Heroic Endings *spoilers*

First Yank into Tokyo ends with Steve and his Korean friend blasting away at the Japanese with their tommy guns as the rafts carry Abby and the scientist to the submarine. This is one of several flag waver WWII movies which depicted the willingness of Americans to sacrifice their lives to save others. You don't actually see Stave get killed, just the barrel of his tommy gun blazing away and then the ending monologue with the footage of the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The other WWII flag waver movies that end with the heroes, both men and women, still fighting and killing the enemy but with the viewers full knowledge that these people were about to be overrun and killed were:

Prisoner of Japan (1942)

Manila Calling (1942)

Bataan (1943)

Wake Island (1943)

I am sure there are others, but these are the ones that I have seen which demonstrate the need for everyone to sacrifice in order to win the war. After seeing these films, it was probably a bit easier to deal with food and gasoline rationing and having loved ones serving overseas. A lot of young men probably enlisted after seeing one of these movies, and they probably influenced the purchase of war bonds also.

Hollywood was defintely was doing its part to win WWII and I'm sure these flag waver movies, which many viewers today find funny or offensive, did a lot to show the Americans and their allies as good guys and the Japanese as a completely evil enemy which had to be destroyed, no matter the cost.