The Pacific | Season 1 | Episode 5

Part Five

TV-MA | 49 MIN

Written by Laurence Andries, Bruce C. McKenna
Directed by Bruce C. McKenna

Basilone, "The Hero of Guadalcanal," continues on the bond drive tour with beautiful starlet Virginia Grey. While on the tour, he's able to have breakfast with his younger brother George, who's about to ship out overseas. He cautions his brother not to do anything foolish in order to live up to the Basilone name. Sledge, Oswalt, and Leyden arrive on Pavuvu and are assigned to the Fifth Regiment but receive a frosty welcome from combat veterans Burgin, Snafu, and Jay De L'eau. Sledge is happily reunited with Phillips but is disappointed to learn that his old friend is about to head home. Sledge meets his commanding officer Capt. Andrew Haldane, as well as Lt. "Hillbilly" Jones. Phillips tries to explain to Sledge that war is nothing like they envisioned when they were kids playing soldier. Without a chance to say goodbye to Phillips, Sledge debates faith and the existence of God with a once faithful but now skeptical Robert Leckie.

September 15, 1944. Eugene Sledge finally heads into combat, along with Snafu, Burgin and the others. Their mission is to take the coral atoll of Peleliu. The beach is heavily defended, and the Marines suffer scores of casualties. Leckie's unit lands in an equally well-defended but different section of the beach. Leckie comforts his comrade Hoosier when he suffers a bloody thigh wound. Capt. Haldane urges Sledge and the others off the beach and toward the airfield. The heat is extreme, and thirst from the lack of clean water quickly becomes another obstacle the Marines must overcome. After the beach is secured, Leckie finds Runner, and Sledge watches in horror as Snafu pries gold teeth from the mouth of a dead Japanese soldier. As night falls on the first day on Peleliu, Sledge and Oswalt contemplate crossing the airfield - a vast, flat expanse offering no cover. But that's for tomorrow.

1.Part One

In the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Marine Sgt. John Basilone prepares to ship out, while budding journalist Robert Leckie enlists in the Marine Corps. Eugene Sledge is unable to enlist because of a heart murmur.

2.Part Two

Basilone and the 7th Marines arrive on Guadalcanal to reinforce Leckie and the rest of the 1st Marines as they continue to defend the crucial airstrip. Basilone plays a key role in repelling a nighttime attack, but suffers a frightful personal loss.

3.Part Three

Physically and mentally debilitated after Guadalcanal, Leckie, Basilone and their comrades land in Melbourne. While his buddies carouse, Leckie becomes attached to an Australian woman. Basilone is awarded the Medal of Honor.

4.Part Four

Finally enlisted as a Marine, Sledge trains for combat. The 1st Marine Division lands on New Britain, where Leckie and the other Marines battle the enemy as well as the jungle itself. Leckie begins displaying the physical and mental effects of combat.

5.Part Five

Basilone's celebrity grows as he travels across the country on the war bonds tour. On Pavuvu, Sledge is briefly reunited with Phillips, and Leckie rejoins his company. Sledge then gets his first taste of combat as the division lands on Peleliu.

6.Part Six

Despite terrible heat and a lack of water, Sledge, Leckie and the other Marines attempt to capture the Peleliu airfield. Leckie is wounded and evacuated, while Sledge witnesses the shocking truth about what is sometimes required to survive another day.

7.Part Seven

The Marines continue the battle of Peleliu against an enemy determined to fight to the last man. Devastated by the loss of a revered leader and witnessing unimaginable barbarity on both sides, Sledge veers to the edge of moral collapse.

8.Part Eight

Basilone convinces the Marines to allow him to train troops headed for combat. He enjoys a whirlwind romance, but the couple know they are living on borrowed time as Basilone is soon to take part in the Marine landing on Iwo Jima.

9.Part Nine

Sledge and the 1st Marine Division are ordered to relieve an Army division that has been in combat against the most strongly defended Japanese position on Okinawa. The conditions and the moral dilemma posed by civilians put great strain on the Marines.

10.Part Ten

After the Japanese surrender, a healed Leckie returns home, while Sledge heads back to Alabama to be reunited with his family. Lena has an emotional meeting with Basilone's family. Leckie resumes his old job, but Sledge will require more time.