REVIEW: ‘The Pacific’ Episode 1 — “The Real Marines are Here!”
by Michael BroderickEvery so often, my father-in-law, Angelo, will bust my chops saying, “Hey, Mike! I talked to a real Marine today!” Then he’ll clap me on the shoulder and chuckle in that Jersey City “you’re a good kid” kind of way.
Full disclosure: I served for four years as an enlisted man in a helicopter squadron at the tail end of the Cold War. My time was spent in the necessary but unglamorous world of logistics and embarkation. I never had to fire my weapon in anger and was never fired upon. Hence, the “real Marine” jab. Hell, with what the Marines today are doing, I sometimes don’t feel like a “real Marine.” I’m sure there are some other peacetime vets out there who know what I’m talking about.
Anyway, when Angelo hits me with the jab, it means he’s been talking to Uncle Pete. My wife’s great-uncle Pete Cavo joined the Marines in 1940. He served as a rifleman in 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. I called Uncle Pete Sunday afternoon to talk to him about his time in the Corps. He answered the phone and his thick, jovial Jersey accent triggered a sharp pang of longing for my old home state.
Uncle Pete was at Guadalcanal with John Basilone (“I knew him, y’know, to say ‘hello’… tawk to him an all dat, sure, but not pal around with him or nuttin’”) and Chesty Puller (“Every other word outta his mouth was a curse word”). In fact, Uncle Pete served as Chesty Puller’s jeep driver for a while.
I knew that the series was going to kick off with the events surrounding Guadalcanal. So, it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the first episode of “The Pacific.”
It started off a bit slow, as all grand-scale pieces must. There are settings and time-frames to establish, characters to introduce and the world’s most explosive charcoal pencil to marvel at. We get to know Bob Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge a little bit and enjoy the set up. The introductory speech by Chesty Puller, played by William Sadler, stirred my inner jarhead and made me sit up a little straighter. I’m pretty sure I’d walk over hot coals to get the small smiles that such moments elicit from my wife.
I’m reluctant to say too much about the episode because I know that there are some who still have yet to see it. I will say that, while there is some action in this first installment, the bulk of the action at Guadalcanal seems to happen in episode two, airing next Sunday. The fighting that is shown is rightly brutal.
If I have any real criticism of this first episode, it’s that it’s too short. Sixty minutes? Man, we were just getting started.
There’s a scene toward the end of the episode in which the 7th Marines, led by Chesty Puller, march by Leckie’s unit. One of them taunts, “The real Marines are here, now!” I thought of Uncle Pete Cavo and smiled.
I spoke to Uncle Pete again today and we plan to keep our phone date for, at least, the next Monday or two. Although Pete was not portrayed in “The Pacific,” he is part of this series. The Pacific is as much for him as it is for his grandchildren–to preserve the memory of what might be the greatest generation of Americans.
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148 Comments
Nice summary, I agree that it was a necessary pace to set the stage for the duration of the series…but it really did feel too short.
I don't agree that your Uncle Pete wasn't portrayed, your Uncle Pete is among every mud-Marine in the scenes.
Semper Fi.
I expected at least 2 or 4 episodes without any war action, but The Pacific had a battle scene in the first episode, which kind of took away from character development. The setting was great, and I do appreciate the graphics showing the maps and island hopping going on. The one key error I saw was during the scene where the U.S. soldiers shoot the American who went to go for a piss, and the graphics show bullet tracers going both ways, as if the guy going to the bathroom was shooting back.
Mike –
I grew up as the son of a decorated three war mustang Marine colonel. I hope the producers left the politics out of this series so the efforts and heroism of the real mud Marines is not tainted by the agenda driven hollywood types.
Semper Fi
I was one of the unlucky ones to NOT see this… MY POWER WAS OUT becasue of the DAMN weather we had in NY…. but I know I will see it this week or next whenever… but, a great write up and imho, there is nothing like a old marine.. my father in law which lives with me was in Korea and well, i think that he is like your Uncle Pete… my dad was a pilot in Vietnam and being that he is a SQUID or navy man.. they ALWAYS MIX IT UP….. again great article.. cannot wait to see it!
Though I thoroughly enjoyed Band of Brothers, I have my doubts about the quality of The Pacific. The first episode was riddled with racist epithets – Hanks made it quite clear to the public that it is his opinion that the United States entered WW2 because we were (and still are), generally, a bunch of racists. However, I have yet to see any evidence that suggests The Pacific's expression of racial tensions ever existed in such a casual and regular manner. As far as I am concerned, The racial dialogue is unnecessary revisionism and provocation – knowing that it is intentional makes watching the show less enjoyable, as I had been looking forward to it for so long.
Dang, Mike, ya had to tug at the Marines heartstrings, didn't ya? You're making it very difficult for me to keep up my newly imposed anything-Hanks-related boycott, man. C'mon.
I wikied the names you posted, never having heard of them before. Man, what guts these guys had.
I am in awe of America's soldier citizens. To put their lives on hold – or worse – because a job had to be done, and then to just do it.
