Price for Peace Page #2

to gain the resources

necessary to support their people.

They were already involved

in a war in China

that was a big drain

on the Japanese army.

Korea was already a colony.

They were taking on

the whole of the Pacific world.

As long as the US navy had a

large presence in the South Pacific,

Japan's military

was not able to succeed.

That's why the decision was made

to attack America.

Who's gonna command

in the Pacific was a big question.

They decided to divide it.

Douglas MacArthur would command

in the South-West Pacific,

Chester Nimitz would be in command

in the Central Pacific.

The Americans

were now beginning to build.

We had carriers being built

at the shipyards.

We'd started a draft that brought

millions into the armed forces.

They had to be trained and equipped.

America was gearing up for war.

Over the training periods,

we developed a lot of camaraderie

with each other.

The training first of all put emphasis

on your physical conditioning.

It was hard physically.

They'd just drill you constantly.

Here's people,

when you say, "Rear march,"

you got one going one way

and one going the other.

They took us to firing ranges,

they took us tank training,

they even gave us tank training.

We were taught how to use

every weapon the infantry has:

Everything from machine guns,

mortars, rifles, carbines, pistols.

We in hospital school learned the basic

physiology and anatomy of the body.

We learned the number of bones

and where they were located.

"The knee bone's

connected to the thigh bone."

Our forces were adequately trained.

There's no question about that.

They were physically fit,

knew how to use their weapons,

teamwork had been

built into them very well.

So, I think they were

very well-trained troops.

The training did prepare me

to do, professionally, my job,

but it didn't train me to do the

biggest job, and that's not be afraid.

I was scared to death, I tell you.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was

the top admiral in the Japanese navy,

responsible for laying out

the strategy of how to win the war.

Yamamoto thought the Americans

would be disheartened and negotiate.

And it all came crashing down

as the American people went to work.

The whole country went to war.

They rolled Red Cross bandages,

sorted buttons.

You wanted to be a part of the war effort

because they had attacked us.

The force at home turned out ships,

planes and bullets in record numbers.

This is the first time women

had left their homes and gone to work.

My wife was a welder. She worked

in the bottom of the ship, 40 feet down.

We built 741 ships.

We built one every four days

and sent them out to sea.

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