doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: "The War" series by Ken Burns on Public TV

RE; Saving Private Ryan

The WW2 Vets that I have talked with thought it was very realistic, particularly a friend of mine who was in the Battle of the Bulge and saw a lot of action. Included was a man that was in the Gen Patton group

I wholeheartedly agree with the previous posters and thought it was extremely well done as is usual for his documentaries.

It grieves me to think that my generation is the last to be personally acquainted with the fathers, uncles, moms, and aunts of this "Greatest Generation" who are now leaving us at the rate of over 1000 per day...to know who they really are...to know their first hand stories...to know their real personalities.

It grieves me because the following generations will think of the hero's of WWII the same as I think of my grandfather who served in the front lines of WWI. I've heard the stories of his service from my parents, but it is not the same...I did not really know him.

Hopefully, documentaries such as Ken Burns recent effort will allow future generations to know and understand a little better what we know and love about those our parents age who served both on the home front and overseas in WWII.

May God Bless Them All...each and every one.

Burns did a good job. Often American-made documentaries on the war focus more tightly on the U.S. role---which is fair and praiseworthy---but Burns handled the Allied effort skilfully, including the Canadians at Juno penetrating seven miles on D-Day led by the North Shore Regiment of neighbouring New Brunswick. Burns has few peers in the documentary field.

KB, your right, we don't hear enough about the other Allied forces. I thought it was a very good documentary. You know, these shows really are just shows, unless you KNOW and have talked to someone who has been in these conflicts and wars. Last Friday in Lima, Ohio, we buried a cousins son,with full military honors, who was killed by an IED while driving his tank in Iraq. It places a whole new meaning to the tragedies of war. Not only for the soldier, but the silient victims of war here at home. I have a son in-law in the Marines, who is on a mission right now in Iraq. You hold your breath, when the phone rings late at night.Not really a document about war, but the tragedies of those in fighting it. http://www.limaohio.com/video/index.php?bcpid=992398979&bclid=1028788754&bctid=1213840952

It was well done and about time that the efforts and sacrafices of these men and ladies get our thanks and respect. It took guts and resolve to do what they did. Today TV would make the war a vastly different thing to fight. Had they had todays TV coverage and press there would be no synagogues left in the Old World. That scares me for the future.

My father never laments the use of the bomb. He was about to go ashore in the final invasion. He had been island hopping across the Pacific for the entire war. Few know that the military ordered half a million body bags in anticipation of the losses that the invasion would result in invading Japan.

My only regret is that the monument to the WWII vets was delayed for decades. Many who served died before their sacrifices were honored. I thank my father and father in law every Veterans Day, and Memorial day for their service. Without them and other like them we would by typing in another world and maybe in another language.

I'm in total agreement on "Saving Private Ryan". It was pure Hollywood crap and very anti-war, in its message. The basic concept that a group of clowns could just wander around over the countryside and find Ryan was idiotic enough, the way they sat around on their butts the day of the tank attack, waiting until the last minute to send the cowardly weasel out to give everyone ammo was again typical HC(Hollywood Crap). Just like in a western, where everyone sits on their butts until the attackers ride into town and then, THEN cycle their lever action rifles, like they wouldn't have them loaded and ready, knowing that a gunfight was coming???
Of course, the very sensitive MILITARY EXPERT Tom Hanks was the perfect metro-sexual to play a military leader, questioning everything, including himself. Hanks is a great actor, but the movie was pure crap. Even if the story was loosely based on a real situation, crap is still crap. Wanna know what I really think?

That's funny. I always thought a squad size element with an LRP mission to find the last of the Ryans would be more than happy to take on bunker clearing projects rather than sticking to business. This is what happens when you don't send Navahoes. Black Hawk Down was similar crap. Different war but Bridges at Toko-Ri is about as good as they come in the fictional recreation dept. Maybe Mr. Roberts also. In Harm's Way was a damn sight better than The Green Berets. Maybe the "greatest generation" of film makers also? Total mobilization on the home front is one of the major themes of Burns' new documentary. Needed saying.

jack

JL, your reply shows a thumbs down to my topic of "The War" series by Ken Burns. Is that what you intended? The topic is not about Saving private Ryan, which is a movie. The series to which I refer is not a movie. Have you seen it?

I saw nearly the entire The War series and will buy the dvd's as I think everyone should see it, especially our children and grandchildren. I grew up between Vietnam and the Gulf War and although I was in the Naval Reserve never went to war. That series shows what war really is like; difficult, uncomfortable, tough, dangerous and very frightening.

One thing I noted in the series is that one of the guys said that everyone went to war because, "they had to". Indeed, there was a snowball effect of men that volunteered, and when the entire society is involved it is hard not to get engulfed in the movement. This contrasts with our soldiers today that serve in Iraq. They are volunteers that don't have to be there. Put into perspective, it is evidence how brave and committed our military is today and how they more closely reach the definition of "heroes".

I thought Ken Burns' series lived up to the high quality one has come to expect from him!

I watched all 7 episodes, and felt priviledged to sit through Monday's episode with my folks. My dad was on an ammo ship in the Pacific Theater, and didn't really have much to say. Probably because my mom had a running commentary about the various people they grew up with in small town Idaho who served in the various battles, those that didn't make it and those that did.

She mentioned that my dad's mother was a nervous wreck for 4 years with three sons in various branches of the military, and never did know that her youngest(my father)was on an ammo ship.

I have a very deep appreciation for the sacrifices "The Greatest Generation" made, watching it with parents who lived it and commented freely about (at least one)their rememberences only deepened that appreciation.