The Pacific Thread

[MrJitters]

This weekend begins the long awaited tribute to our WW2 vets in general and the US Marine Corps in particular. The Pacific recalls the stories of John Basilone, Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge. This ten part series will cover the First Marine Division from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima.

Trung Si and Hawk have agreed to make this a sticky so we can discuss this series over the next ten weeks. The same guys who gave us Band of Brothers is in charge of this. My expectations are very high. We shall see.

I for one, would especially like to hear from our fellow members who had dad, grandfather, uncle or whomever that was a part of this. Personal thoughts from this era are priceless.

[MrJitters]

The first episode last night was somewhat disappointing. Not much character development and a little over the top in the gung ho speeches. Maybe just me.

On a positive note, the depiction of the Battle of Tenaru (Alligator Creek) was very well done. We shall see.

[texfed]

I think all these start slow...B of B did.I
I'm hoping that the series has a little more spread on the other branches of service.
My dad was in the liberation of the Philippines and New Guinea, receiving 3 bronze stars...he was a lifer in Army artillery!

[Gunny]

I totally agree, started a little slow, I hope as we get into it like other mini-series it will take off so to say. Looks like its going to be a good one though, so far the costumes seem period correct.

[haldir]

I am going to talk about specifics of the show. So if you are wanting to wait to watch it. Stop reading this post. You have been warned.



Let me first say that I did like it so far. I think it was a decent start. But I thought they glossed over the Japanese atrocities committed against the Marines. We just got a couple seconds of their mutilated bodies tied to the trees. But then how much time did we spend on the Marines tormenting that Japanese soldier by shooting around him and then just wounding him until the one Marine felt bad and put him out of his misery. Then we had to look at some Japanese's family picture and little doll that he carried with him to show how human he was. Of course we had to have the required scene of the officer assuming the fetal position in the foxhole.

Tom Hanks has come under some criticism recently due to the following comments: "Back in World War II," he told Brinkley, "we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?" In a separate interview, Hanks referred to the war in the Pacific as one of "racism and terror."

Gee Tom. I wonder if maybe Pearl Harbor had something to do with it rather than how they lived over there.

[rice paddy daddy]

Yeah, I saw the clip with Tom Hanks expressing himself too. For that reason alone I wouldn't watch it. I don't have HBO, and I read "With The Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge anyway.
Never saw Band Of Brothers, either.

[lpnracer]

I absolutely hate the rewriting of history in the name of political correctness and that is what our society is all about today. The Japs teach their kids from early on that they had the bomb dropped on them as an act of racism. Somehow the schools cant bring themselves to teach about the Rape of Nanking or the medical "experiments" conducted at camp 17. I found Clint Eastwoods POS "letters from Iwo" to be especially annoying. How do you place a human face on those who have shown,by their actions, that they are in fact not human ? The incident you referred to in last nights episode was a deal killer for me, I doubt that I will watch the rest. Apparently we are going to deal with how their actions in combat warp their minds.
No veteran wants the sympathy of the general public and I think that this is where the series is headed. All a veteran wants is someone to say good job and respect what was done in the name of country and corps.

[MrJitters]

Originally Posted by lpnracer All a veteran wants is someone to say good job and respect what was done in the name of country and corps.

That right there is what I am expecting this series to do, plain and simple. I am not sure this is going to happen. However, now that I have bought HBO specifically to watch this, I will hang in there and see how it goes. My patience does have its limits.

[Sustinemus]

I have been anxiously awaiting release of this series since first hearing about it a year or two ago. However, I am too cheap to subscribe to HBO just for one show. The great news was that DirecTV is airing it a day later on their T101 network channel. I was surprised to be able to watch it last night. Whether that was just a hook to buy HBO or not, I will not know until next week I suppose.

Regardless, I can just about guarantee I will buy the DVD set when it becomes available - unless they completely blow it like Eastwood did with his Letters from Iwo and Flags of Our Fathers travesty.

Hanks is not Eastwood though. Thank goodness.

Mr. Jitters and haldir both reflect my feelings about it so far. We must remember that we have only seen one tenth of it so far.

[haldir]

I thought last night was outstanding. They had some interview clips of the real guys, like in Band of Brothers. They got back to showing the bravery of those great men. Their willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. There was none of the PC crap that I picked up on in the first episode.

[USMC Dog Handler]

little over the top in the gung ho speeches

I suppose this depends on your perspective. As a Marine, it doesn't seem "over the top." The Marine Corps starts with the same material as the other branches. I've only been through Marine boot camp, so that's all I can speak to.

We spent a fair amount of boot camp in classrooms. A significant part of classes was dedicated to history and the tradition of the Corps. That knowledge & training instilled in us with pride in our service for the Corps and the understanding that there was a responsibility for us to uphold that tradition.

The Marines Corps brotherhood is undeniably stronger than any other service branch. The history & tradition was there before the Gung Ho phrase.

