Ambush Bay

Before the invasion of the Philippines, a hand-picked Marine reconnaissance team is landed by a PBY Catalina to contact an intelligence agent. Grenier, the new radio operator, carries the original radio and camouflage jacket for his first ground mission. The team is tasked with obtaining crucial information that could influence the forthcoming assault.

The patrol links with their Filipino guide Manual Amado, but Captain Davis is killed during an ambush by a small Japanese force. First Sergeant Corey assumes command and asserts leadership as the operation continues. The team presses deeper into hostile lines under the new command.

Pvt. George George and Pfc. Henry Reynolds are killed while trying to neutralize a Japanese tank and engage patrols. Their deaths underscore the perilous nature of the mission and the price paid for every advance. The remaining Marines push on, more cautious about their exposed position.

Cpl. Stanley Parrish is killed by a guerrilla trap as the unit traverses hostile terrain. The loss further tightens the group's margins and elevates the sense of danger surrounding every movement. The Marines press forward with resolve.

Amado is shot by a Japanese officer while scaling a hill, and the Marines choose to let him die to conceal their presence. He dies for the team's safety, a sacrifice underscored by the mission's secrecy. The team continues with heavier consequences from the encounter.

Gunnery Sergeant Wartell explains that the mission is to recover information from a contact in a tea house whose radio was destroyed. The explanation reveals why Grenier’s radio is critical to communication and success. The group digests the gravity of their objective.

Grenier’s inexperience stirs friction with Corey and the rest of the patrol. Wartell acts as a mediator, clarifying roles and smoothing tensions for the audience. The dynamic between Grenier and the others becomes a throughline of the mission.

Mickey Rooney’s Wartell is captured and interrogated by careless Japanese soldiers, providing a rare moment of humor amid danger. He endures interrogation and maintains a glimmer of morale for the team. His capture heightens the peril the survivors face.

The surviving squad reaches the tea house, but Amado is not there to meet the contact. Desperate, Corey volunteers to meet Miyazaki, a Japanese-American woman who can provide the crucial information. The encounter shifts the mission’s approach and raises the stakes.

Corey and Miyazaki escape a nighttime camp by boat, then blow up a straw bridge to hinder pursuit. The daring escape buys time as Japanese patrols close in. The pair’s improvisation illustrates the crew’s resolve under pressure.

A large skirmish damages the radio and wounds Wartell, who sacrifices himself by planting grenades and detonating to eliminate pursuing soldiers. His final act saves Corey and Grenier from capture, but leaves them with a heavier burden. The trio’s bonds are tested as they push onward.

Miyazaki reveals a minefield surrounding the landing zones, capable of destroying the invasion fleet if triggered. The revelation raises the immediacy of their mission and the risk of discovery by the enemy. The team contemplates how to counter the threat without alerting Japanese forces.

The team reaches a friendly Filipino village and escapes a Japanese patrol by boat, but Miyazaki is killed by an officer who seduces her to buy time. Corey and Grenier begin planning a direct strike against the enemy base. They prepare to infiltrate to disable the minefield.

Corey creates a one-man diversion while Grenier and the others infiltrate the enemy base to detonate the minefield via radio control. Grenier carries out the radio operation and signals success. The maneuver underscores the mission’s themes of altruism and self-sacrifice.

Corey dies from wounds sustained while holding off the Japanese, leaving Grenier as the sole surviving Marine. Grenier detonates the minefield and radios for pickup, then gazes out toward the ocean as General MacArthur’s speech plays. The film closes on Grenier’s solitary vigil and the cost of the mission.