The draft age in America started at 18, Amanda. Most of the soldiers were young. As a D-Day survivor once told me, "We were a bunch of cocky teenagers."
Under the Geneva Convention medics on the battlefield are considered non-combatants and it is a war crime to kill them. The Germans for the most part followed this rule, the Japanese intentionally targeted medics.
Those men were 19 - 25 yrs old. My father celebrated his 20th birthday during the Battle of the Liri Valley in Italy, while the D-Day landing were going on, having been in combat since the landing on Sicily 11 months earlier in July 1943.
You could be drafted at 18 and could enlist at 17 with your parents' consent. My grandfather was in his early 20s when the Marine Corp drafted him. He went on to command several Sherman tanks during the entirety of the Iwo Jima invasion. Treasure their memories. Many young people are hardly taught any WW2 history in school; enlighten them if you have the chance.
Average soldiers' ages were 18-21. Senior Non-coms (Sergeants) were a little older. Commissioned Officers were mid twenties to early thirties. The oldest was Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. at the age of 56. Yes, that was former President Teddy Roosevelt's son.
My dad was 19 when he volunteered a year and a half before Pearl Harbor. By the time of the rapid expansion of the Army Air Force, he was an "old hand" at 20. He was trained as a Senior Navigational Instructor, and the (slightly) younger guys all considered him a "salty old soldier"
The sniper didnt shoot caparzo again because he was using him as bait to see where the rest of his squad was hiding so he could kill them too. Plus Caparzo got shot through the chest, he was a dead man anyways.
The shot through the scope and into the eye of the German sniper was not possible. The trajectory of the bullet would have been an arc not a straight line. The other bullet scenes I find hard to believe are the ones where the little missiles travel hundreds of yards through the air, then through 2-3 feet of water, then completely through a man's body, and finally exiting out his back. Most of a bullet's kinetic energy would have been lost once the thing hit the water. The movie does capture the essence of what Omaha Beach was like and that is what's important.
@@mikealvarez2322both snipers were lined up in each other's cross hairs when the shot was taken therfore both faces of the scopes are angled accordingly, as long as the sniper on the ground adjusts to the elevation the shot would definitely be possible, maybe not a direct eye hit but not impossible other than that I agree, war films are specifically hard to make due to the insane amount of noticeable detail.
@@mikealvarez2322 You should've started with the end of that comment in your head and kept it there, and we would've all been saved the drywall you instead decided to share.
13:19 that’s their skin, organs, eyeballs, brains etc frying and boiling in the heat of the fire. If you’ve ever grilled chicken wings they do the same thing when the fat and water boils out
Most people are unaware that over 900 Americans died on the night of April 27, 1944 off the coast of Devon in the rehearsal for the D-Day landings. The LSTs packed with soldiers were attacked by German patrol boats. Most of the men either drowned or died of hypothermia in the icy waters. It was a tragedy caused by poor defensive preparations and poor radio communication. The tragedy was not reported until August 1944.
@@freddakin7119 Draft age was 18-46. The 26 years old is the average of all those serving. My guess is most combat troops were in their late teens and early 20s but that is just a guess.
It went beyond mere flashbacks and memories being stirred. Many said that scene got so real, that when they watched it, they thought they could smell the ocean, mixed with the blood and feces of the dead. The mind is a powerful thing, and most of us have more vivid memories of tragedies than we would like to acknowledge. Stir those up and it's a real nightmare.
A lot of men drowned before they even got to the beach, with their equipment weighing them down. Capt. Miller tells the Navy demolitions man who was telling him he had to blow a path for the tanks that the tanks were "floundering in the channel." Tanks were equipped with special "water-wings", basically a canvas screen to protect them from the waves and "duplex drives" to drive thru the water to the beach to give the troops immediate tank support. At the American beaches they were launched far from shore and the rough surf sunk nearly all of them, and some men went down with them. You are so observant! I've seen this movie several times and never noticed the canteen with the water and then blood spilling out. And also the photo of the brothers on the table. The most-often said comment by a reactor to the movie- "Is that Vin Diesel?!" 🤣
Only half of the DD tanks were launched into the water...the commander of the other tank battalion saw those tanks sinking and decided to carry his DD tanks all the way to shore along with his wading tanks. It delayed the arrival of the armor by up to an hour, but well over half of the 112 or so tanks that were sent to Omaha Beach did reach shore and get into the action.
My uncle was in the first wave on Utah beach on D-Day. He tried to watch this film when it came out, he had to leave only a couple of minutes into the opening scene. He refused to watch the movie after that, saying it was too realistic and brought back too many painful memories of that day. This movie was definitely well made and apparently hits very close to the mark for realness.
I was in a theater in Edmonton Alberta Canada with Canadian veterans, and had to leave as well after the opening scene weeping and crying.... that's how real this film is!