I only hope I've done a good enough job teaching my child to understand what these people did to ensure her future.
You bring up an interesting point about the epithets. While it seems in Hanks' interviews lately he includes the charges of racism as a motivation, he stops at the implication that it was primarily the Americans.
It would've been nice if the episodes of The Pacific included subtitles, so we can also here the vernacular of the Japanes soldiers.
That sword cuts both ways Mr. Hanks, so how about keepin' it real.
You should tell your Uncle Pete that we think he's fantastic.
Like you said, you expect the first episode or two to be slower, but the battle scene was pretty intense for such a short clip. I also felt like the episode was too short. It was just getting going when it ended.
Semper Fi Michael! I was with HMM-161 from 78 to 83. An enlisted Avionics Tech (6342) on the CH-46 helicopter and I know how you feel. I have friends serving now and sometimes I wish the Corps had a need for old overweight former Marines so I could once again offer my service when they really need people. Probably couldn't pass a PFT at this point though so it's better I'm not there. Thanks for the review. I really want to see this but will have to wait for the DVD. I'm not getting HBO just for one series. My father was at Guadalcanal, Leyte, and numerous other islands during WWII and brought home a Silver and Bronze star as well as a few others. I read his diary from the time and it was a real eye opener. I hope this series is true to the Corps and shows the courage and sacrifice made by these real Marines.
Michael, As a Navy Veteran myself, I tell you that you are a full-fledged REAL Marine! You were one of the rough men standing guard so that the rest of us could sleep peacefully in our beds, to paraphrase Orwell. That is what real Marines did and do. You did it. Semper Fi, Marine!
Having studied this in many ways, with my late USMC Father-in-law who was on Guadalcanal and later battles, and being a Marine myself and also a movie buff, there is some truth to all this racial stuff, but in a different way than portrayed by the likes of Mr. Hanks, etc. In actuality, the Japanese, after Pearl Harbor were grotesquely cartooned by the very Media and Hollywood types that today seem to feel that they are above such things. Many young men went to war with this Media-contrived "Jap" cartoon in their brains. However, they shortly were disabused of this notion when confronted with the superior fighting man that was the Japanese soldier and officer.
However, this was still a vicious, nasty, violent war, but because of Cultural and not Racial differences. It's a fact that the Japanese weren't ever going to abide by any of the Geneva Convention rules because their Culture demanded a different code of honor. They were also not going to surrender and would fight to the death, and after death with booby-trapped bodies. This wasn't Europe. The two Cultures (not "races") killed each other to excess simply because of the clash of the two different peoples.
You can't call it "racial", but it was brutal, violent, with no quarter given or asked. There was a different hatred of the Japanese because of Pearl Harbor, and because of their own cruelty to their foes, and captured prisoners. I've never met a WWII Mud Marine that called them anything but "Japs", and other vicious curse words, even to this day. Different time, different war, different culture. But they were respected as fighting soldiers, and at the end of WWII the friendships between the cultures became very strong, in part because of this respect. Thank Douglas MacArthur for that.
My Dear Ol' Dad flew short haul, twin engine USAF Caribous in Vietnam and told me of having a platoon of Marines board for a short ride into a near forward area. As they sat down to strap up for the flight an M-16 reported. Hole in the top of the fuselage.
Oops.
He was (and is) a crusty old pilot type and he walked back to see who shot a hole through the top of his aircraft. One young Marine, a black kid, well my Dad remembered that he looked really scared, and the young Marine started to apologize.
He stopped him, told him not to worry about it as he poked around with a pencil in the hole making sure nothing was damamgeed and asked them all to secure theie weapons and to hang on.
He told me that he was thinking, these young brave man were about to face real danger and maybe death, a simple accident was nothing to get upset and loud about.
God Bless our U.S. Marines – each and every one of them.
Part 1 was quite good with a couple of notable exceptions. The first, involving a marine finding a picture and a doll in the notebook of a fallen Japanese soldier seemed like a clear rip off of "We Were Soldiers Once . . and Young." It also seemed to go out of it's way to make our guys look like racists. We did some tough things to Germans as well, but I fear there may end up being "The Hanks subtext," but I may be over reacting based on Hanks' recent rants. Overall the episode held up pretty well despite these two things.
Mike, Oooo-rah from a Marine Corps Dad.
"Hanks made it quite clear to the public that it is his opinion that the United States entered WW2 because we were (and still are), generally, a bunch of racists. "
Does Hanks mention that Japanese-Americans were interred by a…..Democrat administration?
Does Hanks mention that the fight in the Pacific was to the death….because the Japanese refused to surrender? (See the wounded Jap incident in the first show)
Does Hanks mention the Bataan Death March>
Does Hanks mention the Rape of Nanking?
Beuhler?
Beuhler?
Beuhler?
.
And to everyone here, go out and buy "With The Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge, on of the most harrowing accounts of war I've ever read.
