AllMovie

WW II Veteran Leon Cooper, Higgins boat commander during the Pacific island campaign, returns to the site of one of the most horrific battles of the war. Cooper ferried Marines through murderous gunfire to the shores of Tarawa Island. In just three days of savage fighting, over 1500 U.S. Marines and over 4000 Japanese were killed. Leon returns to the site of the battle to find the beaches where so many had fallen, are now covered beneath piles of garbage and refuse. Worse still, remains of MIA Marines who gave their lives still lie buried under the historic ground.