Watch The Pacific Online

Directly following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Seargent John Basilone ships out to fight the enemy somewhere in the Pacific, and a young journalist called Robert Leckie enlists in the Marine Corps. Sidney Phillips ships off to boot camp after saying farewell to his friend Eugene Sledge, who cannot go with him due to a heart murmur. Eight months later, Phillips and Leckie, having completed boot camp are sent to secure a airfield on Guadalcanal, and to help defend it against counterattack.

Back-up lands on Guadalcanal in the form of the 7th marines including Basilone to help defend the airfield. Basilone helps defend against a Japanese night raid, suffering a loss in the process. The marines, after four months of fighting enemies and disease are evacuated off the island. Watch The Pacific online at iwatchthepacific.com.

Leckie, Basilone and thousands of other soldiers land in Melbourne physically and mentally drained. On arrival they are greeted by crowds of people cheering and treating them as heroes. Basilone is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour and is asked to return home. Meanwhile Leckie developes strong feelings for an Australian woman.

Having finally been listed as a marine, Sledge is sent to Camp Elliot to train for battle. The 1st Marine Corps ships out to battle the Japanese who are holding an island off New Britain called Cape Gloucester. The marines fight bravely, but find the jungle to be the greatest enemy. Leckie having survived Camp Gloucester begins to show the effects of combat and is sent to a naval psychiatric hospital. Stream all the latest The Pacific episodes only at iwatchthepacific.com for free.

Basilone's celebrity grows as he travels across the country on the war bonds tour. On Pavuvu, Sledge, assigned to the 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, is briefly reunited with Phillips and Leckie rejoins his company. Sledge then gets his first taste of combat as he, Leckie, and the rest of the 1st Marine Division meet fierce Japanese resistance while landing on the intricately and heavily defended coral island of Peleliu.

Despite the suffocating 115-degree heat and a lack of clean drinking water, Sledge, Leckie and the other Marines confront the highly-fortified enemy as they attempt to capture the Peleliu airfield. After seeing his comrades badly injured, Leckie himself is wounded and evacuated from the island. Sledge witnesses the shocking truth about what is sometimes required to survive and fight another day. The Pacific episodes can be watched online at iwatchthepacific.com.

The Marines, including the newly christened "Sledgehammer," 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 very edge of moral collapse. Their objective finally secured, the Marines return to Pavuvu fundamentally changed by their experience on Peleliu.

Increasingly frustrated by his role campaigning for war bonds, Basilone convinces the Marines to allow him to train troops headed for combat. Transferred to Camp Pendleton, he enjoys a whirlwind romance with an initially reluctant female Marine, Lena Riggi. But the couple know they are living on borrowed time, as Basilone is soon to take part in the Marine landing on Iwo Jima. Watch free The Pacific episodes online at iwatchthepacific.com.

After battling across the island of Okinawa for over a month, Sledge and the rest of the 1st Marine Division are ordered to relieve an Army division that has been in combat against the most strongly defended Japanese position on the island. The primordial conditions and the moral dilemma posed by the presence of civilians put tremendous strain on the physical and psychological endurance of Sledge and the other Marines.

After the Japanese surrender, Leckie, healed from his wounds, leaves the hospital and returns home, while Sledge heads back to Alabama to be reunited with his family and Sid Phillips. Lena visits Basilone's home and has an emotional meeting with his family. Leckie adjusts to post-war life by resuming his old job and starting a new relationship, but for Sledge, unsure why he survived the war seemingly unscathed, adjustment will require more time.