World War II · Series · 2010–2010
The Pacific
Three US Marines, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone, fight their way across the Pacific from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, and then try to come home.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 8 places.
Stop 1: Lunga Point, Guadalcanal
Leckie and his company land unopposed, then face their first night attacks in the jungle along the river line.
Stop 2: Henderson Field, Guadalcanal
Basilone's machine-gun section holds the line against a massive night assault on the airfield's perimeter.
Stop 3: Melbourne
On leave in Australia, the exhausted Marines are welcomed as heroes and Leckie falls for a local girl.
Stop 4: Cape Gloucester, New Britain
In endless rain and rot, Leckie's nerves and body begin to give way.
Stop 5: Peleliu
Key location
Sledge gets his first taste of combat crossing the open airfield under fire, then enters the coral ridges where the fighting turns savage.
Stop 6: Iwo Jima landing beaches
Having turned down a safe job at home, Basilone goes back to war and leads his men off the beach.
Stop 7: Shuri Line, Okinawa
In the mud and rain before Shuri, Sledge fights among the dead and the civilians caught in the battle.
Stop 8: Mobile, Alabama
Back in his hometown, Sledge finds it hard to explain what he has seen to people who never left.
What really happened
The ten-part HBO series follows the 1st Marine Division, which landed on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942 in the first American offensive of the war, then fought at Cape Gloucester on New Britain, Peleliu and Okinawa. It draws on Leckie's memoir Helmet for My Pillow, Sledge's With the Old Breed and the life of Basilone, who won the Medal of Honor defending Henderson Field in October 1942.
Peleliu, invaded on 15 September 1944 and expected to fall in days, took more than two months and cost the division some 6,500 casualties. Basilone returned to combat after a war-bond tour and was killed on the first day at Iwo Jima, 19 February 1945. Okinawa, from April to June 1945, was the costliest battle of the Pacific war. The series is faithful to the memoirs, with some compression of time and characters.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- The Pacific
- Created by
- Bruce McKenna
- Countries
- United States
- Languages
- English, Japanese
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Released
- 2010–2010
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Pacific
- Themes
- Combat
- True story