I have one eyebrow slightly raised about some of the contents as well. The writing seems a bit more introspective than what we saw in Band of Brothers.
My dad till his dying days always praised the US marines and continually spoke of them with the highest honour and dignity resonating through his voice. He was a POW in Burma and would eagerly await news of the island hopping battles that each day contributed to bringing him and fellow POW's time in captivity to an end. Thankyou all for helping in returning my father back home.
Mr. Hanks has a movie to show !
If I remember correctly the first episode of Band of Brother didn't have any fighting in it's entirety. If memory serves me it cut-off when they were flying over the channel. But it was a little longer too; about 76 minutes total.
Any ways, Tom Hanks is yet another libo-progressive blowhard. The sad thing is that he was one of my favorite actors: Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, producer of Band of Brothers. But my fandom was cut short when he played the lead role in 'The DaVinci Code' *shutters*. At that point it was it for me.
And thank you for your father's service in fighting evil, and your country for being a reliable ally in the conflicts we face.
One thing we should remember is that during World War II the word "Jap" was well-nigh universally used to apply to everything Japanese — even when the speaker or writer had no defamatory intent. If a book or film about the Pacific War doesn't make frequent use of the term, it probably isn't a product of the war years or even the immediate post-war period. (I remember reading a book on the initial phase of the American ocupation of Japan, called "The Conqueror Comes To Tea," which used the term in a very casual manner, or so it seemed to me.)
It would be far more revisionist if the Marine characters in a World War II drama DIDN'T constantly use the term "Jap"!
Some time ago I caught on TV a newsreel clip in which Eleanor Roosevelt uses the term "Jap" repeatedly.
It seems like we can't write about the Japanese part of the war without being 'introspective'. Oddly, the same applies to the Korean and Vietnam wars. We always have to 'balance' everything when it comes to Asian wars. I don't get it – well, that's a lie, I do get it, it's because of that tired left-wing racism that requires us to treat anyone different from us like children and not hold them responsible for their actions. But … I don't get it. We proudly vilify the Nazis to the point that we turn them into zombies in video games and shoot them. But the people who actually attacked us, dealing with them requires hand-wringing and soul-searching.
Or you could be like the salesman at one of the fine local Ford dealerships in my town who told my mom, "We don't have any Jap cars right now". This was last spring, I am not joking.
Dear Tom and Steve,
With all this "racist" talk you're floating, I can safely assume that, with your next series, you'll be making up for the lack of black actors in your previous two.
Just sayin'. Spike Lee's attempt sucked, so I'm guessing you're both anxious to set that recode straight.
The life work of Tom Hanks has been to play pretend. Sincere gratitude to all the veterans who actually did something with their lives.
And, of course, spell "set that RECORD straight"…gah!
I agree on the picture thing, although I thought it was a ripoff of a true story about a serviceman in Vietnam. I think I saw it on Dateline. He found a photo of the guy's family, and years later actually aranged a meeting with them. Dateline filmed the whole thing. I don't recal the man's branch of service though. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost positive it was on Dateline and the war was Vietnam.
As a boy I sat and watched "Victory at Sea " with my Father and Uncles and their friends all of them veterans of the Second World War. My father and uncles were all Marine and Navy vets and fought in many of the major battles of the Pacific… Guadalcanal, New Britain, Bougainville,Saipan,The Philippine Sea and that blood bath known just as Iwo. I remember them talking about their experiences with one another as they re-lived the great oh so real drama of their lives. They were young men then as I sat with them, in their 20's and 30's. I can't tell you convey to you how much I loved those men and stories and the profound impact they had on me.So much so that when I went to war I sort of took them with me.Between them and my buddies I was well fortified. The other night I watched The Pacific with my now 88 soon to be 89 year old father and whats left of my uncles most of the friends are gone now and again re-lived all those stories as if It was the first time. I had to laugh here I am watching this show this reenactment with actors and I've got the real thing the guys who really did it sitting in my living room.
The Greatest Generation You can put money on that.
Being that this is on HBO, I'm sure that they will repeat it at least once during the week.
BTW I used to live in Central NJ, and a couple of my friends told me of the monsoon youse all had to overcome. Glad to see you survived it as well.
Brig. General Samuel B. Griffith U.S.M.C. (retired) wrote a very good book "The Battle for Guadalcanal". He was there as a young officer who fought with Edson"s Raiders on Guadalcanal. His book is very well written and from the perspective of someone who was there. As he said in his book " The marines learned a hard lesson on Guadalcanal, one they would not forget. They fought a "no quarter" war. They asked none for themselves. They gave none to the Japanese.
For those of you out there that enjoy reading about The Marines of WW2 may I suggest "The Battle For Tarawa One Square Mile of Hell" by John Wukovits. I dare you not to be moved to tears…..Semper Fi.
Good on yer old man for not overreacting. I can only imagine how scared that young Marine may have been. My old man was a USN submariner, so we had no contact with the war, or anyone connected with it until later. My mother, though had two of the POW/MIA bracelets.
