. This decision was the correct one. You should watch Kings & Generals, Pacific War on youtube, excellent full Pacific War timeliness, battle by battle, India, Burma, the New Guinnea and Solomons campaign, the central Pacific drive. From start to finish, British, Gussied, New, Zealand, Chinese, all the naval and sea battles, in chronological order, are there.
My 6th Grade teacher was one of those 450 Marines.
He was one hell of a disciplinarian, worse than any nun.
OTOH, when I brought a training grenade, a gas mask
and a bayonet to school one day for Show and Tell, he
was the only teacher who wasn't losing his shit.
That was in '75, but it was still unusual for a kid to bring
a fragmentation grenade to school. Nowadays, I'd
probably still be in the nuthouse.
My junior high school principal was a POW of the Japanese and my high school principal was a POW of the Germans. They didn't put up with any BS!
That or in juvi.
Now they panic and press charges on the kid for a drawing of a gun!
7:30-7:37 American "BB Guns" aren't always shooting plastic pellets, or at least they didn't when I was young in the 1970s and 1980s. They fired a metal ball about 2-3mm in diameter using the force of compressed air. Some BB guns can fire a half gram metal sphere at a velocity exceeding 500 feet per second / 152 meters per second which can actually break bones, and are sometimes used as a means of exterminating wild vermin or very small game hunting
One of my Grandfather's was in that battle. Still proud of him.
Retired Navy here, one of the ships I was stationed on was the USS Elrod, named after Hammering Hank! I was a Plankowner (first crew) on the USS Elrod, the ship is no longer in commission but we do have an annual reunion. I enjoyed this reaction. Thank you.
As a former squid (navy), I am reluctant to admit this publicly but we are very proud of our marines. They do the impossible and have been doing so since they were first established. The marine hymn is an ode to impossible situations. It mentions the "shores of Tripoli". In effect, a naval officer named Stephen Decatur filled a rowboat with a bunch of marines and attacked a "battleship". They won. Even your Lord Nelson was impressed.
I rhought that phrase was about the boxer rebellion brother?
@@shannonotoole3526 "From the Halls of Montezuma" refers to the War with Mexico in 1846-1848. "to the shores of Tripoli" refers to the Barbary Wars and is about the Decatur incident and the rest of the campaign. The Marines were indeed the heroes of the Boxer Rebellion but that was a separate "impossible situation."
"SECURING A POSITION" has a different meaning to a US Marine.
I wish you would watch til the end. He usually has something at the end. This one has the actual footage of the one guy saying they didn't have a dog on the island. Not all his videos have something at the end but a lot of them do.
When I was a kid I had a freind whose father was a Marine in the Pacific War. Actually in the 50s and 60s most of our fathers were WWII vets, some were Korean War vets.
Wake and Midway were indeed two separate actions. Midway occured about 6 months after Wake
I work here!!! Been here for the past 3 years! The history here is insane
The U.S marines will always be the strongest fighting force in the world crayon eaters or not you got to admit they’re badass💪
So, what you're saying is, I need to start eating crayons?
@@user-wc8fp4cx6c nah, not the international. The American Christian family. 10s of millions of armed and free people that will not be subjected under any circumstances
@@user-wc8fp4cx6c not a fighting force
Ahh another commie. @@user-wc8fp4cx6c
As I thought. I'd rather support my system then a system that has killed over 100 million people. If you're in the US the nice thing is you can leave if you're a communist or socialist. You're not allowed to do anything capitalistic in a socialistic society.@@user-wc8fp4cx6c
The reason you know the human body is 80% water is because the Japanese would weigh prisoners and put them into a convection oven until they were beef jerky and then weigh the bodies. Look up Japan's Unit 731
heeeeey Unsubscribe podcast viewer! nice to see youve cum to watch here too ha!
It’s always ridiculous easy to recognize those who watch Unsubscribe as well
@@AbruptandOffensivein his defence i knew this before they brpught it up
Its also amazing how few subscribers Unsubscribe has. But how yet how ofter I see peoole who watch it in comments
@@AbruptandOffensive say hi to Eli
Just so you know the BB referenced, I believe is the older model made of lead and dipped in copper fired with air pressure or spring power. It is not the much safer Airsoft BB made of plastic.
yeah what would be called a pellet gun now.
The guy tells the facts in a very interesting way. I was hooked.
It makes me very happy to hear our friends across the pond recognize how uniquely patriotic America is.