9:24 "I didn't know th emovie would be this graphic." Nobody did. Entire theaters were sitting in stunned disbelief, shocked out of our minds. Many of the veterans of this or other wars suffered PTSD and many of them had to leave by this point of the movie. It's hard to watch. Spielberg did that on purpose, of course. War is awful and he wanted every one of us to know just how awful it could be. Does the movie need this level of graphic detail? Maybe. I mean, the title is Saving Private Ryan. What are we saving him from? Well, now we know EXACTLY what we're saving him from. This carnage. Starting this way makes us absolutely aware of how important it really is to save Ryan.
My father was a 23-year old lieutenant on D-Day. His ship, the heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-71), went up and down the coast trying to take out the big German guns prior to the invasion. The way they did this was to come to a full stop, dead in the water, let the Germans roll out their big guns and take a shot at them, then the ship would open up their nine 8" guns and give full power (flank speed) to try to out run the German shell before it hit where the ship had been. My father was in charge of the engine room and for a week they got the order "Full Stop" followed by "Flank Speed" or full speed. Then they'd hear the shells land near them and it sounded like a sledge hammer hitting the side of the ship. Fortunately for me (or I wouldn't be here) they only scored one near hit that killed one sailor. They fired every round of 8" and 5" shells they had that day, then they would fall back and let another ship take their place while they were resupplied, then they'd rejoin the battle. During and following the D-Day landings on the beach they continued firing at targets on the shore and inland as the invasion progressed. They continued this for a week as they were able to hit targets 7 or 8 miles inland in support of the troops. They fired so many rounds that many parts of this new cruiser were worn out from the violent shaking of their own guns. As you can see in the one of the upcoming shots when they look back at all the Navy ships, they were far from alone. The Allies had ships as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, despite all air and sea support the German defenses were still very formidable and took a horrific toll on the first wave, as you can see in the movie. Information is hard to come by during wartime and the ship's crew didn't fully realize how bad things had been on the beach until they sent 200 of the fallen service men to his ship for burial at sea. The number of dead overwhelmed the temporary morgues set up on land. The crew was required to attend all the burial services and he said every man stood at attention with tears running down their faces as the fallen were laid to rest; the death toll being almost incomprehensible. My father lived to be 100 and wrote his memoirs in his 90s. But he didn't tell me some of his experiences until his last year. He kept them to himself all that time but didn't want them to be forgotten. This was very common among "The Greatest Generation" and you can see from the opening cemetery scene that Ryan did the same thing because his family had no idea what was happening. Real heroes don't need to brag.
The thing about Capt. Miller and his men was that they were very elite soldiers with the best possible training as Army Rangers. In fact, they had already fought in North Africa and Italy for a year and a half by the Normandy landing, unlike many other troops who were "green". So too Ryan's men were the elite Paratroopers, chosen for physical ability and about as well prepared as any soldiers could be. The fact that all the men ultimately were very capable. even outnumbered, in combat was a reflection of that training and ability.
You should check out an older movie called The Longest day it has many famous stars in it and also takes place during D-day but it doesn't just follow the American and British soldiers it also follows the French resistance and a squad of French soldiers who also took part in the landings. There's a great scene when they are still on the boats when the French commander gives a speech to his troops telling them that they are about to open fire on their own country to free it of occupation.
My Dad is 91 years old. He had an uncle who was just about eight years older than him, and this uncle (his mother's little brother) was in the D-Day landings. I am amazed by the courage and sacrifice of these young people.
My grandfather served in the 5th Rangers (alongside the 2nd) at/near Point Du Hoc. Fought at Saint-Lo in July 44. Got the Bronze Star on D-Day & 2 purple hearts. He died in 2000 from cancer.
For the draft for war during WW2 and Vietnam wars. The United States tries to leave the families with at least 1 male child so they can carry on the family. Thats why this movie makes a big deal about finding 1 soldier. They did that for my dad during the Vietnam War, my grandfather stop them from sending my dad to war because my grandfather served honorably during WW2 and my dad was the only male of the family. My grandfather was a Marauder, only a few know them.
Didn’t drafting occur more often during the Vietnam? I’m pretty sure majority of the US population volunteered to go fight in WWII than Vietnam. Hence, called “The Greatest Generation”, isn’t it? During the Vietnam War, I think if I recall correctly, there was a live national broadcast where they state certain numbers that US civilians received that will be drafted. Exactly like playing a game of Bingo in a lottery.
Not sure why my comment got deleted even though mine earlier had nothing wrong it. I guess TH-cam peeps or algorithm can't tell the meaning as if I was throwing hate or insulting. I was just saying.
*Wow!* Your observation skills are impressive! I've seen this movie several times and countless reactions and had never noticed the medic's canteen leaking water and then blood.
