"The War"

[8ballrollin]

Thread for "The War" Documentary.

Night one...

I'm glad they spent so much time on Guadalcanal. It has never gotten as much attention as other major Pacific battles - Midway, Philippines, IJ, much less any European battles.

On the downside, if you are somewhat moderately read on WWII, there was not much new. But I guess that’s not the point. It seems to want to capture the American experience of the world-changing event. Which is fine.

Did my hometeaching tonight. One brother graduated from HS in ’43 and joined to the Navy right after graduation. His wife was full of stories tonight – about the war. It was fun to listen to.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by 8ballrollin

On the downside, if you are somewhat moderately read on WWII, there was not much new. But I guess that’s not the point. It seems to want to capture the American experience of the world-changing event. Which is fine.

Yes, it is fine. The WWII story has been told so many times that I am not sure if it is fair to expect too much new material. But Burns and his colleagues have stated that it was never their objective to do a detailed chronology of the strategy and military history of the war. Rather, they intended to focus primarily on the human experience. I think the balance is just right. With 14 hours you can include plenty of military history to set the stage for the human history. Overall, I think the story is being told beautifully.

There were some powerful moments tonight. The Bataan Death March always gets to me. And the shot of the US sailor face down in the surf at Pearl Harbor stuck with me for some reason. The interviews of the Japanese-American citizens were also quite powerful. Especially the soft-spoken woman who was a freshman at Berkley when the war broke out. She said that on Dec 7, 1941 she was already conscious that everyone started looking at her differently and she realized that her world had instantly changed. The fact that she was so humble, so articulate, and so American made it all the more moving.

I enjoyed the interviews with the former marine pilot from Luverne Minnesota. He knows how to deliver a story or describe a memory with tremendous insight. So far, it appears that he may be the Shelby Foote of the series.

[8ballrollin]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Yes, it is fine. The WWII story has been told so many times that I am not sure if it is fair to expect too much new material. But Burns and his colleagues have stated that it was never their objective to do a detailed chronology of the strategy and military history of the war. Rather, they intended to focus primarily on the human experience. I think the balance is just right. With 14 hours you can include plenty of military history to set the stage for the human history. Overall, I think the story is being told beautifully.

There were some powerful moments tonight. The Bataan Death March always gets to me. And the shot of the US sailor face down in the surf at Pearl Harbor stuck with me for some reason. The interviews of the Japanese-American citizens were also quite powerful. Especially the soft-spoken woman who was a freshman at Berkley when the war broke out. She said that on Dec 7, 1941 she was already conscious that everyone started looking at her differently and she realized that her world had instantly changed. The fact that she was so humble, so articulate, and so American made it all the more moving.

I enjoyed the interviews with the former marine pilot from Luverne Minnesota. He knows how to deliver a story or describe a memory with tremendous insight. So far, it appears that he may be the Shelby Foote of the series.

My favorite line from last night...

"You can't join the Navy anyways - your parents are married."

The gentleman from Mobile, explaining how as a seventeen-year-old, he was talked into joining the Marines over the Navy by the local recruiting officer.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by 8ballrollin

My favorite line from last night...

"You can't join the Navy anyways - your parents are married."

The gentleman from Mobile, explaining how as a seventeen-year-old, he was talked into joining the Marines over the Navy by the local recruiting officer.

Yeah, that was a great line.

[Frank Ryan]

Originally Posted by 8ballrollin

Thread for "The War" Documentary.

Night one...

I'm glad they spent so much time on Guadalcanal. It has never gotten as much attention as other major Pacific battles - Midway, Philippines, IJ, much less any European battles.

On the downside, if you are somewhat moderately read on WWII, there was not much new. But I guess that’s not the point. It seems to want to capture the American experience of the world-changing event. Which is fine.

Did my hometeaching tonight. One brother graduated from HS in ’43 and joined to the Navy right after graduation. His wife was full of stories tonight – about the war. It was fun to listen to.

I enjoyed the first part of "the War"

my Grandpa fought in Guadalcanal. He died a long time ago and I don't remember him talking a lot about it. He almost died from malaria . He did see hand to hand combat with bayonets and such.
He did share some interesting things
He said Aussie units were tougher and heartier than the American ones. He also fought alongside British Gurkha troops. He said they were ferocious and relentless. According to one story he always told, the Gurkhas slipped into the camp of sleeping Japanese soldiers and cut the throat of every other soldier and did it without waking anyone up
He didn't care for Macarthur much.