We may fight amongst ourselves but outside folks best leave us alone. Like any family.
Those Marines showed the enemy why they earned the nick name of Devil Dogs...
I realize y'all are relatively new to TFE, but you need to keep playing until the very end. He almost always has a little extra after the credits roll. On this one he says he'd have kept the rugs then shows footage of the surviving men from that battle and has a couple of them talking about the movie he referenced at the end. He does this on almost all of his videos.
Don't bother. We've told them every time.
Former President George H.W. Bush was a naval aviator during WW II. Because he flew Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers, the nickname for the USS George H.W Bush (CVN-77) is "Avenger." That was the last of the Nimitz class aircraft carriers built.
Marines back then were trained in near death conditions
But the number one thing that was Trained into them was Accuracy
Rifle Accuracy is the number one priority second only to close Quarter combat
Every Marine is a rifleman. Doesn't matter it you are a pilot or the cook. You have to be a rifleman first.
You talk like that's changed but after we fought in Fallujah there was an investigation done to see if Marines were executing people. We weren't, we were just landing that many head shots.
@@twohorsesinamancostume7606Thanks in due to the USMC adoption of glass optics on their standard issue carbines .
Wake Island is both a heroic story of what Marines and Americans can do when they are put into a dangerous situation together and a common enemy.
It is also one of the most TRAGIC stories from WW 2, due to the way that after doing such a remarkable job of defending their island, they get "left behind" by politicians who were too afraid of failure to even TRUE to get them out.
I mean, it is clearly one thing to attempt a rescue mission and it doesn't work. But it is entirely something else to LEAVE people behind and do NOTHING to give them hope, or help.
I understand the need to not waste resources (just as done with the Philippines), but not even attempt a rescue is ridiculous.
@@chrissauter7501 Afghanistan was the latest. 13 Marines were left behind.
@@gordonbone3689 Afghanistan was a policy thing and had nothing to do with hoarding resources for the fight to come. It was about abandoning the fight.
@@chrissauter7501 They didn't destroy all that equipment, surrendering it to the Taliban. It was poor thinking.
@@gordonbone3689 I am well aware of all of that as an Afghanistan veteran
My father and an uncle had served with the Marine Corps in the Pacific during WW-2. That's whey I joined out of high school in 1964. We still had some WW-2 and Korean war vets. as our instructors in boot camp at that time. Best thing I ever did.
Tom Boyte
GySgt. USMC, retired
Vietnam 1965-66/1970-71
0331, Infantry machine guns / 0369 Infantry unit leader
My grandfather was one of the Marines on Wake Island. After he was captured, he was sent to China, Korea, and finally Japan till the end of the war. The high survival rate was partially due to the fact that the camp was regularly visited by the Red Cross and that unlike the Philippines, the island was way too small to march them to death. He still ended up losing a hundred pounds due to malnutrition but had no ill will towards the Japanese people.
How could he have ill will? "Sorry for beating the piss out of you and letting you know what you were in for."
@@TacoSallust No ill will towards the Japanese people, he did towards the Japanese army and testified against them for war crimes.
Have a friend who’s father was did the Bataan Death March. Went to his grave hating the Japanese. Remember going to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Was very uncomfortable seeing Japanese tourist there thinking y’all shouldn’t be here. That was the only time in my life I felt that way about foreigners.
@@gregdavidson670I'm a US Navy veteran . During my ten years I served as a Navy MP in Yokosuka Japan. One day an elderly Japanese man saluted me and said : Thank You for beating us "
I asked him " Why are you thankful " ? He explained that if Russia had defeated them Japan would be Communist . Imagine that .
My uncle was one of the original Navajo Code Talkers, he was Peleliu, Saipan and Iwo Jima. He NEVER talked about his service.
A lot of.his servive was probably just sitting there taking in coded messeges and decoding and sending new ones out. Not really thrilling combat but such a key role nonetheless
Another David vs Goliath (US vs Japan) story from WW2 is the story of US naval Task Force Taffy3 at the Battle of Samar. This time it's Navy badassery on display. Worth the watch.
At one time there was an original order from command. That was "Hold until relieved." Officers knew that could mean that their unit was to be held as expendable.
Semper Fi
If you really want to Japan's treatment of POW's, the Fat Electrician's "Ghost of Bataan" video mentions both the Bataan death march and hell ships. The death march was a forced march from the captured allied base in Bataan to a faraway prison camp that killed most of the prisoners. Hell ships were prison boats that left prisoners exposed to the elements 24/7 with zero shelter.