Thanks, yeah it was a fun weekend…. you know what it is like to have 2 wee ones running around in the dark??? my word.. my son and daughter where CRAZY…..yeah it was fun though!!! thanks again!
WOW, you brought back memories…. "victory at Sea" I watched that with my parents as well… thanks!!!
Michael, I am an AF vet. BUFF pilots sitting on alert at KI Sawyer or Minot or any other Northern tier dream spot were as 'real' of AF pilots as I was (Viper pilot-39 Missions over Iraq/Kuwait during first Gulf War) You got a gun/tank/bomber/ballistic missile/name your weapon of choice under your control – you are a 'real' warrior whether or not you ever used that weapon in battle. Mongo
"I sometimes don’t feel like a “real Marine.” There is not such a thing as safe duty, Michael. You are the real deal. Thank you for your service. I salute you. I also hopes the series turns out to be a great one that honors our warriors.
My dad was a Vietnam-era marine. Growing up I thought he was a litte too hard core about some things. That whole "once a marine, always a marine" adage couldn't be truer. After seeing the movie, I used to call him "Santini" (well, at least under my breath when I knew he couldn't hear). Now as an adult living in Jacksonville, NC (home to Camp Lejeune MCB), I can't help but smile at the demeanor of these young jarheads. They've earned that attitude. And I'm sure BH readers would love their bumper stickers (not neccessarily suitable to print here). Now I realize what it takes to be a marine & all that entails. The marines of every generation have my undying gratitude and respect.
Have not watched this show yet, Tom Hanks racist comments have been a turn off. I had two uncles who served in the Pacific, one survived the Bataan Death March. My step father was a Corpsman with the Marines, and while all are now dead, to the man they would not accept Mr. Hanks assessment or watch his production, and I will honor their assessment. And while off subject,I find that the President ordering our troops not to fly our flag while providing relieve to Haiti is an insult to all who have served. How did the Democrats manage to find a man who hates this country so?
Hank's has been joined on my Hanoi Jane list with the likes of Sean Penn and Mike Moore. Not gunna see any of thier work.
I'm sure the college kids will invent a drinking game while watching The Pacific. One huge gulp of alcohol every time an American says yellow dog or slant eye. Two big gulps with every war movie cliche like finding a family photo in the pocket of the Japanese solider or underestimating their bravery and conviction. I'm not impressed with The Pacific after one episode.
Anyone bothered by the emphasis placed on the scene where our Marines appear to torture/deliberately wound a Japanese soldier, and laugh while doing it, until a Marine with a "conscience" puts the Japanese soldier out of his misery? It seems that something like this, or worse, could have happened. But, I was bothered by the emphasis this was given (along with a few extra doses of epithets hurled by our Marines).
We will see if Hanks and Company show the overwhelming racism and brutality of the Japanese so starkly.
Are you kidding? It would be much harder for the DemocRATs to find a candidate who DOESN'T share Obammey's hatred for this country! Starting with McGovern, have they run anyone at the top of their ticket who didn't hate this country?
I agree. Perhaps my expectations were a little high after "Band of Brothers", but it just hasn't gripped me yet. I'm willing to give it more chances, but I agree with you. It's a pretty weak start.
I too thought it was a great start and too short. So the Lt Col giving the speech was was Chesty Puller.
His son had a tragic life and wrote a Pulitzer-Prize winning book about his horrific injuries from Vietnam and his fight over the next 20 years.
I too Michael feel a bit like you – never having had to see combat.
Since my income these days is, ugh, precarious, I qualified to sign up for the VA. And whatever you think of the VA their hospital here is as modern as the best.
Anyway while I am sitting in the waiting area as they process my forms, there are 4 other veterans there – from WW2, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. One of them lost his leg.
I think Guadalcanal veterans these days are few and far between. I met one in a restaurant (he was an old man wearing a hat with Guadacanal on it) – I told him I had to shake his hand.
I noticed that in the film they were period correct – the Marines all had liquid cooled Brownings and WW1 Springfield rifles – and leggings. And when they saw the next morning no American fleet they knew it would be a fight for survival.
It is off to a great start.
I had to read that based on seeing the series "The War" – and learned that Sledge wrote that many years later (20-30?) as a form of catharsis.
Echoing Red State: The Demon-crats had a primary and found their "winner" and they ALL share at least equal contempt for the American people, the military and all other things American.
Obama might be more contemptuous, in fact – I'm sure of it.
He hates us even more than "Cankles" Clinton.
Your Dad sounds like a class act and could see the big picture in things…
I think the Brits suffered far worse than we did in WW2. The Battle of Britain is a miraculous story. Was reading up on the late Jean Simmons – the beautiful actress who died recently – and she, her mother and sisters survived the London Blitz. – her mother told Jean (and the rest of her sisters) that "at least they would die together".
I was. I thought it was absolutely disgusting. But as I said in another thread, I think it was a little understandable. They'd seen several of their fellow Marines' bodies after they'd been tied to a tree and tortured to death, and another Japanese soldier just blow up two more of their friends when they tried to help him. Taking all that in, while I didn't like seeing it, I could sort of understand where they were coming from.
