Below deck, veteran Lieutenant Carl A. Anderson reassures a frightened corporal, Frank Conroy, that he has shown courage before and can do so again.

In the landing boat heading to shore, Navy corpsman C. E. "Doc" Jones is worried because Anderson has been suffering from "psychological migraines" for months.

Later, they try to take a ridge of hills but are deterred by a sudden Japanese rocket attack, during which his radio operator Private Coffman is killed.

Afterwards, Anderson meets with other officers at battalion headquarters, where Gilfillan informs them that he has received orders to stop the rockets within nine hours, before the next assault on the hills.

He assigns Anderson's platoon the task of capturing Japanese prisoners to interrogate in an effort to learn the exact origin of the rocket fire.

Finally, Anderson, Johnson, Conroy, two veteran privates, a replacement, and a war correspondent, Sergeant Dickerman, are the only fully able-bodied survivors of the patrol.

According to a January 1949 Los Angeles Times, actors Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter and Paul Douglas were originally set to star in the picture.

USMC also provided expertise by assigning three time decorated, Major George A. Gilliland, as Technical Advisor for the film.He was the recipient of two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

On January 11, 1951, The Hollywood Reporter noted that a full company of Marine recruits were to be sworn in at the film's premiere in San Francisco.