The Hanoi Hilton was in Viet Nam, not during WWII. John McCain and James Stockdale were both held there at one point.
@johncentamore1052 my bad. Editing it out now
Were Japanese tried for WarCrimes ?
@@mlcsella no idea, but i would assume so.
@@mlcsellaNo, not to the extent the Germans were. A good example being the personnel of Unit 731. Most of them, including the leader of the unit, were cleared of all crimes they committed against humanity, in exchange for the medical knowledge that they acquired through their horrendous human experimentation programs. I like Japan. I appreciate their culture and their people, but I will never cut them any slack or give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their actions during WW2. They still have not apologized enough for what they did, and are probably the most professional victims in the world with how much they play the underdog because of the A-bombs. It was tragic what happened to them, but it was 100% justified in every sense of the word.
10:45 I LOVE the way this guy tells historical events. So much more entertaining than all the history classes I took in grade school, middle school, high school, and in college.
My great uncle was taken prisoner and killed in a prisoner of war camp on the island of Hokkaido. My grandmother had a seething and uncurable hatred of anything Japanese until the day she died. One of the survivors of his regiment refused to tell her how her brother was killed.
What a couple of nice people. On the 1-10 “nice” scale, these two are both 10’s. She is a sweetheart.
10:50 on a strategic level it makes sense to hold onto ships as we had just had our asses to us at Pearl Harbor so a large part of our Pacific fleet was out of action. We treated the forces in the Philippines the same way. Any force that would have been sent would have been sunk and unrecoverable.
As cold as this seams, strategically it was the right decision. As a retired grunt, I am concerned about this idea. To be honest, no one wants to be the sacrificial lamb. Sometimes it is a HARD direction to make. I also know that SOMETIMES a sacrifice must be made for the greater good. I can cite many MoH, DSC (including chair-farce in this)/Navy Cross, Silver Star/DFC and Bronze Star (with "V" device - fuck those that received this for "service") for someone holding the line while the rest of the unit "tactically moves to the rear " for a better position.
Awsome as always! Still wondering how no channels have done the lewis millet from fat electrician. Probably 1 of the best
Every branch of the military will have a week of sit downs and talks, Marines just ask “where’s the line?”
Guys guys! He has 2 post credits scenes in this video! I was really hoping to see your reaction to them! Also remember his ad reads add to his comedy. His ad reads are amazing! Definitely don't skip them!
The only add I actually watch
I’m 65, so glad I got to see and talk to these men. They hardly said a word about what the saw and did. However they would tell you their units. Many of my football coaches fought in WWII, Korean, and Vietnam. They used many of their words from the military like Chow Hall and others. In football words like kamikaze, red dog which turned into blitz. They were men and carried themselves as such.
If you want to laugh your asses off. Watch his video "America Blew up a Whale with 1,000lbs of TNT" 😂
A Slight Correction - A US Naval Fleet with reinforcements for Wake Island was just east of Wake when the radio on Wake announced that they had surrendered. The Fleet was ordered to return to Pearl Harbor. Marine Major Devereux was Second in Command at Wake. Naval Commander Cunningham was in Command and he is the one who ordered the surrender.
I don’t know who this guy is but I love the way he tells stories about my brother marines
The pacific war was as brutal as the eastern front. Different scale, but the hate was thick. And in a lot of ways more intimate.
I'm fascinated with WW2 history, myself. So, I appreciate the fact that you also seem to share this interest via many of your videos. I'm an American "Baby Boomer" (born in 1952), so, I have a great appreciation for the accomplishments of the Allies, primarily the Brits and Americans working together, to ultimately defeat the Nazis and Imperial Japan in the greatest and most consequential war (so far) in history. Never was a war so clearly a good versus evil proposition. It's unusual for young people of your generation to have an appreciation for both the horror and eventual glory of this period in history. Most young people simply have no idea, let alone an appreciation. Good for you, Beesleys! Keep up the good work.
I would. Like to see a reaction to the marine Navajo Code Talkers of WwIi
Its the philosophy of Sun Tzu If you are stronger then your enemy attack. If you are weaker, retreat. Never show your enemy your winning hand, so to speak. If the enemy thinks you are weak, then appear so until you lay a trap.
To see how well the US and UK worked together, Please check out the Fat Electrician's "Biggest Logistical Flex Of All Time - Berlin Airlift". It is a feel good history lesson.