I saw this episode and immediately noticed Hanks/Spielberg trying to demonize the US Marines in this. I hated this interpretation, finding it politically re-invented for the betterment of current politics (and perhaps Obama's agenda). It seemed Hanks and Spielberg were appeasing Obama's call of indoctrination through the media…HBO being the biggest pig on the block with the most lipstick.
Okay, yes, this part of WW2 was nasty. No argument there. I'm not criticizing the fog of war on those islands or how a person reacts after seeing such vicious fighting. But how the filmmakers portrayed the events and how the scenes were edited together painted a very guilty picture of the US and their invasions during times of war.
(SPOILER ALERT) To break it down, the show begins with the obligatory pre-war at home scenes showing a family facing the reality of losing their sons to the war. The father at the dinner table almost seemed indifferent to the cause or didn't show any pride in his sons fighting for their country. The country was united in this war, so it was a political fabrication under the guise of drama. Very subtle.
Then the filmmakers replay the opening sequence in Private Ryan, but this time it's the glorious and peaceful beaches of the Japanese Islands. And the Marines meet a completely different enemy– A reversal of fortune compared to the guys on D-Day. The filmmakers really milked the peacefulness during the invasion, as if the ambush method is more humane or better than the turkey-shoot slaughter in Normandy. The soldiers then encroach into a Vietnam-type jungle setting, and get ambushed in similar fashion. Another very subtle connection to a useless war effort through invasion (like the Vietnam and Korean conflicts).
So at this point in the story, the US soldiers' only conflict was that they were being shot at by people defending their land from invasion. Again, very subtle. They painted U.S. Soldiers as invaders who only struggle with the deprivation from American sin waiting for them at home. The nature, or theme, is in the vein of Eastwood's WW2 glorification of the Empire of Japan.
But where Hanks and Spielberg throw subtlety to the wind and really open up the true nature of this show is in the scene where the unarmed Japanese soldier was crying out in a very humane way with his hands in the air, and the US soldiers were portrayed as these vicious killers showing no regard for human life and feeling as they slowly put bullets into him while he surrenders. Okay, perhaps most people would react this way in the thick of it, but was it that chaotic? The reaction/actions of the U.S. soldiers Hanks/Spielberg show us is reasonable in the context of those battles. But they don't show any of the context. The filmmakers edited this to appear as a murderous invasion of the Japanese Empire.
I hope everyone gets a grasp on this. The intention is undeniable.
AD's (accidental discharges) are pretty routine unfortunately…
Thankfully it was a Caribou and not a chopper; personal experience had a trooper have an AD on a CH-53.
The chopper didn't like it much, smoking and sputtering and eventually cavitating earthward. The crewchief- that's a different story altogether.
He was PISSED…
True. All Marines are rifleman FIRST and other duties second.
Finest shots in the military as a service division.
Considering what the Japanese did to captured Americans, calling them something as tame as "slant eyes" is flattering.
Mike,
If I ever meet your Uncle Pete, the beers are my treat. He rocks!
My first hitch was in peacetime. I was in the National Guard technically during wartime, but I did not deploy.
I had lunch today with a guy who has over 500 jumps and help sieze all the airstrips in Grenada, and another guy who has 7 tours in Iraq with the SF. I can't really compare my service to theirs, or to Uncle Pete's
One of my best friends is 87 and he was a Army SGT in the 33rd ID, he landed on the beaches of Luzon… I won't let him pay for a round either…
I wouldn't have want4ed to be around that crew chief!
I'm certain you have taught her well, especially considering you have come to the light from the other side, and realized the smoke and mirrors that the Left has been selling our kids for decades now.
I have even more respect for ex-Leftists like yourself (and of course David Horowitz) than I have for a good portion of lifetime conservatives. People like you have seen the ugliness of "Progressivism" and recognized it for what it truly is.
Of course, you rank well behind our soldiers, as is proper. Our volunteer army is the best at whatever they are truly allowed to do.
Rock,
I salute your Uncles and Stepfather. The Bataan Death March was seriously nasty… Marine Corpsmen are awesome.
Chills. You post gave me chills..
I like to just sit and watch your Dad and his brothers while they watch the show.
Keep up the good work!
My great uncle Percy Bingham was a pilot in WWII. Got shot down in occupied France, and ended up marching across the Line with 12 German POWs in tow. Got some kind of award for it.
When I could coax him as a kid, he would tell me the most harrowing stories of his two week ordeal across occupied France they would chill my blood a bit.
He died in a Presidential air show, flying one of our newer experimental jet aircraft.
I didn't get any of this impression at all. Of course we can all see the same things and we all interpret it differently.Like Iwo Jima 3 years later, I believe the landings at Guadalcanal were "without incident". I know at Iwo the strategy was to bleed the Marines once they were ashore.