I agree. I've seen this movie many, many times and watched reactions to it probably more times than I've seen it, and never noticed the photo of the brothers when mom got the devastating news, or the water and subsequent blood that pours out of the medics canteen ...sharp eyes
In the case of the water canteen leaking blood, it was a mistake, it doesn't make sense, what should be leaking there is water, not blood, the doctor wasn't even hit by the bullet
To be quite honest, I love watching the reaction young people have when viewing movies that came out quite a few years ago. I lost my grandfather in WW2. He and my father served in the same war. My grandfather died in the battle of the bulge and my father fought the Japanese in the Pacific. They sent my father home in 1944 after his father was killed. My grandfather was killed outside of Bastogne, France. I always cry when watching this movie. My father saw it with me before he passed away and we both cried and he told me things about the war that I never heard before. They were men who had to do what they had to do. He had post traumatic stress for the rest of his life. We need to appreciate the sacrifices they made.
Yes. Same with music reactions. My daughters used to joke about my old-fogey music when I turned it on but a lot of their playlists now include those great songs from 30-50 years ago.
"Going home" after this mission is metaphorical for all of Miller's Men. For Ryan, he gets to go home immediately. Miller's squad gets to go home AFTER the war (which is what they're talking about when they say "earn the right to go home"). It just means that this mission is a part of the war they can feel good about after everything is over.
My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps whice became the Air Force before the US entered the war. He'd joined up at the age of 18 in 1932, so would have been 30 in 1944 when this was all taking place. He was a bomber radioman, but due to poor vision didn't have flight status, instead would repair and install radios on the bombers. They had more planes than radios so he described taking radios out of returning planes and installing them on planes going out on sortie. He got in the war "early" in support of the British. The Mediterranean was too dangerous to sail through, so he told me about how they went around Africa and up to the Suez Canal, then from the airbase near Suez to another in Libya. After the US officially joined the war, he remained in Libya until the invasion of Italy and he then moved up there as part of that campaign, though was always "on-base." He wouldn't talk about damaged planes returning or friends shot down or anything, but was always kinda clinical about it, like "I was stationed here between these dates, then we moved to this base for these dates" and so on. He absolutely hated guns, which I believe must have stemmed from him seeing shot-up bodies being pulled out of returning planes, though he never spoke about any of that. He even asked that the military honor guard at his funeral not fire a 3-round salute, as is traditionally done. He was "career" so he didn't retire from the militrary until 1953 at the age of 39, with 21 years of service.
24:07 the sniper is using Caparzo as bait. It’s to lure more people into the sniper’s line of sight in order to kill more men. This was a tactic done by snipers during the day. If you kill him, great. If you wound him, then his buddies will try to come to rescue him, meaning more targets to shoot. That’s why Wade wasn’t allowed to pull him back into cover.
My uncle drove the Landing craft on Omaha beach. He died from his wounds on 08 June, 2 days later. He made 3 trips to the beach...1st with troops, 2nd and 3rd with ammo; the 2nd and 3rd wave already had troops in the boats so he brought ammo to the fight. He is buried in Cambridge, England. He survived other assaults before D-Day; North Africa, Sicily, Anzio & Salerno Italy, before the Normandy landings
Best film ever made. Cinematography, actors, the audio design, the authenticity (uniforms, set designs, historical accuracy, etc), the dialogue, the chemistyr between characters (the scene where Reiben just nods to Ryan beforew the main battle for example shows more then any dialogue could ever do it justice) No other movie will ever come close given how hollywood operates nowadays. Change my mind.
Well...I won't try to change your mind, but Saving Private Ryan is very realistic, but not very historically accurate. There was no beach that Spielberg could film on that is anything like Omaha Beach, and he did not show that it really took 6 or so hours to do what he showed happening in 20 minutes or so, plus the story he is telling is heavily fictionalized. But there are all kinds of ways in which SPR does not get the history correct...the obstacles are not correct, the bunkers and other defences are not the same as what the GIs had to face as they came ashore, the landing craft for the Rangers are wrong...and myriad other historical issues. Even when you take away all the things that Spielberg would not have been able to get historically correct...like the beach and the landing craft...there are many many historical issues with the "history" that is portrayed in SPR. So I would never say that you are wrong that it is the best film ever made...I would only say that it is not as historically accurate as you may think.
@@iKvetch558 Let me rephrase my OG comment: IN TERMS OF HOLLYWOOD FILMS, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN COMES THE CLOSEST TO BEING AUTHENTIC. Better? Agree or disagree?
@@IAmNotARobotPinkySwear I cannot agree...I think that just keeping it to WW2 movies made in Hollywood, I would say that Empire of the Sun, Tora Tora Tora, Hacksaw Ridge, and The Longest Day are more "authentic". Although not all of those are better movies than SPR. If we include WW2 movies not made in Hollywood I would then add Das Boot as being more "authentic" than SPR. But maybe "authenticity" is a kind of nebulous thing to use to judge? I prefer realism and historical accuracy...and by that measure I would definitely agree that SPR is a prime choice for realism, even if it is not as prime a contender for historical accuracy.👍
@@iKvetch558 Hacksaw Ridge? Oh my.... and although Empire of the Sun was a great film, lets not be pedantic and compare it to a movie like SPR. Yes both take place during a war, but come on man, one is an actual "war" movie, the other is a story told during a war. I'll give you The Longest Day though. Tora Tora Tora, I very much disagree on that one. Edit: Period piece. Empire of the sun is a period piece, not a war film.