Absolutely
My great grandad was one of those construction workers on wake island!
Irish-American working for a construction company and was out there delivering supplies for the Navy when it was attacked.
If he is still living, send him my SALUTE...
Winfield Scott Cunningham was the Officer in Charge, Naval Activities, Wake Island when the tiny island was attacked by the Japanese, December 8, 1941. Cunningham commanded the defense of the island against the massive Japanese attack. After 15 days, he surrendered the island to the Japanese. Cunningham was taken prisoner and held as a POW in Japan.
James Patrick Sinnott Devereux was a Major at the time of the attack. He was the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the 1st Defense Battalion Detachment during the defense of Wake Island in December 1941. He was captured on Wake Island as a prisoner of war, along with his men, after a 15-day battle with the Japanese. Cunningham was in command of Wake Island.
Associates far as the continued battle, the Marines were running out of food, water and ammunition. In addition to the Wildcats, the food stocks for the Marines and the two construction camps had been destroyed. The hospital, Pan Am hotel and just about every above ground structure had been destroyed. What he missed was that the Japanese planned on running two destroyers ashore and using the Imperial Marines on the ships if needed and use the ships guns at point blank range. Had the Marines successfully continued their counter attack, the outcome would have still been a Japanese victory.
As for the Americans, a very small task force had been deployed but due to poor logistics and changes in the command of the Pacific Fleet, by the time the ships were closing, the massive Japanese task force seal the fate of Wake. The Saratoga was leading this effort but our ships were poorly armed and our pilots not as well trained nor equipped. At that time in the war, Japan simply had the world’s best pilots
Wendigoon gas an amazing video in a horrific Japanese unit and research facility that covers some of the more horrific war crimes of that era. And that's saying something because competition for that gold medal was fierce.
The Makin island raid helped to boost morale at home when it was sorely needed. It also had a unfortunate side effect. It caused the Japanese to fortify their island's more heavily, against future raid's, and caused more casualties against invading Marine's.
He’s the best story teller on TH-cam
Wake Island was called the Alamo of the Pacific.
My uncle, was a marine stationed at Pearl Harbor, on Dec.7 1941 when the Japanese attacked. I didn't know until recently that he was on a troop transport to reinforce the Marine garrison at Wake Island. The task force turned back to Pearl after learning that Wake Island had been taken by the Japanese. RIP uncle Roland 🙏
If you want to do research on Japanese atrocities look up stuff on Nanking and unit 731. Unit 731 was the reason we know the % of human is water because they baked humans alive and weighed them to find out how much water evaporated.
My friends grandfather was on wake , he spent four and a half years as a POW
That’s horrible. Those men who survived, survived hell.
That's a good video this guy can really tell a story can't he 👍👍👍 great video James and Millie. I look forward to seeing the live stream this Friday😊😊😊
Midway was in 1942, and was primarily a naval battle fought over an island. Not that the island's forces did not fight hard, but in the largervpicture, they were defensive and not equipped to fight off a naval fleet.
Wake is not too far from Midway, but the fight was in 1941 when the US Navy was still trying to figure out if there were even any rowboats still floating at Pearl, and in no shape to help Wake even if they could have gotten a force there in time. They didn't *have* a war-ready force.
No! Wake Island was at the beginning of WWII days after Pearl Harbor. Midway was in June 1942.
Funny thing is there was a movie about Wake Island and the actual troops hated it when they saw it.
Check out the movie "Unbroken" for some insight into Japanese camps. Brilliant and amazing movie!
They left because we didn't have enough ships to adequately protect the carriers. It would have been far worse to have lost wake and a carrier then to just lose wake. Someone has to make the calls - and while we can disagree all we want there was a valid reason for it.
I watched a video, 10 pleasant realities about the USA. One of the things was that all Americans aren’t patriotic. How is that pleasant! I am proud of how patriotic that my country is! Even with a dementia stricken president, we are still the greatest country on earth! Not because of our government, but in spite of it! It’s the people that make America great, and the support that we give our troops they deserve. It’s a shame that every country on earth doesn’t give the same respect to their troops!
Nick/The Fat Electrician is the history teacher we all needed in school.
1 UNDERstrength battalion, and a Squadron of 12 fighters...
Wake Island is known as the Alamo of the Pacific.
You should look at his first videos, you could do about 5 of them at a time since they are really short tiktok style videos, but they are interesting. Mostly going over general military ranks.