I'm sure the Marines all seem a little over the top to those who didn't have the privilege. Pershing thought so too. To me, it's normal, part of the package. It's still that way today among Marines.

+1 on the disappointment (so far) in the portrayal of the Japanese. Japanese brutality probably did more to motivate American servicemen of all branches, to despise, hate & kill them. I fail to understand why history should half-step on this fact.

Sorry for the rant, just my 2 cents.

[Alpha Wolf]

While I am not a Marine, my father was someone who fought in WWII. My mother lived near a number of Army bases where German and Japanese prisoners were held during WWII. Her father worked on those bases. I do know from what both said there were many reasons for the racist views of Japanese. My Mom was so affected by what she was taught and saw she was still against any and all people of Japanese ancestry until her death.

Yes, there was racism here only then they did not call it that. Blacks could not eat/drink or go to school with whites in many states in 1941. We locked up American citizens who happened to be of Japanese ancestry. Movies and generally circulated views of Japanese (Evil, Monkeys, Blind, Buck toothed etc, Killers etc) were ingrained in the minds of Americans during that time.

We did not lock up all Italian and German Americans in concentration camps and steal their businesses, homes and property. We also allowed Italian and German Americans to fight in Europe, but we did not allow Japanese Americans to fight in the Pacific. German prisoners were allowed out of compounds to work, Japanese POWs were not. So we specifically treating one enemy differently than the other two. Why? The others were European and looked like Americans. The Japanese did not.

That is not revisionist history, That is history as it was. Only back then it was main stream for European Americans to view other races with disdain, so it was viewed as okay. But, so was drinking and driving. Times change, values and views change.

It does upset me when I see selective memory loss with regards to some of the horrible things the Japanese did during the war. Imprisoning Philippine women as camp prostitutes, Pearl Harbor, The planned execution off all Marines captured at Wake Island, Prisoners used as bayonet targets for practice, bayoneting babies in Nanking, burning prisoners alive etc on and on..

The trouble I have is when people from a much later period and who live in basically another world with really a different culture and value set want to project their modern views on the people in the past. You need to view the action of those in the past from the prospective of their time, their cultures and their values etc..

I do not want to watch movies which view the war from the values and prospective of 2010. Our views, values and culture have little to do with the one just 70 years ago.

And our own Government tried to revise history with the Enola Gay display in the Smithsonian. Where they only showed dead/hurt Japanese civilians and how we dropped two bombs unnecessarily. The out cry from Air Force and other vets got that man in charge responsible for that sacked and the display change to a more factual even prospective.

So if it shows the war from the perspective of the 40's life/values/views. The true good and bad actions of both sides it will be a more truthful series. However, many today will be extremely upset at the actions, language and views portrayed. Which is why many directors fudge history to make it more appealing to today's audiences. Most of whom do not care about history.

Like B of B, there are some parts that are good and some are bad. I expect there to be something similar here. When a liberal establishment such as Hollywood makes movies today they tend to try to re-write history to suit their views....

[MrJitters]

Originally Posted by USMC Dog Handler I suppose this depends on your perspective. Sorry for the rant, just my 2 cents.

Oh yeah, like I said could be just me. Rants are good, I tend to be more guilty than most.

I looked upon this show as, first of all, a tribute to our WW2 brethren and to the Corps in particular. I've had high hopes that a good story gets told to educate the younger ones among us of the sacrifices.

I thought the second episode was better. The portrayal of Bloody Ridge was superb in my opinion.

On a side note, it is my understanding that if you have Dish Network and you call them up, they have a special deal on HBO. Free for 3 months! After that you can cancel it if you wish.

[m1a shooter]

As a boy, I was born in 1957 my dad would point out the men of my small town that were Marines. My uncle and hero was a 4th Division Marine on Iwo, another uncle was a Chosen Marine, my dad and another uncle were Korea era Marines, so I look at my wall of warriors as I watch this show and think of the men who I knew as a boy. I've attached some Utube interviews with the Marines of "The Pacific" and hope you have had the honor to know men just like these guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fjH...eature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnHy1...eature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GHjg...eature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW4rr...eature=related

I knew the story about Manila John before knew who Willy Joe was.

Picture of PFC Walter Voorhees and his mortar crew on Iwo. He never had a kind word to say about the Japanese so the film captures that fact to a Tee. The flag hung in his basement until he died.

[m14reajoh]

So far I'm not completely enjoying The Pacific.

part 1:
One part from "Helmet for My Pillow" that I would have liked included was the 'alligator' (probably a croc )going up and down 'alligator creek' at night as described in Leckie's book. They watched the green eyes and even fired at them, at one point they hoped it would eat a rotting Japanese corpse. Also isn't Leckie's hair is just a bit too long?

part 2: I would have liked the depiction of Basilone's heroic covered in greater detail. I guess it all happened very fast, they should have spent more time on it.

Generally disappointed that for a 1 hour episode we are just getting 49 min of story. Credits, music and other nonsense taking up 11 minutes.

Out.