Randolph Scott's character in this movie, Colonel Thorwald, is based on Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson.
Actor Harold Landon, who plays Frankie Montana in the film, relates that the actors who played Japanese soldiers were actually Filipino and Chinese.
During the 1960s, American toy manufacturer Louis Marx and Company released a 'Gung Ho Commando Outfit' for children.
Film debut of Joe Haworth.
Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson's motto during World War II was 'Gung Ho'.
The 'Gung Ho' term for harmonious military team-work became the Second Marine Raider Battalion's war cry. The term spread through the Marine Corps and into the American vernacular.
The action in this movie takes place in the Makin Group of Islands. The Butaritari Atoll or Butaritari Island is the largest of the Makin Atoll group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. It has also been known as Makin Island, Pitt Island, Taritari Island and Touching Island. The Makin Islands are a chain of islands nested within the larger Gilbert Islands group of 16 atolls and coral islands. They are all a part of the Island Nation of the Republic of Kiribati.
The film utilizes an oft-used storyline of the war movie genre which has two soldiers in love with the same girl.
The meaning and relevance of this movie's 'Gung Ho' title is that the literary origins of the phrase "Gung Ho" are that it is Chinese expression which is defined in the film as meaning "To Work in Harmony", "Gung" translating as "to work" and "Ho" translating as "harmony".
The Second Marine Raider Battalion was also known as 'Carlson's Raiders' hence the movie's title: 'Gung Ho!': The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders.
This film utilized actual war combat footage.
This film's opening prologue states: "This is a factual record of the Second Marine Raider Battalion, from its inception seven weeks after Pearl Harbor, through its first brilliant victory."
This movie has been used as a training film for recruits and marines of the United State Marine Corps.
This movie is considered a Second World War wartime propaganda film of the United States.
This movie's director, Ray Enright, fought in the Signal Corps during World War I.