@@IAmNotARobotPinkySwear Starting to slice the pie very finely...Empire of the Sun is categorized by pretty much everybody as a war film, so I do not agree with excluding it. It is definitely not as heavy as SPR...andIwill give SPR the advantage in realism, Empire of the Sun is a more true story. And Hacksaw Ridge is at least a true story with liberties taken, where SPR isnot a true story much at all.
A lot of the Paratroopers' objectives for D-Day were to capture and hold bridges the be able to prevent German reinforcements from pushing towards the beaches. British paratroops were tasked with seizing bridges on the eastern edge of the planned lodgement, and US paratroops were to size the bridges at the western end. A bridge is also a chokepoint where you can control movement in either direction, to allow your own side to cross to advance, as well as to prevent the enemy from doing so, and from using that bridge as an escape route.
FUBAR tends to be the normal state of things in war time. Thus the other term used by a lot of soldiers... SNAFU, which means "Situation Normal, All F****d Up"
The average age of US troops in WWII was 26. The opening scene was very realistic, according to men who were there. I read that, before the movie was released, they held a screening for WWII veterans, and many left the theater in tears during the opening scene, due to how realistic it was. 20:45 "This is art when you have money." This is what you can do when you're Steven Spielberg and you tell the studio you want to make a movie starring Tom Hanks. If you haven't seen it yet, you should also watch Schindler's List.
The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramelle. The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramelle. Spielberg researched small details, for instance, Pvt Jackson's right thumb has a black mark on it. That's actually a bruise that many U. S. riflemen had caused from getting their thumb caught in the loading mechanism from not locking the bolt back properly when loading/reloading the M1 Garand rifle. It was called "Garand thumb". The Hitler Youth Knife is more literary liberty than fact. That knife is a hiking knife given to members of the Hitler Youth Corps, which was much like the Boy Scouts in training while being indoctrinated with the ideology of National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi). The only other group they were issued to were members of the SA. This knife was never part of a soldier of the Wehrmacht. As for the reaction of Carparzo and Mellish, it is highly unlikely an average G.I. would have known what that knife was and its symbolism. The matter of Mellish crying is also not likely as the Allies didn't find out about the fate of Jews in Europe until the first concentration camp was liberated April 4, 1945. The war in Europe ended May 7, 1945. So, following the real timeline, Mellish dies before the Allies knew anything about concentration and death camps. But, after-all, it is Hollywood. Saving Private Ryan is not based on the Sullivan brothers. Fritz Niland became the basis for Private Ryan. He was dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day and spent five days in the French countryside, eventually earning a Bronze star in combat for taking a French. Robert Rodat first came up with the plot in 1994 when he saw a monument in a cemetery in Tonawanda, New York. The monument was to the Niland Brothers - 4 young American men who fought in the Second World War. When three of the Nilands were reported killed, the surviving brother - Fritz - was sent home. This inspired Rodat to write his movie. The average age of a U. S. troops armed forces personnel during WW II was 26 years old. Selective Service draft age range was 18 years of age to 45 years. The average age in Vietnam War was 22, not 19 as any think. There are 26 military cemeteries across Normandy, but the most famous and visited site is the poignant Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. In real life with the Nilands, it actually turned out later that another of the brothers was alive - he’d been held captive in a Burmese POW camp. Attempts to point out the "discrepancies" between the stories of Fritz Niland and James Ryan are often misguided, as Ryan is only based on Niland, and is not meant to be (or claimed to be) a completely accurate representation of him. The differences in the two stories seem to stem in part from the fact that the true story of Sergeant Niland and his brothers is often reported inaccurately. The character of Private James Ryan is a mixture of fact and fiction, with some of the fictional elements coming from the erroneous stories about the Niland brothers. The German credited as "Steamboat Willie" who was released by Capt. Miller is not the German who engaged and killed Pvt Stanley "Fish Mellish during hand-to-hand combat. "Steamboat Willie" was in the Heer (Army) of the Wehrmacht and the other was in the Waffen SS which was a paramilitary organization and not part of the Wehrmacht. Originally, the SS uniform differed from the Wehrmacht uniform-whereas the regular army wore field grey, the SS wore black, head to toe (although later the SS did adopt field grey and often wore camouflage pattern uniform. American troops were brown and they didn't wear jackboots. The lightning bolt SS insignia can be seen on the right collar lapel of the German as he passes Upham and reaches the bottom of the staircase. During the Battle at Ramelle, Upham became shell shocked and was unable to save a .30 cal team from a German soldier because he was too frozen with fear to do anything about it. He carried all the .30 caliber ammo at the battle of Ramelle, but was unable to do his job because he was always either pinned down or too afraid to move. He signified the loss of innocence in war and thought that soldiers could be civil, but he later succumbed to the evils of war and made up for his cowardice when he shot Steamboat Willie for killing Miller even after the latter had shown Willie mercy earlier. Not