PBS "The War" Series

[K.D. Lightner]

Wow, I just realized that there will be three more nights of this series, lots to cover, I imagine, in the very last year of the war.

Weston, I feel the same way; I find it all so sad, even though it was truly a necessary war if any war ever was. I think a turning point for me was last year when I read the excellent book Flags of our Fathers, written by the son of one of the six men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.

When I realized how young those guys were, how many were killed and wounded, the ways in which they were killed, it just got to me. When I read that many of those young fellows who lay dying on the beach cried out for their mothers, I thought, oh the pity.

My mother, who lived through that time, feels it, too. She said she didn't realize how young they all were -- boys, really -- but she was young, too.

karol

 

[imoldfashioned]

Spoiler for FUBAR

I had no idea that snafu was an acronym.

I think this series just moves from strength to strength, particularly Paul Fussell's interview. However, I really wonder why they didn't end tonight's episode with Quentin Aanenson's amazing letter. The story told by Joe Medicine Crow should have been included, but just not where it was placed. I thought it provided a very discordant ending to tonight's program.

I'm not sure if we have a policy for spoilers here but I wanted to warn folks I'm going to talk about something that happend in tonight's program. Abandon reading here if you haven't seen it yet;

I knew Aanenson wasn't going to send that letter and yet I was inwardly screaming at him to send it. It's clear that not talking about what was really going on was deeply imbedded in this culture and I'm looking at their actions from a modern "share your feelings" standpoint but, if I were in his fiance's situation, I'd want to hear anything he had to say. He's in a warzone for god's sake, he shouldn't have to worry about censoring himself on top of everything else. Maybe she could have provided him some kind of small comfort in that awful situation.

Overall, though, another very strong episode.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I think Aaronson's not sending the letter was indicative of a lot of guys from that generation. Remember earlier in the series in which the soldier, Babe, writes to his family that he is having a decent time of it, is safe from harm, hardly doing anything that smacks of battle, and all the while is dealing with the horrors of fighting in Italy.

I think they wanted to protect the people back home, did not want them to know of the hideous things they endured.

Theirs was a generation that did endure, just dealt with stress and rough situations as best they could. They coped with it.

My generation was somewhat different: we self-medicated.

karol

 

[Ecuador Jim]

Watching last week's episode on my DVR, and it seems like a large part of the episode used a lot of footage from the William Wyler movie "Memphis Belle." They used the clip of the airman in a litter, looking at the camera. Amazingly, they cut it before (as all of us who have seen it remember) he was given a cigarette. It just makes me shake my head.

There are several places where the documentary takes "poetic license"; one scene shows (supposedly) Japanese naval gunfire throwing "ak-ak" at American fighters. The side of the gun clearly shows a US Navy Battle "E" stenciled on the side.

These I believe are being used to create continuity in the viewer's mind.

What I'm amazed at is the feeling of shared sacrifice this country (since the story is told from an American perspective) leveraged its strength from. I think that, more than anything else, carried the average person through The War. And yes, I do realize that concept carried all the allies through the experience.

 

[Twitch]

They re-ran about all the episodes Sunday all day.

 

[zaika]

i just watched one of the episodes (rerun maybe?) tonight for the first time. i don't have anything worth while to say except that this was a profoundly moving presentation. i've always held a deep love and respect for the people who lived during this war ever since i studied it as a child...on all sides. seeing the footage, the interviews, hearing the stories both funny and disturbing...seeing the faces of the dead...



i think that this will be a future purchase.

 

[RBH]

THE WAR..... PBS

Watched it [still watching] tonight.
WOW ! ! !

All I can say is THANK YOU to the Greatest Generation!

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Solid Citizen]

Ken Burns MASTERPIECE

Ken Burns documentation of the living testimony of those who lived thru it will probably be the high point of his film career!!!

Solid Citizen

PS THANKS Ken Burns :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Lotus Leroux]

I, too, applaud Ken Burns. What a phenomenal tribute. :eusa_clap

 

[flat-top]

I have every episode on DVR, so I'm watching at my own pace, and I am just rivited to this thing. It's leaving such an indelible impression on me; I almost can't stop thinking about it.

 

[52Styleline]

I watched the series and pretty much enjoyed it. Then I spent an evening rereading the dispatches of Ernie Pyle. Ernie does a much better job of telling you what the war was really like for the average doughfoot than Ken Burns did with hours of film.

 

[dhermann1]

The thing I think he deserves the most credit for is trying to show the true horror of it all. He tries to make people understand what a catastrophe the war was on a human level. The strategy, the politics, all other aspects are just enough to give context, but the real message is how it felt to be there. It's so easy to forget, or minimize, the ugliness of it all.

 

[Story]

Found this related pic

Haven't ever seen this pic on FL before - Mort Kunstler did a good job with the subjects.

"Goodbye Dear, I'll Be Back in a Year"

As the urgent need for preparedness swept over the nation in the fall of 1940, the members of Battery C, 2nd Battalion 189th Field Artillery were preparing to leave their armory for Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Several days earlier, on September 16, 1940, the president had ordered the initial callup of the National Guard for one year of Training. The greatest peacetime mobilization in the nation's history was getting under way with National Guardsmen in hundreds of units in 27 different states answering the first call to the colors. By mid-1941, months before Pearl Harbor, the entire National Guard would be on active duty--nearly all would serve for five years or more. The mobilization of the 18 National Guard Divisions, 82 separate regiments and 29 observations squadrons doubled the size of the U.S. Army. The National Guard played a vital role in World War II combat operations. The Oklahoma National Guardsmen of the 45th Infantry Division had little idea that morning that their departure for Fort Sill marked the shortest leg of a long journey that would take them to battlefields far from home. The 45th became one of the most famous divisions of the war taking part in eight major campaigns. The 1st Battalion, 189th Field Artillery and the other units of the 45th continue the proud "Thunderbird" heritage.

