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09-24-2007, 05:13 AM | #1 |
Senior Member
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Location: WA
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"The War"
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. Last edited by 8ballrollin; 09-24-2007 at 05:17 AM. |
09-24-2007, 05:46 AM | #2 | |
Charon
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the heart of darkness (Provo)
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Quote:
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.
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"... the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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09-25-2007, 12:04 AM | #3 | |
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"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. |
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09-25-2007, 12:06 AM | #4 |
Charon
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the heart of darkness (Provo)
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Yeah, that was a great line.
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"... the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." Martin Luther King, Jr. |
09-25-2007, 12:17 AM | #5 | |
Formerly Mastershake
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Utah
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Quote:
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.
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