only did Upham represent the loss of innocence of war but he also symbolized the "Every-man". His illusion of neutrality faded when he finally had to pick and side and kill Steamboat Willie, his character revelation being how he finally understood the horrors of war. It became clear that Upham had turned into a hardened and true soldier because of the whole experience. Upham's rank was Tech 5 Corporal (E-5), that meant he was technician in a specialty area. His was maps and translator, he was not a combat infantryman and was never trained for front-line duty. Gunnery Sergent Hartman explained it this way in the movie Full Metal Jacket: "It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill. "The way the next of kin was notified of their loved one was killed in action during WW II was by Western Union telegram delivered by a bicycle riding messenger. If you were being notified of multiple deaths as was the case in this film, notification was done in-person by a military officer, usually from the same branch of service as the deceased when possible. That's why the mother upon seeing the officer exit the car momentarily froze knowing that meant at least 2 of her boys were either KIA or MIA, as the priest exits the car, she staggers and completely collapsed. Unfortunately, you didn't include that in your video presentation. That is one of the most important scenes in the movie. The mother speaks no lines in the movie, yet her breakdown brought a flood of tears form movie goers in theaters across the nation. Another important scene is it is clear from the few lines Ryan's wife speaks that she has never heard the name of Capt. John Miller, this means John has never spoken to her about what happened that day in Ramelle. What many missed is listening to Ryan speaking at the Miller's grave of how he thought about what those 8 men did for him every day was not guilt, but commitment. There are units assigned to recover, bury and mark graves. Usually these were temporary battlefield cemeteries. As hostilities moved farther away, a more permanent site would be selected, at the family's request, whenever possible, the remains would be returned to the United States. At the Normandy Cemetery Visitors Center, you'll find the following inscription: IF EVER PROOF WERE NEEDED THAT WE FOUGHT FOR A CAUSE AND NOT FOR CONQUEST, IT COULD BE FOUND IN THESE CEMETERIES. HERE WAS OUR ONLY CONQUEST: ALL WE ASKED … WAS ENOUGH … SOIL IN WHICH TO BURY OUR GALLANT DEAD.General Mark W. ClarkChairman, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1969-1984 The blimps flying over the beach area were barrage balloons to prevent German planes from attacking the landing force. The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion was the only unit that stormed the beaches on D-Day that was made up entirely of Black Americans. They displayed unmatched bravery during the 48 hours it took to secure the beaches. Members of 320th, unlike the other units, had to remain on the beaches with no relief units, exposed to continuous enemy fire during the 2 days it took to secure the area. Because they were Black, the photographers never show them in the photos taken on the beaches that day. All shots showing the barrage balloons are taken at far away distances. Following the end of the war, like the Tuskegee Airman and the 761st Tank Battalion, their bravery under fire was intentionally kept from the public for decades.
It is said that the opening scene of this film was so accurate/realistic, there were WWII veterans who had to leave the theaters due to PTSD attacks. They were sent right back to Utah and Omaha Beaches because of this film.
In my travels in Normandy, I found the French people to be very appreciative of the sacrifices of the American, British and Canadian troops in their effort to liberate the French from the German yoke, even though they suffered horribly in terms of civilian casualties..it’s nice, as an American, to be so honored and appreciated so many years later! God bless the French and their indominatible spirit under the 4 years of a Brutal German occupation. Thats a rare fighting spirit that should be remembered, honored and appreciated!
I had the same experience back in 2008...spent a long weekend in Normandy and had a wonderful time. My friends who went to Paris had the usual stories about French standoffishness and even rudeness...but I saw nothing of that in Normandy...the people were incredibly friendly and patient with me.
Early on into America's entry into WW II, 5 brothers, last name Sullivan, enlisted in the navy with the promise that they be stationed on the same ship together, during a deployment, their ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, killing all 5 brothers, and ending the Sullivan name to continue. After that, the US military decided that siblings could no longer serve in the same duty station, ensuring the chance of a namesake would continue. Later after the war, there was a ship commissioned called the USS The Sullivans, in honor of the brothers, after it was decommissioned, it was turned into a museum, which still exists today.
Yes, the “surrender” motion should lead to certain actions, but in this particular situation there was no place yet to hold prisoners of war, no troops available to watch them and the battle was still ongoing with an unknown outcome of success or failure, while the Allies were hoping to establish their presence on the beach. Later in the film, the same question arises, but the circumstances were different and the surrender took place not in the middle of a major conflict like the attempt to take the beach.
Plus after what those men just went through just getting off the beach, they were pissed. A lot of there friends were killed. I imagine it would be hard to take German prisoners after that.
The sniper shot to wound him because he’s using him as bait. When other soldiers come to aid him, they present themselves as targets. Also, the more he shoots, the more he makes his location known.
