Who's been watching the Pacific

[the beav]

This kind of sums it up by a war buff that has been to Pelilue many times..
"Speaking of Japanese, in 1994, during the 50th anniversary return to the island, several Marine veterans asked me to take them to Lt. Yamaguchi's last hideout cave located near the beach. Today a sign is posted near a road about 100 meters or so from his cave. We started trudging through the mangrove swamps and soon found it.

I crawled inside and noticed U.S. gear and supplies scattered inside! I figured the Japanese stole the supplies after the battle.

There's stuff all over the island. I once went in a large cave on Peleliu and it got darker the farther I went back. Soon I heard a "crunch crunch" sound that was different than before. After a few more steps I decided to turn on my flashlight and see what it was. It turned out that I was standing on top of a large, scattered pile of Japanese hand grenades and mortar shells.

 

[raisindot]

SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!








In regards to last nights episode ( part # 8 ) I was disappointed in how they showed the death of John Basilone. If you know John Basilone history its common knowledge that he was killed instantly by an exploding mortar shell as he advanced along the edge of airfield number 1.

I had no idea of this inaccuracy (not having any awareness of Basilone other than the show itself), although I thought this whole scene seemed a bit John Waynish anyway.

It would have been much more powerful and realistic scene had they shone it as actually happened. A lesson that sometimes all the training in the world just ain't gonna help you when that shell is heading your way. It would have created a much higher level of dramatic tension--Basilone's green troops suddenly seeing their commander shot down immediately, and overcoming their own terror on their own to continue without him. Which must have happened quite a lot during the war.

Jeff in Boston

 

[Shave A Buck]

I looked forward to this as a history buff and a WWII collector but find it not the same as BOB. These are tough stories to tell, a volcanic rock in the ocean, enemy garrison surrounded by marines with no way out. No real civillian stories mix in as does in the European theater. No desperate times as the Bulge or Arnhem where the battle can go either way and no one is freed from oppression. Some of these islands were never even used afterwards which makes it even more horrible that these men died for this. B of B had more of a powerfull sense that drew me in then this series or characters do.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Anyone watch tonight? Horror piled upon horror, until Sledge finally rescued his humanity. I can completely understand why people don't think that this is the same as Band of Brothers. I agree. It is a very different thing indeed, but tonight I think it reached a place that Band of Brothers never went. An amazing episode, filled with darkness and light.

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

Anyone watch tonight? Horror piled upon horror, until Sledge finally rescued his humanity. I can completely understand why people don't think that this is the same as Band of Brothers. I agree. It is a very different thing indeed, but tonight I think it reached a place that Band of Brothers never went. An amazing episode, filled with darkness and light.

I think the scariest part is yet to come as these men try to resume the lives they had before the war.

 

[The Nid Hog]

I think the scariest part is yet to come as these men try to resume the lives they had before the war.

You're right. I've always wondered how people were able to do that. Tonight's episode really made me think of it again. I used to see old men standing along the road in Okinawa and wonder how they could live their lives after enduring something like that horrible war. I felt the same thing when I'd see old guys at military reunions. I remember seeing the old men at a Marine Raider reunion and I wondered what it was like to wake up the day that the war ended and every day after that and live with what you'd gone through. That is a kind of courage that I will never understand.

 

[bamafan64]

Like anything else, they did what they had to do. I would think that returning to a normal life would be much easier than doing what it took to be removed from a normal life. I'm not trying to take away from what this generation did, because they did things we could not imagine, such as living through the Great Depression and the biggest war the world has ever known.

 

[Walker]

I'm sure gonna hate to see this end. I loved Band Of Brothers and I love the Pacific. I belive Tom Hanks and Steven Speilberg have done a heck of a job with these series. Really makes me proud to be an American.