In the opening sequence I saw a wounded Japanese – 2 Marines came to help him – and the Japanese detonated a grenade killing all 3. The Japanese military instilled a perveted code of Bushido – the code of the Samarai – and the Japanese soldier was taught that death was preferable to surrender.
That was a fact of life in the war in the Pacific and shortly into the war Marines learned just to shoot wounded Japanese.
Finally Gualdacanal was not "their" (the Japanese) land. It is in the Solomons chain, far south of Japan on the front door to Australia.
The Australians and New Zealanders were all in North Africa fighting Rommel and helping the British , which is why the vistory at Guadacanal was so critical.
With the Marine's situation known in Washington I beliieve they had already written tghem off.
we'll just say this- we outranked the warrant officer, a crusty gent- but said nary a word as the profuse, and quite profane, tirade wound it's way like a black cloud through the dense foliage.
Needless to say a very embarrased troop came forward, knowing very well a weapons check was forcoming. The chief knew exactly how much the Jolly Green was worth- and threatened to have Uncle Sam take it out of his pay…
ah, yes, the memories…
FYI, the Japanese soldier was NOT surrendering, he was shouting at them to kill him. Apart from that I also thought the Marines toying with him was over the top. Previously, we had seen some murky, indistinct shots of some Marines whom the Japanese had presumably tortured to death (or at least mutilated after death), plus one Japanese soldier who pretended to be wounded and then killed himself and some Marines with a grenade. But the scene of the Marines slowly pumping bullets into the helpless Jap seemed to linger and, as you said, only ends when the "compassionate" Marine – the one who'd found pictures and a little doll in a Japanese soldier's knapsack – puts him out of his misery.
Contrast this with Band of Brothers. I detected no "point" about racism or the horrors of war or anything in BoB. That series just tried to show what happened to Easy Company, insofar as Hollywood is able to "just show what happened." There were "moments," but they were silent – we were allowed to think about them for ourselves. That was my impression, anyway.
I hope The Pacific continues in that vein rather than in "Hollywood Profound" mode.
I enjoyed Band of Brothers, so I recently added HBO so I could watch The Pacific. I will on give The Pacific one more chance, if it continues to show America as a racist country I'm done with HBO.
Brig. General Samuel B. Griffith, U.S.M.C. (retired) as a young marine officer on Guadalcanal with Edson's Raiders experienced some of the toughest fighting for the Island. He wrote a great book "The Battle for Guadalcanal" published by the University of Illinois Press. He stated in his book that the lesson learned by the marines at Guadalcanal fighting the Japanese was that "no quarter would be given and none would be asked for". A lesson, he indicated the marines would take all the way through Okinawa.
Any man who survived the Bataan Death March has my undying gratitude & respect. God be with your Uncle
As long as you teach them about the lives of men like "Manila" Joe Basilone, Robert Leckie, or the any of the other men and women who drove the Japanese Empire back to its home islands . Then you will have done as good a job as you can.
The red diaper doper baby boomers are one thing, but I never understood McGovern. He served honorably in the service during WWII, go figure.
Band of Brothers was based on the excellent Stephen Ambrose book; it appeared to me that Spielberg and Hanks pretty much stuck to the premise of the book. I don't know where they got the screenplay for The Pacific, but I would bet that without a solid basis, as in Band of Brothers, their bias will show. I hope I'm wrong.
My dad gave me the DVD for Christmas a couple of years back. Boy talk about non-politically correct narration. I don't think they'd air it nowadays without a heavy edit.
Found the complete set at Wal- Mart in the bargin bin. All the series on 5 dvds for $1.00. could not believe my luck.
How long was your power out? A friend of mine called and his was out for about 12 hours. This shut off his sump pump, and he had approx. 4 inches of water in his basement.
Please tell your Dad "thank you" and God Bless him and your uncles. Your commentary brought tears to my eyes.
Again, God Bless.
My late father served in the Army in the Pacific. He didn't talk much about it and played things down. The only 'stories' we ever heard were that he was on the Philippines before MacArthur, and he ended up being 'housed' on some big plantation for awhile and the owner liked him a lot and helped him learn Spanish during the short time he was there and something about a scared 'Jap' running through a camp once. He claimed he mostly pushed oil drums around. His older brother was the hero in Europe… busted from Sergeant for putting wine in a fuel can and there during at least one death camp liberation.
In my senior year in an Idaho High school the Physics teacher was storied as he had survived the Bataan Death March and supposedly only weighed 80 pounds when he was rescued. I wasn't interested or bright enough to tackle physics but 250 pound potato farmer football players were scared to death of him.
My father was impressed with him. Later, my sister found a letter to my dad from one of his army buddies thanking him for saving his life 'that night'. What that night was, we will never know. We filed for his military records and ribbons as the end neared. They showed up between his death and funeral we found out he had been awarded a Bronze Star.
Their generation saved our lives and way of life. They worked their rear ends off so that our lives were better (and overly protected)
Michael, the next time you talk with your Uncle Pete, tell him Greg Palmer in Topeka Kansas says "thank you" for all he did.