A lot of guys volunteered before the draft was announced. My Dad signed up right after graduating high school and even lied about his age-he was not quite 18 when he signed up and told me a lot of guys had done that. The draft was announced in Oct 1940. There were many enlisted men who were in their late teens and early 20’s. Officers could be a bit older, since they tended to be college graduates.
The normal protocol for medics during a battle is to triage the wounded and patch up the slightly-injured first. ("Your first duty is not to preserve life, but to preserve the fighting strength.") Then, treat the badly wounded and transport them to the rear. Of course, in a situation like the D-Day landing, everything is chaos, the medics are overwhelmed, and there is no "rear." Some American medics were 1-A-O conscientious objectors, meaning they were willing to serve in uniform but wouldn't handle weapons. (For an example, review the movie "Hacksaw Ridge.") The rest of the medics were armed, and had gone thru regular combat training plus cross-training as medics. So, just wearing Red Cross markings did not make them immune from enemy fire. Each army had a different general philosophy about shooting medics and about further shooting the wounded. But tactically speaking, the most advantageous thing would be to give an enemy soldier a serious but not immediately fatal wound and then not target him further, because that meant that two other guys would be occupied with trying to treat him and take him to the rear. That meant a total of three guys were at least temporarily taken out of the battle, all with one bullet. Yes, according to the Geneva Convention, as soon as an enemy drops his weapon and indicates that he's surrendering, he's no longer an enemy and cannot be targeted. But in practice, it's not easy to turn the adrenaline off, even if you want to.
The British and Canadians faced off against 8 panzer divisions (4 of which were SS) and 3 heavy panzer battalions (2 of which were SS) with Tiger and King Tigers. Despite this they managed to keep the enemy off balance forcing them to commit forces piecemeal and attrit the enemy forces to the stage where the units were shadows of their former selves. The allies supply situation was result of Patton not capturing the Brittany ports as he was ordered. The Brittany ports were to supply the US troops and the Channel ports were to supply the British and Canadians. The Canadian 1st Army having the task of clearing the ports and took Le Harve, Boulogne and Calais before repositioning and clearing the Scheldt. The broad front strategy was another contributing factor to the supply crisis of autumn 1944.
"All men between the ages of 21 and 45 were eligible to serve, but there were instances of younger individuals enlisting by lying about their age. Notably, the youngest person to serve in the U.S. military during World War II was Calvin Graham, who was only 12 years old. His story is highlighted in the film 'Too Young the Hero,' showcasing how he managed to deceive authorities to fulfill his desire to serve."
My grandfather was at Anzio, and later sent to France, while there, German threw a grenade into his fox hole. It killed his 3 friends and he was wounded. He was sent home after that injury. He would say very little about the things he saw. But it changed him for the rest of his life.
Most of the soldiers on Omaha Beach were fresh, green 18-20 year old kids barely out of basic training. The canteen bleeding is because the bullet went through the canteen into the Medic's hip, you see him stuffing a bandage down his pants and go back to his work on the casualty. Omaha Beach was so deadly because the tanks that were supposed to land sank. For Normandy they had a problem of the coast not allowing the landing craft for tanks to get in far enough so they put inflatable tubes and propellers on the Sherman tanks so they could basically swim ashore. Unfortunately they were deployed too far out and they all sank, lucky only 5 crew were lost. Hanks mentions them when he says "we have no DD Tanks, Dog 1 is not open". This movie is loosely based on a real family from Tonawanda, NY very close to where I live in NY. In May 1944 Edward Niland who volunteered for service was shot down over Burma and presumed killed, in June brothers Preston and Robert Niland were killed on D-Day, Preston killed at Omaha Beach, while the 4th brother Sergeant Frederick Niland went missing. Father Francis Sampson found Fred's location and sent him home. In a wonderful twist of fate Edward Niland was actually alive and was rescued from a Burmese POW camp, also returning home. Captain Miller and his squad is purely fictional but based on a story only overshadowed by the 4 Sullivan brothers killed at the Battle of Guadalcanal on the USS Juneau. The event that started the "sole survivor" policy of the US Military to send home a sole survivor if their family is killed. The policy started in 1942 after the Sullivans' death.
Only half of the DD tanks were launched into the water...the commander of the other tank battalion saw those tanks sinking and decided to carry his DD tanks all the way to shore along with his wading tanks. It delayed the arrival of the armor by up to an hour, but well over half of the 112 or so tanks that were sent to Omaha Beach did reach shore and get into the action.
All the inexperienced soldiers were sent to England and trained for around 1.5 years before the invasion. Plus the 29th Division was a National Guard unit. Then there was the 1st Division that landed on the eastern portion of Omaha. They had participated in two invasions in the Mediterranean the previous year. Some of those experienced troops were transferred to the 29th Division with the goal of having some battle hardened troops in every company.
You mentioned earlier that you only live there temporarily, and perhaps you have no other space, but I have to warn you about working on your bed. I developed a severe sleeping disorder when I shared an apartment and basically lived on my bed. I was on my bed reading, watching TV, eating, working just to do that in my own private space. The only thing that made me able to sleep regularly again was stopping doing anything but sleeping in bed. Just wishing you a good sleep when you need to and warning you to not get similar bad habits.