Downloadable 13mb high res version here
http://www.ngb.army.mil/resources/photo_gallery/heritage/hires/Goodbye_Dear.jpg

 

[Bill Taylor]

imoldfashioned: i was thinking the same thing. when the one lady was talking about how she wrote letters and sent boxes

i think the reason why people in the community were so involved during WW2 is because there wasn't much to do with your time other than working and doing chores. Think about it: no Walmart, no TV, no videogames, most people didn't take a week long Orlando vacation, no cell phones, no internet, etc.
Most women knew how to knit and crochet.

leaette, that wasn't the way it was exactly as far as things to do is concerned. I was nine years old and in the fourth grade in December, 1941 and thirteen years old at the end of the war in 1945. No Walmart - there was Montgomery Wards which was much larger than Walmart on a relative basis as a % of GNP and population (about 123 million vs 300 million today) with Sears Roebuck and Cmpany running second. No TV - there was radio and programming was much better than todays TV. No videogames - adults shouldn't be playing videogames and kids of the war years played many games each evening until supper time. Daytimes there was sandlot base ball or soft ball, tennis with the courts often lighted at night. Weeks vacation to Orlando - most vacations of the 40's and 30's were much longer than one week, although due to shortages and rationing not many vacations other than travelling to see relatives was done during the war. And at that time, I can't imagine why anyone would go or Orlando, which probably didn't have a population of more than 5,000 people. Nothing to do - well, my parents went to dinner at the country club nearly every Friday evening and dress was formal (long gowns for ladies, black tie for gentlemen). Sometimes we kids got to go too, also in formal dress. You couldn't get in without it. There were many other formal events - Eastern Star for my Mohter, Rainbow Girls for my sisters and DeMoLay for my older brother (all formal). My younger brother and I were to young for those organizations, but when we did attend, it was with knicker suits, white shirt and tie. How often does one dress formally today? Not very often, if at all. Last time my wife and I dressed for dinner was Thanksgiving and that was nearly a month ago. Those are just a few examples, but basically, there was a lot to do other than just sit around. In retrospect, it seems to me people were a lot busier and better organized than people of today. But it was different. Way different.

Bill

 

[imoldfashioned]

You know, I missed the last two episodes of this and I really want to see them. I'll have to check and see if they're reairing them over the holidays.

 

[CBI]

The series was/is available for rent at Blockbuster. The DVD's were put out on the rental shelves the week the series began to air on PBS. I rented them all and watched them over a period of 10 days. Very well done on all counts and I think REALLY showed how terrible the entire thing was. And this was the "justified" war. I am reading Flyboys right now by James Bradley (author of Flags of Our Fathers) about Naval aviators in WWII. The first third of the book is pretty awful in terms of content and I have put the book away a few times. All of the info about the war with Japan and China in the 1930’s and the American occupation of the Philippines during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency. As bad as anything we have ever heard in regards war atrocities or what we hear coming out of Darfur and other parts of Africa.

 

[Wesne]

The series was/is available for rent at Blockbuster. The DVD's were put out on the rental shelves the week the series began to air on PBS. I rented them all and watched them over a period of 10 days. Very well done on all counts and I think REALLY showed how terrible the entire thing was. And this was the "justified" war. I am reading Flyboys right now by James Bradley (author of Flags of Our Fathers) about Naval aviators in WWII. The first third of the book is pretty awful in terms of content and I have put the book away a few times. All of the info about the war with Japan and China in the 1930’s and the American occupation of the Philippines during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency. As bad as anything we have ever heard in regards war atrocities or what we hear coming out of Darfur and other parts of Africa.

I wasn't able to read Flyboys myself. I just sort of scanned through it and had a really negative, almost angry reaction to it. Something about the way Bradley dealt with the atrocities really turned me off. I think the problem was in the tone of his writing. The style seemed too light and breezy for the material, and the effect to me was too much like tabloid exploitation. It made me feel dirty, like slowing down to stare at a fatal accident on the highway.

 

[CBI]

I put Flyboys in the trash today. After 250 pages having a limited amount to do about Flying, I had enough. The book is really about war atrocities which is fine but that's not as advertised. In some respects, maybe its one of the great war books. If all authors focused on how really awful war is, maybe there would be even more interest in not having any more of them.

 

[Story]

Charles Durning the actor was in it doing some readings of letters and giving some explanations of the general feeling of the time.

Charles Durning, who overcame poverty, battlefield trauma and nagging self-doubt to become an acclaimed character actor, whether on stage as Big Daddy in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” or in film as the lonely widower smitten with a cross-dressing Dustin Hoffman in “Tootsie,” died Monday in New York. He was 89. He died of natural causes, The Associated Press reported, citing Judith Moss, his agent and friend.

Then came World War II, and he enlisted in the Army. His combat experiences were harrowing. He was in the first wave of troops to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day and his unit’s lone survivor of a machine-gun ambush. In Belgium he was stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, whom he bludgeoned to death with a rock. Fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, he and the rest of his company were captured and forced to march through a pine forest at Malmedy, the scene of an infamous massacre in which the Germans opened fire on almost 90 prisoners. Mr. Durning was among the few to escape.

By the war’s end he had been awarded a Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts, having suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds as well. He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/m...ific-character-actor-dies-at-89.html?hp&_r=1&

 

[Story]

Incredible Images Capture WWII New York
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2...s_shows_new_york_city_during_wwii_photos.html