The Synopis of "LEYTE"

This is a human drama set within the most heroic naval battle in American history – the unbelievable David vs. Goliath battle at Leyte Gulf off Samar Island during World War II. It’s the story of how a small, isolated American unit called “Taffy 3” – composed of seven small destroyers and 5,000 men on six “jeep” carriers – was surprised by Japan’s massive Center Force, an armada of 32 warships built around the largest battleship in the world, the Yamato, at dawn on October 25th, 1944.

It’s the true story of the incredible heroics of a Commander Ernest E. Evans, an American Cherokee Indian and the Captain of the destroyer – the USS Johnston. Doubted by his peers and desperate to get home to his loving wife and two sons, “the Chief”, without being ordered, turned and charged his small ship at flank speed straight into the oncoming enemy, initiating a desperate defense which would earn him the Congressional Medal of Honor and, for every member of Taffy 3, the prestigious Presidential Unit Citation.

It’s the story of how three black stewards – segregated and prohibited by the southern gun crew from firing the Johnston’s five inch guns – secretly train on their own and at a critical moment late in the battle, bring a damaged gun back on line, helping turn back the Japanese destroyer charge at Taffy 3’s carriers.

“LEYTE” is told through the eyes and ears of the Captain’s young steward, Charles Jefferson; a man who, surviving injuries from burning fuel and floating for over 50 hours at sea with hundreds of other men, makes good on his promise to honor the last words of two dying men.