The beach scene was filmed in lreland, and Stephen Speilberg used a lot of disabled amputees as extras soldiers for the scenes with legs being blown off.
I enjoyed how you picked out the details, especially the ones I had not noticed beforehand. Like the picture of the four brothers at the mother's house.
Hi Amanda, I really like your demeanor, you are not camera-shy at all. A real person with a strong personality, great to see that someone like you is on TH-cam.
“Couldn’t they use a radio transmission to ask him to report himself”. This statement had me laughing so much it reminded me why I see reaction videos in the first place. It’s a good point.
The rules of engagement are mostly, but not always, based on the protocols set by the Geneva convention. Protocols for surrender, civilians and medics are a few that are included. Generally speaking, the European theater abided by them. However situations occur like no resources to accomodate prisoners. The exception were the SS, technically not part of the army but everyone lumps them together, who specifically target civilians for fascist reasons or collective punishment. Both the German and Allied armies committed war crimes, but nowhere near what the fascists perpetrated. The Japanese army and navy often ignored the Geneva convention entirely
16:40 "Look at the brothers!" if you look really close, you see three faces but the fourth is hidden. The one you cannot see is Matt Damon. When Spielberg hired Matt Damon, he was not a famous actor yet. Spielberg wanted somebody with a young and likeable look but not a famous actor. During filming of this movie, Good Will Hunting went viral and Matt Damon became famous overnight. So Spielberg ended up getting a famous actor accidentally. To compensate for that, Matt Damon was hidden, even in this family photograph, until his big reveal in the final act.
Average age of a US solider was about 23. D-Day plan was put over 150,000 men on 5 beaches in Normandy. About 15000 paratroopers had dropped in the night before behind the invasion beaches.
Some in France feel Americans pushy, except for the people of Normandy love veterans and those that serve in the American military, because they know what sacrifice America did for them not once but in two world wars. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks (sons of WW Il veterans) said it best at the Academy Awards, "these were 18-20 year olds, and they saved the whole damn world".
If Spielberg and Hanks actually said that then it's hyperbole and disrespect to the other allies. Mind you, Saving Private Ryan doesn't even mention the British/Canadian effort except to mock them in the dialogue and then steal their adversary (SS Tiger tanks) and show the Americans defeating them in the Cotentin Peninsula. In realty all the Tigers were around Caen facing the British at Villers Bocage.
13:40 when it comes to the sfx of the weapons, most movies usually use generic sounds to save on production cost. Saving Private Ryan is one of the only movies where they recorded audio of the guns firing live ammunition and used those sounds in the post production. I personally own both an M1 Garand and 1903 Springfield (without a scope though), and they sound exactly like they do in the movie. I have also fired all of the other small arms in the movie and the sound is spot on 100%.
Before the Allies liberated Paris the Resistance, including many Parisian police, rose up and had street battles against the German occupiers. They were mostly civilians, and many died fighting to help liberate their city.. They build barricades using paving stones. The bloodiest battles were fought near the Pont Neuf and by the Police HQ on the Isle de la Cite.
1. Many WWII vets left the theaters because the D-Day battle scenes were so realistic. 2. The German Captain Miller was talked into letting go is the same one that killed him. Upham finally put him down. 3. The story Ryan tells Miller about the last time he saw his brothers was made up by Matt Damon. He was told to say something interesting, so he did, and it was kept in the movie. 4. There was a USS Sullivans(DD- 68) dedicated to the brothers lost on one ship. 5. I did 24 years in the US Navy. My favorite character is Private Jackson/sniper and my second favorite is Sargent Horvath. RIP Tom Sizemore😇 6. Sizemore also played Boxman in "Flight of the Intruder", a movie I'm in briefly.
Could you imagine all that training, all that work, anticipation, etc. and to just drown. I don't know if getting shot right away would be worse or not.
The Bixby letter is a real letter, signed if not written by Lincoln. But the five Bixby sons were not killed in action. One deserted. One either died as a prisoner of war or was killed trying to desert to the Confederate enemy, but he was still a prisoner when the letter was written. One died of tuberculosis while serving. but at the time the letter was written he was alive in hospital. Two were killed in action. Mrs. Bixby seems to have created the errors by lying about her sons. She was quite possibly a brothel madame, and was almost certainly a Southern sympathizer.
Kids... They were kids. Average age on Omaha was 22 years old. A college senior. In terms of "Rules" for Medics. It was generally understood among the Western opponents that you shouldn't target Medics. They didn't carry weapons at that point in history and so were supposed to be considered "Non-Combatants" but that didn't meant that they were allowed to walk across a battlefield and expect NOT to be shot. It was simply a "Gentleman's Agreement" that if you positively identified a Medic on the opposing side then you shouldn't shoot him. In the Sniper Scene, he was leaving him alive to draw out more people so you're not going to risk sending your Medic out there and counting on that guy's humanity that he won't shoot him. In the Pacific Front, however, the Japanese didn't particularly care about those rules and their Snipers were known to put a premium on shooting the Medics. To the point that the Medics stopped wearing the Red Crosses. Nowadays Medics do carry weapons because a lot of the people that Western Nations have fought don't honor the idea that Medics should be treated as Non-Combatants so they might as well be combatants. If someone gets hit they stop fighting and start treating though. They're a Medic first and a Rifleman second.
