Colchar's "Operation Jubilee" sig reminded me that Ken Burns' next war documentary, "The War" starts on Sunday night.
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/
I appreciate Burns' attempts to capture so much history, while it is, pardon the grimness, still living. In an interview on NPR this morning, he said that after finishing the Civil War documentary, he swore off any more war topics. But then he heard that 1,000 WWII veterans were dying daily, and had so many requests from veterans, he felt obligated to do this one.
The fact that they are a dying out group is exactly why he's doing it. Most of the fighters in the war don't really want to discuss it. My Dad never did. He would only give out bits and pieces when something would stir his memory and his guard was let down. Reasons for this are that he felt his story was not of any heroic value. The true heroes are buried over there, and he did not want to imply that he should be considered on their level. Well, he always was, in my eyes. His reflections were that he had a job to do and he did the best he could trying not to get killed.
Humility has kept this generation from telling their story for years and years. Now that they are in the deep winter of life, I'm so glad Burns has been able to get folks to talk. This will be a documentary for the ages, I believe, and I can't wait to begin watching.
Ditto, Cap, and well said. It's always been hard to get any recollections out of my Dad, though I think in recent years he's blocked out a lot of the dark memories. According to his mother, when he first came back from the war he wouldn't talk about it at all. Apparently, the tortures inflicted on Japanese prisoners by Phillipinos left a profoundly unsettling impression.
This is a generation that got a heaping helping of the war business, which we so casually glorify. You didn't hear any of that flag-waving rhetoric out of them, until the "greatest generation" became a profitable market niche in recent years. But I suspect most of them are as contemptuous as my father is of those he calls "professional vets." Most are just happy they got back alive, and are very much disinclined to focus attention on what they went through.
Thanks DK. Burns will be on one of the C-Span channels tonight at 10:05. I don't know if It's something new or it could be a replay of the press club luncheon he guested this week.
The thing that strikes me is the way he puts the story out from the view of the grunt rather than the hero general. His monologue before the National Press Club is good. Even if it's a replay it's worth repeating.
Episode one-pretty powerful. Makes me want to see more.
Though I haven't had a chance to watch each episode in it's entirety - thank God for DVR - I have thoroughly enjoyed what I have seen and look forward to watching each episode.
My first reaction was that I wasn't learning anything new in terms of facts, then I realized I was learning a lot more about what people went through. Both on the home front and in both theaters. I love the Greatest Generation and am glad their stories are being told!!! To them it was just a job, but to the rest of us they fought for the freedoms we enjoy today.
So far, it is a wonderful accounting of the individual experiences of WWII. My wife and I watched the entire Episode I and after it my wife said "I never new about the Bataan death march." Burns has been able to accomplish what he set out to do.
I've read and watched almost everything regarding WWII. This is the finest documentary that I've seen. It is told from the perspective of the people who actually fought in the front lines and the people who were back home supporting the war effort and worrying about their loved ones.
I will definitely purchase the series. I just don't have the time to watch every episode in such a short time.
We have a living survivor of the death march here in our little community. Years ago, he would go to the local schools to lend his experiences. Everybody in school was dropping jaws at his abilities to relate what he had to go through. If memory serves me right, he did this every year, up until just few years ago, due to his health and age.
This guy's stories have been amazing - what a life. Glen Frazier, from Mobile , Alabama:
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5171.htm
One of the very first marines, Bataan prisoner, shipped to Japan for 3 years of slave labor, survived double pneumonia and torture - stabbed in his knee for not marching right - developed gangrene (he said that there was only a inch of muscle left around his knee, but would not let the doctor amputate it) the Army declared him dead and notified his family, the Japanese ordered him (and others) to dig thir own graves, saw the bombing of Japan.
The greatest generation, I guess. And he still looks pretty damn good for a guy his age.
~rthomas
My father's reaction: watched an hour and a half of episode one, then checked out. Says Burns has nothing to tell him. Adamant in his position that war is something best forgotten, and he has tried to do so for the past 62 years.
I disagree with him. If you go to Europe, you will find that the younger generation is every bit as pacifistic as the generation that fought WWII and lived through the horrors. Memory of the insanity of war has been kept alive over there, because two of them in 30 years turned European civilization to rubble, and they had to rebuild completely. But here in the United States of Amnesia we view the whole sordid mess through the lens of triumphalism. Burns' documentary is a necessary corrective. We need to remember what war was really like, and what it will always be like.
Listening to NPR the other morning I heard an 80-something military nurse explain how a trip resulting from her son's well-intentioned suggestion that they visit the beaches at Normandy unexpectedly brought back the nightmares and awful PTSD that she had not experienced since shortly after returning home from the war.
Before he died, my grandad would never talk about his experience there.
I suspect that, of the remaining vets of WWII, there are many who served bravely and proudly but won't be tuning in to this series for reasons that have little to do with the merit of the piece.
I have always been fascinated by the personalities of those who led the war and agree that there is much to be learned from studying this part of our history. I am currently reading Mancheter's two-volume book on Churchill (which, so far, is great).
I unfortunately missed the first episode the series, but am very much looking forward to catching the next one and learning about the personalities and experiences of those who actually fought it.