Daring American Parachute Assault 1945

My grandfather made that jump. Received a Purple Heart for his injuries from the Japanese magazine explosion (Monkey Point). Later in life, he told me stories of this battle. Thanks for sharing.

My father's cousin came home from the Corregidor jump minus an arm and leg. He was 22. He lived to be 97.

If any of you are ever in the Philippines, I highly recommend a trip to Corregidor. The island is basically in the same shape it was when retaken. Other than the excellent memorials and the opening of the Malinta Tunnel, is history preserved. I am an Australian ex-serviceman & I was in tears visiting the memorial. The feature is a dome that is shaped as a parachute.

My cousin, Marcus Winton, a paratrooper with the 503rd was killed manning a machine gun during that banzai attack.

An excellent documentary, thank you. One correction. My first unit in the Army was the 503d, although decades later. Part of the unit's lore was that the paratroops had not worn reserve chutes on the drop. Via a chance meeting in a parking lot, I actually met one of the paratroopers who had jumped on Corregidor. When I asked about the reserve chutes, he said they had indeed worn them. This can also be seen in some of the footage shown in the video. The Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 503d bears the words "The Rock." Having served in the 503d, this was a wonderful opportunity to see the drop and the battle on film. Thank you for the work you do to preserve history. I am glad I support you on Patreon and hope others will also.

A new Felton vid with my morning coffee. Life is good today.

By chance, my Filipina wife and I visited Corregidor on the 70th anniversary of the combined air and amphibious assault in 2015. The destroyed barracks and other buildings are still there as a silent testimonial to the fighting there in 1942 and 1945, along with new museum exhibits. The old Spanish flagpole shown in the video is still there; day we were there it was flying the American flag. Even though I am a Vietnam vet, I cannot imagine the ferocity of the fighting for that small "tadpole" (looks like something else to me) of an island in WWII. During that 2015 trip to the Philippines, we also visited the little-known Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Metro Manila. My wife was surprised to learn of its existence. More than 17,000 servicemen (almost 600 of them are Filipinos, too!) are buried there (surrounded by a multitude of commercial and residential high-rise buildings), making it the largest overseas cemetery maintained by American Battle Monuments Commission (almost twice as large as the cemetery at Normandy). It's a shame that this cemetery is never mentioned at all during Memorial Day or Veterans' Day. Thanks for the video!

Hard landings......that's an understatement! Phenomenal footage. All your vids are outstanding Mark, but this one in particular was quite exceptional. The 82nd and 101st on D-Day and in Market Garden always get the press and glory. The 503rd's "backwater" assault never seems to make the history books. Not as glamorous I guess. As you described this was one tricky drop at 500ft in a very tight LZ. Absolutely no margin for error. As soon as those chutes blossomed, count 1 2 3 and boom.....hard landing. Thanks again for letting people see this event.

From the dramatic opening music to the details of the final battle , Mark Felton always delivers!

Another often overlooked ww2 battle. Thanks Mark.

This is without doubt some of the best video I have ever seen of ANY US Parachute drop of WWII, and have never seen anything like these low level drops. My gosh 500feet thats guts. Well done Dr. Felton!

Paratroopers are definitely some of the toughest men on Earth. Dropping in a tiny area under heavy fire and hitting the ground almost like a rock. Legendary, every single one of them.

Perfect timing! I just finished making a cup of tea. Cheers, Dr Felton.

As a Filipino, I really am happy when you cover history of the battles here in the Philippines. There really ain't that much media covering the battles here. I do hope that you'll cover more of the battles here soon.

Thank you, I served in "AlphaRock" A co 1/503rd in Korea back in the mid '90s, so I really appreciate you putting this on youtube. Awesome footage, I didn't realize that there was any, again Thank you

One of the practice Drop Zones on Ft. Bragg is named Luzon after this jump. I worked as a drop zone safety officer (DZSO) at Bragg while serving in the 5th SF Group. The other DZ's are all named for WWII jumps made during the Atlantic campaign by the 82nd and 101st Airborne - Normandy, Nijmegen, St. Mere Eglise & Sicily. I was so dumb at the time (40 years ago) I didn't even know where Luzon was.

Amazing! Both the story and how you told it. You consistently are somehow able to pack a University two hour lecture into 15 minutes. Thank you again.

This is crazy, I had never heard of this. It’s kinda like the 173rd Airborne were the only unit to ever make a combat jump in Vietnam. The terrain in Asia is brutal for paratroopers

My God - the courage of those lads. Unbelievable. Another great film, Mark. Thanks.

your videos remind me of when the history channel was still at the peak. i was a young kid maybe 12 or so really miss the history channel when it had content similar to this. very good videos subbed for sure look forward to finding more