COLUMBIA, S.C. — Never-before-seen films of Marines ramming artillery shells into large guns on the beaches of Iwo Jima in 1945 and standing amid sandbags during the 1968 siege of Khe Sanh in Vietnam are part of a vast collection of silent, color footage being repaired, preserved and eventually placed online for all to see.

The Marine Corps is sending the rare stockpile of films to specialists in South Carolina. Some of the images have been in storage for 70 years and offer viewers a gritty “you-were-there” view. Most films were not even seen by the combat photographers who shot them from the late 1930s through World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Marine Corps historian Thomas Baughn, who manages the film repository at the Marine Corps University at Quantico, Va., said it’s important the unique “Leatherneck legacy” not crumble away.

“It’s some pretty powerful footage,” Baughn said.

The films depict events such as Marines wading through the tide at Guadalcanal, the wounded being evacuated from Iwo Jima and Marines tramping single-file through the hillsides after the Chinese tried to wipe out the 1st Marine Division at the Chosin Reservoir.

The stockpile has about 16,000 reels of 16 mm and 35 mm films, which amounts to about 2,000 hours.