I have not seen the show yet but i would like to mention that the inital landings on Guadelcanal were almost completely unopposed in real life. most of the inital territory including the airport was captured without a fight, other than some snipers.
Guadelcanal was part of the Soloman islands, it was captured by Japan during the early stages of the war to serve as an air base during the advance on Austraila (actually Port Moresby ,sp?) It never belonged to Japan and if they show any more of the fight on Guadelcanal on the next show, i hope they show that the natives to the islands helped the Marines defeat Japanease army.
About the "racist comments"
Remember,, 1942 was still a time when the n-word was used and schools were segregated (read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD).*
Those were the views of the time.
Also, you tend to Hate the guy shooting at you. In Somalia, Task Force Ranger referred to the locals as "skinnies". Not exactly a PC term. (though a bit more extreme)
I mean, we Protestants tend to brush under the rug the fact that Martin Luther was a virulent anti-semite. But his views were not incredibly far off from those of his time.
*Because someone will accuse me of being moral relativist. I will say this: the Japanese were worse. Far. Worse. The war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Japanese far outpace any violence by the Americans. (There is a reason that the South Koreans, the Filipinos, and the Chinese all hate the Japanese. Just look ath the South Korean hatred of Apollo Ohno).
Thanks for clarifying the battle. I am well aware of the Japanese suicide convention. It's the tone of the scene which emulates the filmmakers' POV. Whether he was asking to be killed or whether he was surrendering, the performances were staged to vilify the U.S. Troops. Try watching this without a personal sensibility. Maybe if you try viewing this from a native Japanese perspective, you might be able to see my point.
There is a technique being used here for political purposes. To me, that claim is an objective statement and not open to interpretation.
A friend told me "The Pacific" is based on two books written by Vet's; and that the titles are at end in the credits. I forget the one name she mentioned. I plan to look it up later tonight; since I DVR'd the episode.
why does this thing keep deleting my replies
I was seven years old in 1941. Saw my cousins and uncles go off to war. All the men and women who served in WW11 were my heroes, and still are. I also served, best years of my life.Peter
The Pacific is Hollywood, not History. If you want History unsullied by the usual liberal fetishes, read Manchester's book, or Sledge's. The Pacific is just another attempt by Spielberg and Hanks to try and establish some patriotic credentials and make some money off the heroics of others. Their quotes about the War, and their preoccupation with "racism" belie their true feelings about the men and women that gave their lives to preserve our way of life.. It speaks to the educational bankruptcy of the US that people like Hanks and Spielberg have become the custodians of our WW2 heritage; I mean, many people seemed not to know there was a D-Day until Spielberg made a movie about it From the comments these guys have made throughout their careers it's clear that they hate the US military (but like most liberals, are not above profiting from its deeds). Typical hypocrites.
Not to mention , what they did to the people on OKI.
I take some issue with the people claiming that the use of "Jap" is "racist". Whether it is or isn't, it was a widely used term that wasn't specifically derogatory. When the boy's father sends him off to war with a handshake, it wasn't disrespect or dishonor. It was just how it was. Mothers shed tears when looking the other way, fathers stood mute, lest they break down, brothers and sisters cried when younger… Made themselves scarce to cry when older. They did not indulge themselves in overt emotion. The kids arriving green to engage in war, they either came to comprehend the horror… or they blocked it out and acted indifferent.
I saw my father's ( my Dad was in the battle of the Bulge, and the invasion efforts just post-D-Day, not on d-day itself) behavior in the movie, and I think many of you are misinterepreting it. Hanks can blab all he wants about his version of history. He's ignorant, and that's all you need to say about it.
Thanks for the tip… just bought it on Amazon..
Hey…. soldier too my friend! ( sorry … I'm an Army vet… couldn't resist)
I wouldn't want to be a "bad guy" and be down range and in the sights of any U.S. military man or woman with a light cross wind and a U.S. military grade weapon. I'd be toast
Did you read about the British (or Canadian) sniper who took out a Talibani commander standing on a roof top at a mile and a half. One shot to gauge it, next shot dead center chest shot. Whoa.
So far I am on the fence on this production. I was hoping for another Band of Brothers, I will wait and see here are my thoughts:
I believe if Tom Hanks had not been on the talk show circuit blabbling his liberal views most of us would have been better equiped to watch "The Pacific" without our political antenae out. I watched it after hearing Hank's comments and was ready for the anti-american/military slant. The openinIg was slow and unconvincing regarding the home front. The Non-Com speech and commradery was a good foundation as to who will be the "sinew" of the Corps. The beginning was reminiscent of SPR. But the landing and subsequent scenes could have been stronger. The Marine that has the father that is preoccupied, dropping him off then becomes the Marine who is thoughtful and in angst with the horror (Apocolypse Now?) of war. He is the Marine that finally shoots the lone surviving flailing Japanese soldier and then finds the diary with family pictures of an enemy looks and then burns it. I think that was a bit over the top. From everything I have read about Guadacanal it was a horrific few months of survival.
