"The War"

[206thmpco]

I definately echo Brooke - when I saw the mud in Italy, I too thought of

Rocky and like you Marion - I thought of all of us watching this "together".

 

Hey M1! We're all "Marion's Peeps" now! (You poor thing! )

 

Dogdaddy, I certainly relate to what you said about your Dad

seldom speaking about the war itself & talking mostly about his

buddies. It was like that with my Dad too. I think they put everything

away in an interior trunk labeled "the War", but that trunk always

was carried around within them nonetheless.

 

Every once & awhile, you'd get a glimpse of something but didn't

really understand what it meant. My Dad's "baby" brother Joe was also

in the Army and he died of cancer when he was only 56.

At Joe's wake in Wellesley - all their old neighbors

& friends came to pay their respects. One of them was a fellow

named Ed Slamin who grew up with them & was in the Infantry

with Dad in '41. I stood spellbound watching the greeting my father

& he gave each other. They grinned at each other with misty eyes &

thumped each other on the back. Though I didn't understand why at the time,

I knew that something was being shared by them that was different & made

everyone else "outsiders". Now I realize it was the recognition of "another of my kind"

who had to tote that heavy "war " suitcase around.

 

here's a photo of the brothers in March '41 (after Dad got drafted) and one of Joe in March '45.

I know he was in England for awhile & I think he drove an ambulance

Can anyone tell what his sleeve patch is?.

[Dogdaddy]

The patch he is wearing on his left sleeve is an ARMY SERVICES patch.

 

Dogdaddy

[Walt's Daughter]

Gotta love all the titles now. Amongst them, "Marion's Peeps"!

[Dogdaddy]

Last night's episode made me wonder if our 'Bulge' veterans were watching...I have never seen most of the footage about Bastogne before last night. This film certainly didn't pull any punches, and I hope most people that heard about it have been watching it every night. I think what I will take from this film more than any other, is a new appreciation for what these men and women have carried around in their memories and in their souls for over 60 years now. It is something we can be told about, but the real experience of the 6% who were at the point of the spear and took part in the combat in Europe and The Pacific is theirs alone. Despite all the horrible sights and smells of war they found a way to keep going, keep doing those things that needed to be done.

 

 

Jim

[Walt's Daughter]

That was beautifully written.

 

You know I got to thinking the other day...there are a few moments in my life that are very difficult to talk about, for they bring back not only visuals, but a whole array of sensations and none of them pleasant. When I think of those times and how difficult they are to bring back, I then START to realize just how hard it must be for so many of you to express what happen, or even to think on it for a moment.

 

To that end, let me say how appreciative I am that so many of you have chose to share your experiences with me.

[roque_riojas]

Roque Riojas,,,34th Combat Inf. Divn.--No. Africa, Italy

 

JOE-------?

 

Sgtleo----?

[206thmpco]

You are so right Jim! No wonder those guys never talked much about it.

What could they possibly say?

 

Last night's footage was all new to me. The Ardennes, the cold, the snow,

being taken prisoner - there was just so much. That wonderful story about

the roast beef meal with chocolate pudding on top! When he said that he

still thought about it today & boy it tasted good.

 

Those noble Medics who risked their lives and had to decide who to

help & who they could do nothing for. How do you live with something like

that without it haunting you forever?

 

Those poor souls in the Philippine Camp waiting for the Americans to rescue

them and dying every day of starvation. That woman who told her story

of distracting herself so not to think about hunger, but the babies cried to

their mothers for food. Realizing that our guys risked their lives and gave their

lives to get them out.

 

I think it was Bill Mauldin who said something about the men not hating

the Nazis because they didn't ever see any Nazis. They hated the Germans because

it was the Germans who were strafing, shelling, and killing their buddies.

I think it's the same for the japanese. The footage they showed of all the Japanese

civilians training to fight to the death was terrifying. They absolutely HAD to bomb

Japan & Germany no matter how many "civilian " casualties. Can you imagine

what the media would do (and is doing) today? In the face of all this, how

could anyone believe that reasoning with Evil was possible.

 

Our guys in that German prison camp when Patton sent a rescue party to get

his son-in-law (WHAT was he thinking??! that he didn't send enough men

to get them all out!). Those poor guys were starving & then had to go back.

We can't even imagine what that was like!

 

BTW - thanks Jim for letting me know it was an Army Services patch on my Uncle's

uniform!

 

Mary Ann

[Walt's Daughter]

We've actually missed the first one and the last two. Starting watching the last one last night, but it was late and both of us fell asleep. We will get them all in order one of these days... Still enjoying it however.

[Dogdaddy]

I had a hard time staying awake till 10PM too (what an exiting life I lead ) but I pre-ordered this on DVD and it arrived on Saturday...otherwise I would have missed large blocks of this outstanding series. In the last episode when they were talking about the joy on VJ Day, I loved the Veteran that said "You could cop a feel when you were walking down the street and nobody cared!" Now only a man in his 80's could get away with saying that! :lol: The combat footage used in this series was about 80% all new to me, which was an unexpected plus. There were a few shots that are used on nearly every documentary, but I realize that most Americans are not documentary junkies like I am. Just a lovely group of people they found for this project, and all of them very well spoken. It was nice that they included several people who were still children during WWII, as it gave the film an added dimension.

 

 

Dogdaddy

[Dogdaddy]

I have one other observation about the series I need to vent. Unless it happened while I dozed off, I cannot remember one instance where Burns blurred the line between the Goodguys and the Badguys and took a sympathetic tone towards Germany or Japan. That is a type of PC that bugs the heck out of me these days. During wartime we (The Allies) were fighting Nazis, not the "I saw nothing" types that abound on documentaries these days. I'm glad Burns made a point of mentioning that the smell of death originating from Mauthausen deathcamp could clearly be smelled in the nearby town, although the townspeople (Nazis) tried to deny it when the 11th Armored Division liberated it! I will freely admit that the serious study of this war has left me with a negative bias about Germans, and it doesn't help to learn that there is a movement to suppress the truth about German responsibility for the Holocaust and "erase it" from German History books. In fairness now I must also mention that the younger generations of Germans are against any attempts to conceal the truth about the evil that occurred between 1933 and 1945, so there is some hope that History need not repeat itself before we learn the lessons needed.

Daddy Soapbox