 

[Shave A Buck]

No one truly understands what these men did and endured. In the Pacific it was heat and humidity, in the ETO it was the coldest winter with leather shoes and wool socks, no gore tex or waterproof anything. No water as we saw in one episode of Pacific and food was always scarce in the ETO. Probably more died of diesease and infection then wounds yet no one knows that. When they returned as we will see next week no one knew how to bring them back in. This too was shown in the movie The Best Years Of Our Lives. I am so glad Eugene and his friend survived although when Hamm got it I thought it was one of them. Rest easy boys, you did your time in hell.

 

[KarthVader]

Part IX was the hardest to watch thus far. Sledge almost losing his humanity was heart wrenching. I can't even begin to imagine what being on Okinawa or any of those islands must have felt like.

 

[tejasjeff]

Here is a link to Sledges papers he left to Auburn and lots of photos.

http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/ebsledge/

He had a hard time adjusting to civilian life from what I could tell.
He was a sensitive guy that took the war hard.
The flip side of that was that he was able to describe his war in terms that conveyed the horror.
I met RV Burgin at a lecture and book signing and you could just tell he was tougher soul.
He came from a hardscrabble farming background and I think that helped a lot.
He also said he felt that Sledge was too hard on their officers in his book.
At the end of the lecture I took my battered first edition of WTOB up to be signed along with his recently published autobiography.
He looked at it for a few seconds, drifted off and then quietly said
"Old Sledgehamer was a hell of a Marine" and then signed it Semper Fi under
Sledges name.
A moving moment.

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

Wow. What a great series.

Thank you, thank you all who have ever worn a uniform in service of this country.

 

[brianw]

Awesome series.... really makes you sit back and realize "the greatest Generation"

 

[Walker]

Man, I hated to see it end. Great series!!!!!!!! Can't wait till it comes out on blue ray

 

[Kevan]

Pacing decisions at crucial points scuppered the series, I thought. While I understand why they thought they had to show "Melbourne" as Part 3, it killed early momentum. Then the episode where Leckie was sent to the hospital was another odd decision. The series really sagged in the middle, then when I thought it would kick up, it turned out that it was winding down.

Maybe they tried to show the nature of the Pacific war, since it wasn't a contiguous campaign, periods of "just sitting" followed by storming another island. I don't know. I knew it was going to be different than Band of Brothers going in, but it lacked the overall cohesion that BoB had. It was also far less "intense," opting instead to play up the psychological angle, I guess.

It never really grabbed me, to be honest.

But I will say that I started out hating Sledge's character. I thought he was a terrible choice as the show's "center" after they shifted away from Leckie. But he got better and really finished on a strong note.

It had some fine acting. I'll give it that much. And Part 9 was great.

 

[Walker]

I felt the same way about Jon Seda (Basilone) The episode I finally started liking him was his last episode. And although it had some tough competition with Band of Brothers I still loved the series. I thought it was a great. Sure, there were some parts in it that wasn't very action packed but I hated to see it end. I never served in any of our Armed Forces, and after watching these types of shows (Pacific, Band of Brothers, Ryan) I feel extremly proud to be living in America. Thank You to all the members here that served in our Armed Forces...My hats off to you!!

Pacing decisions at crucial points scuppered the series, I thought. While I understand why they thought they had to show "Melbourne" as Part 3, it killed early momentum. Then the episode where Leckie was sent to the hospital was another odd decision. The series really sagged in the middle, then when I thought it would kick up, it turned out that it was winding down.

Maybe they tried to show the nature of the Pacific war, since it wasn't a contiguous campaign, periods of "just sitting" followed by storming another island. I don't know. I knew it was going to be different than Band of Brothers going in, but it lacked the overall cohesion that BoB had. It was also far less "intense," opting instead to play up the psychological angle, I guess.

It never really grabbed me, to be honest.

But I will say that I started out hating Sledge's character. I thought he was a terrible choice as the show's "center" after they shifted away from Leckie. But he got better and really finished on a strong note.

It had some fine acting. I'll give it that much. And Part 9 was great.