I know a lot about WWII in the Atlantic Theater but not as much about the Pacific Theater. This was very interesting and educational. You do what you have to do and never give up. That’s all. Nice ending although Mao was a murderer. .
One thing y’all need to know the women and men alive during WW2 were cut from a different cloth and are considered the greatest generation they were a bunch tough people cause they went through a lot
Yay , More Fat Electrition stories!!❤❤😂🎉🎉❤❤
These events BEGAN 2 days AFTER the attack on Pearl Harbor, and 6 months BEFORE the battle of Midway, so this is an entirely different fight.
By letting the Japanese ships close to 4,000 yards, Not ONLy could the 152 mm [ 5 inch] guns be employed, but the 3 inch, 76.2 mm AA guns could be lowered level, and take on the Destroyers near the beach. It gave Cmdr. Deveraux MORE guns to work with. 5.21
A BB gun and Airsoft are similar bit different. A Airsoft gun is at least semi automatic or full automatic. Meaning at least one plastic pellet is fired per pull of the trigger. A BB gun shoots 1 metal pellet or ball at a time. Often they are spring or air powered. Reloading speed is often minimum 5 seconds.
You stopped the video too soon ;) should have played it to the end showing an interview with some of the Marines that served on Wake Island.
In the scheme, of things. We might still be the young country, of the world. But we'll never give up easily! Military, or civilian. We'll fight for what's ours if needed!!
"The Alamo of the Pacific."
Wake was the Marine Corps at it's best.
Regarding Japanese war crimes to surrendered soldiers, look up "The Bataan Death March". That, along with Unit 731 were truly horrible.
Still waiting on you doing his infantry video
Every Clime and Place. You will always find us on the job.
The World's Finest US Marines. Semper Fi
God bless the USMC!!
Semper Fi and OOHRAH!!
❤️🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸❤️
6:15 not really true, in Hawaii they lost their mini subs
if you want to watch videos of Japanese war crimes you should watch videos of unit 731 and the rape of Nanking. in some ways Japan committed worse crimes than Germany to the point that a nazi party member tried to help Chinese civilians escape Japanese soldiers during the Nanking massacre.
That's such a crazy story. Plus we gave the leader of the unit immunity and brought his ass to America to help our biological warfare programs
Break your habit of stopping early. Whether it were the MCU or TFE, wait for after-credit content.
7:37 Well BB guns are metal BB’s
If you guys really want to delve into the rabbit hole of Japanese war crimes in WW2, I have a few recommendations for you.
1st. Wendigoon: "The most disturbing Human experiment ever", a 45 minute video about the infamous Unit 731. Of course a long video might not fit in with your schedule or format, so I have a shorter video on the same subject is
2nd . World War Two: "Japan's biological terror! - The horror of Unit 731 - WW2 special" coming in at 15 minutes
Of course the cover up story of the war crimes is just as morbidly intriguing as the actual acts themselves, so I have two recommendations for these too.
3rd. Hello Future Me: "The US covered up Japan's worst warcrime. Here's how", this is the longest video at 1 hour and 45 minutes, but i can personally attest that it is as engaging as any movie.
4th. Knowing Better: "Playing the victim | Historical Revisionism and Japan", once again a shorter version coming in at 25 minutes.
If you guys decide to react to the shorter versions of the videos, I still recommend checking out the longer videos on your own time, as they are documentary level quality in their research, detail, and presentation. I do understand if you don't do an official reaction to them of course, due to the length.
Hope you guys enjoy the videos, and learn about a sorely neglected part of human history in Western education.
Japan technically didn't consider that they committed war crimes because they never signed the Articles of War. But they thought anyone who surrendered were cowards and deserved to die because of their Bushido code.
Please react to Americas Warhorse Marine by him!
After WWI the US military was reduced to hardly any personnel at all. At this stage in the war we were not ready with personnel or equipment. That is one reason todays military is so strong.
Mentioned this in another reaction but not sending help while unpopular was the right move.
We didn't have the ships after pearl to protect Hawaii, the west coast of america and send help.
A huge chunk of the fleet was in the Atlantic and we had given a bunch of ships to the brits to help protect convoys and even if we wanted to move ships to the Pacific it would take to long to be helpful.
Secondly if we did show up risking what was left of the pacific fleet for what in reality is a fairly pointless island compared to hawaii and midway is just a huge risk for no reason.
