Created by the United States Marine Corps, “Objective … Security” is a 20-minute propaganda film covering U.S. Navy security on the Pacific island of Okinawa during World War II. Filmed by Marine combat photographers, the picture opens with Easter Sunday services in 1945, shown at mark 00:30, as we’re reminded that while the war in Europe seemed to nearing an end, half a world away, in the Pacific Theater, combat continued. On Okinawa, only 400 miles from Japan, more than 100,000 Japanese soldiers awaited an American attack force. Taking the beachhead with ease, Marines are shown securing civilian families at mark 02:15 and removing them from the conflict. At mark 04:20, a girl whose foot was cut off by Japanese force for disobeying an order is shown; a few seconds later the film reveals that the residents were ordered to commit suicide before surrendering to Allied forces. “They preferred to live,” the announcer proclaims at mark 04:35. After receiving medial attention, the Okinawans were also questioned in the hope of gathering military intelligence against the Japanese. As strains of “America the Beautiful” patriotically play in the background at mark 07:00, the film moves to show additional footage of doctors treating children, those injured in combat, and lepers who were left to mingle with healthy residents of the island. By mark 10:30, the film takes its viewers back into the combat zone as the Allies battled the entrenched Japanese who had moved inland, before returning to the native people and their struggle to build shelter for themselves, even as WW2 raged on. Although Americans may have been seen as liberators, the Marine Corps film bluntly notes at mark 14:43 that Okinawans “would not be spoon fed and could not panhandle their way to freedom.” The film nears its end with an inspection by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz at mark 15:25, and word that American forces proved victorious, “pounding and blasting and burning then sweeping up the remnants with a broom of fire and a bloody mop,” and in the end bringing life and hope to the island, even as the war continued.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com