The young men at that time were just doing what it took to survive.
I thank God for our Marines from then and on through today for everything they do now and have done since their beginnings 234 years ago. Sempre Fi Marines!
I can vouch for one of the two books… by E.B. Sledge.. With the Old Breed. It is OUTSTANDING!!! If you read just one book about the Pacific theater, I would hate to limit it to one, but this one is excellent. The other is , Helmet for a Pillow, by Robt. Leckie. I've got it but haven't read it yet.
I haven't seen the Pacific yet as I don't have HBO, but will see it on DVD when it becomes available. I really liked (and own ) BOB. I hope the Pacific isn't a let-down. You guys keep me posted!
I never served, regretfully. I was 18 in 1978 and I was a long hair rock & roll idiot, playing bass and getting blotto after the shows and working crap day jobs. A dun blur but mostly a waste of time.
I sold cars for many years and here in El Paso we have a HUGE Army base and all these young people from Ft. Bliss deploy.
I met several really sharp young people who even had tatoo's saying they serve so all can be free and other such sentiments. Very unselfish, patriotic kids, a real tribute to their parents and communities, usually small towns kids and mid-westerners. They gave me some hope for young people.
Concerning that sniper, I was lucky enough to be in London when he was processing home and even the English newspapers were interested and complimentary.
Considering the heavy Muslim population there – they were treating as a hero, it was nice to see.
Wow. Thanks GJP for sharing. I'm envious of you and your sister for having a Dad that served so honorably. My Dad turned 18 in '46 and missed out and never served. He told me a year before he died that he always regretted not getting a chance to serve…. he always assumed he would and then when he was old enough, the war was all over.
I had a biology teacher in high school that was a Pearl Harbor survivor and told me a few stories of how that day unfolded… he was Navy and on a dock when the attack occurred. I really respected him and appreciated his stories…. when he'd tell them.
I enjoyed the first episode, and I'm really looking forward to the series. However, it did seem a little "weepy" (just a little) and I agree with the above comments that there is a slight racist undertone to the show. I may not have even noticed these things had Tom Hanks not opened his mouth. Now I feel hyper-aware. Anyone else feel the same way?
Thanks to you and your family. Bless you Peter.
Man the Jolly Green was one of the biggest helicopters. And involved in a lot of rescue work. If they had taken it out of his pay he'd still be paying
Never will forget a captain telling me in combat 50% of the causalities were accidents. Don't know if that is strictly true but has to be a sizable number.
This is an interesting discussion considering that I just started watching episode 1 and I already have an admitted hint of bias thanks to Tom Hanks recent comments.
I'll try to keep an open mind and eye while watching this.
That scene where our Marines kill the Japanese soldier and the scene where the marine goes through the Japanese backpack to find a picture of his family and a doll put me in mind of Clint Eastwood's attempt to humanize the Japanese on Iwo Jima in Letters from Iwo Jima.
The Japanese were on a 7 year rampage and they were not polite about it or politically correct about it.
They were empire building and they were inhuman and brutal about it. We very nearly lost the second world war and our people and our allies and all our troops suffered mightily at their hands. Untold brutality and evil was wrought by the Japanese in their attempts to conquer. I do not take kindly to any attempts to equalize their struggle with ours. In ANY way whatsoever. They were out to kill us and conquer us and they almost succeeded. Were it not for the bravery and sacrifice of our Fathers and Uncles and Brothers they might have.
God Bless them. Hanks does not deserve to present their story in any way but to glorify them. NO means undertaken to demonize them or their efforts are taken kindly by me or any of mine. My father fought in Europe. My uncle fought in the Pacific.
There is a show on History Television in Canada called 'History on Film" .. The premise is a movie about a subject along with a documentary. I think it was The Bridge on The River Kwai that was shown. The documentary accompanying the film was about Japanese and Americans returning to a camp where the Americans had been tortured to death by the Japanese. Particularly at a big tree in the camp atrocities were perpetrated on POWs. One American and one Japanese met at the tree. The Japanese had been a guard. They stood at the tree , cried together and apparently 'forgave'.. Ann Medina, the hostess of the show had as her guest a veteran who had also been a POW held at this particular camp. I will never forget his comment:
"There may be those who forgive and that is for them to decide. For me, NEVER. I will NEVER forgive the brutality and evil they engaged in against us. It WAS not forgivable. It IS not forgivable."
I cried. I agreed with him. ( I would refer everyone to The Great Raid ) A true story of particular Japanese brutality and savage acts against our people.
I think hollywood and our educators have a tendency to take people and events out of their time and apply current day standards to them.
These were 18, 20 year old men who had just lived through the sneak attack of Pearl Harbor. The enemy was clear to them and the reason they were the enemy was clear to them, too. The mission was clear.
They were heros, in any time and for all time.
How about Hanks and Spielberg do a movie about the Baatan death march?
Thank you, but it's all him. He's tough old bird, but he has a heart of gold. Still spry and kickin' at 80!
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