"The War"

[Dogdaddy]

Couldn't agree more, 206th! I didn't know what to expect last night but I was certainly not disappointed in the first episode. Ken Burns has focused not only on the Citizen Soldiers of Stephen Ambrose, but has broadened it to include family members and friends, and the effect this war had on all Americans, both in and out of uniform. I am looking forward to the next segment tonight! I heard Ken Burns say the reason for doing this was that many young people now have no knowledge of how WWII shaped our world . I hope some of the teachers and parents have made it 'required viewing' for our young people.

 

 

 

Dogdaddy

[206thmpco]

daddy,

 

Watching it, I kept thinking of the potential impact this series could

have on young people who know so little of US history and have instead

been "taught" so much agenda driven nonsense. This film starkly shows

that there was no negotiation possible with Germany & Japan. No

amount of "tolerance" or "koombaya" is effective against evil. That's

an especially important lesson in light of current events. I kept

thinking about that & so many other things. Many things that

I never fully realized - that Paris was already occupied by the Nazis in 1940,

that we couldn't go back to Bataan and rescue our guys because of

the loss of our fleet at Pearl, and what our guys went through at Guadalcanal.

So many things to think about & digest.

 

I can't wait to watch it tonight. Most of the folks in my office will

be watching "Dancing With The Stars" (God help us!!!) - Not that it isn't

an entertaining program, but when I recommended "The War", they stared

blankly at me. This is what we're up against - the dumbing down of America.

They know who Brittany Spears is, but not Winston Churchill.

 

206thmp on her soap box

[chambers]

Watched it last night, great show!! I will be watching the second tonight.

 

A++++

 

 

Brooke

[twobisquit]

I been watching too and agree that it is excellent.

 

I spoke to my Daughter (29 years old) last night before episode 2 and she told me of how it made her feel that she got cheated with her public school education. She had never heard of Bataan! History was purged from our school district a long time ago...I can tell you first hand since my wife has a major in history and taught here for 25 years.

 

We can only pray that the kids are watching it, because as my wife said, "They would never assign kids to watch something like this.

Chris

[roque_riojas]

Tonights' episode at 8pm showed The Rapido river, we were upstream from the 36th Divn.

The town of Cassino and the Monastary. When it was bombed I.,we, were on top of the hill to the right of the monastary when itwas bombed. Going up Cassino I noticed the RED BULL

patch on a G. I. I let out a warhoop, then came ANZIO, All I saw of the Monastary was

the first few bombs explode then nothing but dust and smoke. The 34th went upafter the

air raid and the Krauts came out of the rubble and stopped us cold. That's when The

idea of Anzio came up. All that film came out of the lIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Roque

[Walt's Daughter]

First off Chris, I know what you mean. This stuff needs to be taught. Needs to be remembered. We cannot afford to forget the Holocaust, the Bataan Death March, the Rape of Nanking, the Italian Campaign, the SS, and on and on and on...

 

I've heard a few people say, well it's war and it's awfully violent! Say what? But at the same time you let your kids watch filth and violence on TV and movies. You let your kids play disgusting video games, but they don't know about reality.

 

I know personally of several teachers who have their own curriculums and DO teach the kids about WWII. Keep up the great work.

 

I make sure that I discuss what I do with all the kids around here. It's part of my goals. Heck, when I tell some of the adults, they are in the dark too.

 

 

 

Rocky:

 

It was wonderful to see SO much on the Italian campaign. Great footage. As Ken stated, much of this footage was never seen before.

 

They showed one shot of a machine emplacement last night. I recognized the photo; it was of OUR 39th Combat Engineers. Here's the photo guys.

 

When they were talking about the breakout on Anzio beachhead on May 23rd, that was when my dad was injured and sent to the Army Hospital. He was hit by a mortar shell while riding a motorcycle for HQ. He sustained his injury on May 24th during this push northeast. Sure gave me a strange feeling! What made it all the more eerie was hearing that BABE had died during that push. Man it made me all the more grateful that my dad made it through. Jesus, what a hell hole how Rocky? I know how much you guys went through, but every time I see it on film, it just breaks my heart all over again.

[206thmpco]

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

[Dogdaddy]

This series has tugged at my heart on more than one occasion. For one thing, the people being interviewed all remind me of my own parents & their friends. My Dad has been gone since 1996, but I think of him as a 17 year old kid whenever I see films of The Navy in the Pacific Theatre, and whenever they show a wide shot of all those ships I think about him. I stopped asking him about the war when I was still quite little, so there are very few bits of conversation I remember, but I will never forget him talking about how loud all those Navy guns were when they were shelling the islands, or how sad it made him when they had to retrieve the bodies of the Marines after the invasion of Peliliu in particular. He seldom spoke of things like that, and preferred to talk about the fond memories he had of his Navy buddies. All his life he had a wish that he might someday return to the Phillapine Islands, but he never found the time to do it. I'm sure this is true of most WWII veterans, although I can certainly understand those who never want to see those places again. I got off track here for a moment. I really just wanted to express how much I am enjoying this fine documentary series!

 

Dogdaddy

[Walt's Daughter]

Let me digress too...

 

Last night after the series clicked off PBS, you know what I thought about? All of you. I knew that all of us were watching as an entity, and that at that very moment, we were all one. Sounds hokey yes? But not. I knew that our hearts and minds were in the same place, and that we could all relate at that precise moment in time.

 

Today we stopped at our local pub and had a few drinks. Lee brought up watching The War last night and said to our bartender Ralph, "You know we were watching the breakout at Anzio last night and Marion turned to me and said, 'This is where my dad was injured!'" It was so close to home. You know what I mean?

 

While it takes a lot out of our hearts and souls while we watch, the one thing it does do is inspire me to keep writing. It gives me even more impetous to do what I do. It makes it all the more important.

[chambers]

Marion, hokey? No, not so hokey because when I saw the mud, Rocky was the first person who crossed my mind

 

I've been holding hoping they would tell us that Babe survived the war and only passed away before the film was made, but deep down I knew better.

 

What TOTALLY amazes me is how people became so self sufficient and recycled everything. I wish people had continued to do that. People would never do that today. Just drive down one of our beauiful country roads and look at all the soda bottles and shopping bags lying on the roadside, piles of old tires, washing machines, you name it. Yuck.

 

Brooke