I admit that I blubbered through a good part of last night's segment.
As you say M1, there was alot of footage I'd never seen before.
Rocky - to actually see Anzio, the Rapido, and Cassino - it's beyond words.
what you guys endured!
The segment of Bill Mauldin and his words: "if you want to
know what it's like dig a hole in your backyard, fill it with mud & sit in it..."
was perfect. My father adored Bill Mauldin. I have his treasured copy
of "UP Front". When Mr. Mauldin got sick, I sent cards & letters to his family
(along with 1,000s of other people who felt so indebted to him).
He was truly a "GREAT one".
The story of Babe hit me so hard too - his letters were almost identical to my
Dad's. The worse things got, the more he told his mother not to worry.
He would say exactly the same thing: "I am in the very best of health!".
I realize now that he wrote that when he was sick in an Army hospital in
North Africa.
The day before the Anzio invasion & he wrote
as if he were on a boy scout jamboree. It's always the same thing: "Don't worry Ma!
and tell Mary (his sister) not to worry either. We'll be home soon..."
When Babe's sister was reading the last letter she wrote to him on his birthday,
I lost it. It's the realization of ALL the men, ALL the families, ALL the mothers, fathers,
brothers, sisters, and wives who'se "Babe" didn't come home. His poor mother who
kept thinking it must be a mistake. The human need to see your loved one, to bring them
home - it must've been such additional agony not to be able to even visit their graves.
So much heartache & suffering, but so much strength & courage too.
I always think of the film "Patton" - where he says so vehemently: "God, I'm
proud of these men!" That's what I felt watching this: "God, I'm proud of those men!"
and that's what I thought about our Country & it's people - with all our flaws & mistakes
& weaknesses & injustices, there was still so much to be proud of. "Sacrifice"
has sadly become a nearly extinct concept - but it shouldn't be because great strength comes from it.
mary ann