Quote:

---

Eugene Sledge (and Sledge only because I've been meaning to read his book)

---

Quote:

---

I haven't watched Band of Brothers or The Pacific because not being a Yankee I assume the flag-waving that Tom Hanks and company would shoehorn in there would not be my cup of tea (could be wrong, let me know).

---

Quote:

---

I'm not sure what it is about a little flag waving that makes you William Hyde types so uncomfortable. Care to explain?

---

Quote:

---

^^^ I get you, but I assure you that Band of Brothers is MUCH more in line with The Big Red One than what you're complaining about with Ryan, despite having the same people behind it. or, more likely, because of it.

Check it out.

---

Quote:

---

first off, there really isnt any serious FLAG WAVING in either Band O' Brutha's, Invading Ryan's Privacy, or The Pacific(ist)....rather, they are all much more focused on the comraderie that develops with and between men in combat, men who otherwise would have never met or have nothing in common who are thrust into horrifying situations and must now depend on each other to survive...we may think and tell ourselves that these heroes are fighting for their country, but in reality they are fighting simply for each other.

Second, Band O' Brah's and The Spacific turned out to be two very divergent spectacles simply because the two different theaters of war were extremely different. Band chose to focus on one small specific unit as a whole, a company of airborne troops in Europe. The 506th/101st airborne only saw combat for less than a year (june 1944 thru May 1945), and they fought in the relatively "civilized" setting of Europe...The Pacific, on the other hand, dealt moreso with Individuals, spanning the entire campaign (1942 thru 1945), and it was a war fought in the inhospitable climate(s) of the Pacific Islands and at sea.

One very interesting (and disturbing) historical note: Throughtout the entire war with the United STates, Japan had the BULK of her Army (and the BEST of her Army) deployed in CHINA...Japan had been at war with China essentially since 1931, but the country was just too fucking BIG to conquer, so they were stuck occupying the coastline and Manchuria, and had a significant portion of their forces deployed on the Russian Border against Stalin's drunken godless hordes. Once the USA gained mastery of the sea by the end of 1943/early 1944, the forces Japan had in China and southeast Asia were essentially Marooned, with no way to get to the islands the USA was now attacking (like The Phillipines, Iwo, Okinawa or even back to Japan itself!!!!)


However, back in 1941, IF Japan had supported their "ally", ol' Dolph, and invaded Siberia/Russia while Germany struck Russia from Europe, Stalin would very likely have been defeated in the early months on that campaign, because he would NOT have been able to shift his tough Siberian Divisions from Siberia to the Moscow Front at the critical juncture in December 1941, the battle that esentially saved Soviet Russia and started Germany on the long road to defeat. It was Stalin's Spy, Sorge, who got word to Stalin that the Japs were NOT going to invade Russia and allowed Stalin to safely redeploy his Siberian troops in the nick of time to save his dreary capital. It is the subject of controversy that Stalin may have known of the Jap's plans to attack Pearl Harbor and the USA instead of Soviet Russia by virtue of what hs master spy Sorge uncovered in Tokyo during the critical months of 1941.

---

Quote:

---

I much prefer the more low-key and brilliant They Were Expendable and The Big Red One to the shameless heart-string-pulling ending of, for example, Saving Private Ryan.

No disrespect to veterans of any war is intended,

---

Quote:

---

i'll never forget the old white haired gentleman that stood up and saluted the screen there in the theater when Private Ryan ended, in some transparent attempt to make it about him.

some asshole in the back yells "sit down stupid they can't see you". a few giggles then an "oh my gawwwd" uttered by some older sounding woman. guy had some nerve. not me, the old man. he didn't budge though- tough as nails.

---

Quote:

---

But this one, PBS has had a few WW2 documentaries over the last few months, I've watched all of them. Not one of them pointed out how Japan's handling of China and Russia affected the war. Good stuff...

---

Quote:

---

Good grief - that's the stupidest comment I've seen in a while "Everything I know, I learned on TV!"

---