Lastly japan had no chance in a protracted war so risking everything right at the beginning played into theit hands so waiting for our production juggernaut to get up and rolling and just swamp them with so many ships and planes they couldn't even fathom stopping it is the much better strategy.
There's stories like this throughout USMC history.
2 kinds of people know who the Marines are. The Marines and the enemy. Everyone else isa second-hand opinion. As the saying goes.
Wake Island is 1,991 miles from Tokyo, and much, much closer territory already controlled by the Japanese navy and Japanese bases. Wake Island is 2,298 miles west of Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii and Wake Island is 1,170 miles southwest of Midway Island. There were no close U.S. military bases to launch attacks against the Japanese forces and the U.S. Navy was so short of ships, mainly Capital ships, that the risk of losing any plus their crews, sadly, outweighed the loss of the Marines and construction workers on Wake Island. At times the tough call, the hard choice, has to be made in war.
Look into imperial Japan's unit 731
When it comes to crayons, I prefer the red ones! Semper Fi!
When that patriotic switch gets flipped the devil runs and hides
highlight: the rugs
If you want an accurate explanation of how the Japanese treated POWs, go watch The Angels by the Fat Electrician, or read the book Unbreakable. The Book, not the movie. If the movie had included the Japanese treatment it would have been NC-17.
This was at the beginning of the war. Midway was nearer the end of the war.
This is going to sound callous, and it kind of was, but also it was the result of facing reality: Wake Island was sacrificed for valid strategic reasons. Specifically, the upper command structure had a reasonably good idea of what shipyards were available to do what work on what ships and approximately how fast they could do it, which gave them a timetable for how long they had to make the existing fleet (and whatever of the Pearl Harbor casualties could be repaired) last, so that the west coast would not be left defenseless until the next wave of ships could be deployed. For the first few months of (our participation in) the war, then, they had to be careful how they used those ships, engaging smaller detachments of the enemy when possible so as to outnumber them, and otherwise committing to only the most critical battles until the shipyards had time to do their thing. This is also why MacArthur had to abandon the Philippines. The situation in the Pacific started turning around *somewhat* after about six months but didn't really look good (from a strategic standpoint) until the first of the Essex class came online, a full year after Pearl Harbor. (The Essex was the first of the fleet carriers that had been ordered in 1940, and they were built in parallel, so once they started to roll off the line, the US Navy was getting about one new fleet carrier a month for the best part of a year, a production rate that Imperial Japan could not hope to match. At this point, strategically speaking, Japan *should* have sued for peace, because things were not going to be going their way any more. The Japanese navy brass had warned Tojo about this before Pearl Harbor, but he decided to go forward with it anyway, because the army needed oil. This was "kick the can down the road" thinking, but now the can was getting heavier and it was going to be increasingly difficult to keep kicking it. By the middle of 1944, the can weighed several tons, had large barbed spikes sticking out of it in all directions, and it was growling.)
The quote about the sleeping dragon and resolve is entirely apocryphal. There's no evidence it was ever spoken or written by Yamamoto or anyone else.
Is anyone else somewhat alarmed that the Beasleys clearly have no idea who Mao was? SMH
Married 2 USMC - one died in Vietnam, the other came back from Vietnam already dead, just nobody knew it. Gave birth to 2 and almost lost one in the 3rd assault on Falujah. "When it absolutely has to be blown up, destroyed, and done in a limited time- call 1-800-US Marines".. The US Military takes a beating from the pansy population who like to talk about what a fighting nation we are. Yes, we are. And many of these "people" sleep at night because of our military striking fear. Learn from history or repeat it.
Do not mess with the United States Marine Corp.
BB's are not plastic. That is Air Soft pellets.
Since 1776 America says try again
Actually, the USS Saratoga, a Ranger class aircraft carrier and her escorts were on the way to Wake to reinforce the island by dropping off air wings and supplies. They were ordered to turn around, because at that time the US only had 3 operating carriers in the Pacific, the Saratoga, the Lexington (a Lexington class carrier) and the Enterprise )a Yorktown class carrier). These ships and their escorts were all that was left to stop the Japanese at that time and were not to be risked unless absolutely necessary to defend Hawaii or the west coast of the US.
This decision was the correct one. You should watch Kings & Generals, Pacific War on youtube, excellent full Pacific War timeliness, battle by battle, India, Burma, the New Guinnea and Solomons campaign, the central Pacific drive. From start to finish, British, Gussied, New, Zealand, Chinese, all the naval and sea battles, in chronological order, are there.