Spielberg talked to actual D day veterans and tried to make the beach scene as realistic as possible and the veterans who attended the film premiere said he did a good job but the real experience of Normandy landings was much worse
it depend, actually the landing went very well because most of the troops on the altantic wall were second ranks and shell shocked The bombing at Utah beach were far too deep in the lands and the american troops face a veteran unit
The two men who were trying to surrender were speaking Czech. They were probably conscripts from territory that the Germans conquered. A lot of men from conquered lands were forced into the German army.
The 5 Sullivan brothers of Cedar Falls, Iowa, were all lost when the USS Jueanu off Guadalcanal in 1942. I can't imagine what their Mother and Father must have felt.
The two soldiers who got killed trying to surrender in the opening battle were trying to tell the Americans not to shoot because they were Czech, not German, and they didn't kill anyone.
I'm from Bedford, which has the somber distinction of losing the most men during D-Day, on a per capita basis. 20 deaths from a town of 3,400. I believe any person who can send men off to die in battle should be forced to watch this movie. The view at the D-Day Cemetery is special. peaceful and powerful all at once. A lot of these young men were 19, some in their early 20s, some even younger because they lied about their age. Both sides would tend to avoid killing medics - nobody wants to get hurt and not have medical help around, and some medics are might help an enemy soldier, in the right situation. Also, it's a waste of ammo, because they're not a threat. But clearly there are plenty of ways for a medic to die out there. All of these men are under incredible stress. It's a miracle any of them are able to keep it together as well as they are. They have seen, and smelled, and heard, and LIVED what you saw on the screen.
Hi, I enjoyed your reaction thoroughly, so I subscribed , can't wait to see part 2, I had a relative who went to WW2 and he told me that the US sometimes sent to rescue men like in the movie so the last name would not be lost, I'm pretty sure you know some Spanish so if you do, Saludos desde Monterrey Mexico if not , greetings and best wishes with your Chanel.
You are the first person to react to this movie that I have seen that caught the medic who was shot in the hip through his canteen very cool detail they did in the movie that not many people realize the first time watching. 10:01
The average age of U.S. soldiers at Normandy was 22. Caparzzo down and bleeding on the ground, "It's weird that he [the sniper] hasn't shot him again." Snipers will not shoot a wounded man again when there are others around. A wounded man is like bait for others to come and help.
In the US, the veterans administration set up a special hot-line service for surviving D-Day veterans that saw this In theaters. Many walked out in the beginning of it because the realism and it sent them back
Respect for medics is good for both sides, strategically, so competent leadership tends to avoid targeting them. You don't want to shoot enemy medics, because their efforts increase the number of wounded vs. dead, and that creates a burden on the enemy logistics. The Germans, ironically, mostly understood that despite the vileness of their intentions. The Japanese did not get it, and deliberately targeted medics. That stupidity damaged their prospects in the long-run.
First, I fell in love with your reaction channel immediately. The graphics you insert at the appropriate time are an appreciated touch. I hope you will go on to react to the epic mini series Band of Brothers, which I'm sure your Patreons have also recommended. This is a good intro to the events of that war, which you seem to be familiar with.
The draft age in America started at 18, Amanda. Most of the soldiers were young. As a D-Day survivor once told me, "We were a bunch of cocky teenagers."
Under the Geneva Convention medics on the battlefield are considered non-combatants and it is a war crime to kill them. The Germans for the most part followed this rule, the Japanese intentionally targeted medics.
Those men were 19 - 25 yrs old. My father celebrated his 20th birthday during the Battle of the Liri Valley in Italy, while the D-Day landing were going on, having been in combat since the landing on Sicily 11 months earlier in July 1943.
What a hero your father was, my hat's off to him
Same age as always, thank your father for me from another Vet
You could be drafted at 18 and could enlist at 17 with your parents' consent. My grandfather was in his early 20s when the Marine Corp drafted him. He went on to command several Sherman tanks during the entirety of the Iwo Jima invasion. Treasure their memories. Many young people are hardly taught any WW2 history in school; enlighten them if you have the chance.
There were kids that were 15-17 years old too
@@jamesellis701 They snuck in to enlist.
Sense of humor is one of the best things a soldier has lol.
Average soldiers' ages were 18-21. Senior Non-coms (Sergeants) were a little older. Commissioned Officers were mid twenties to early thirties. The oldest was Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. at the age of 56. Yes, that was former President Teddy Roosevelt's son.
My dad was 19 when he volunteered a year and a half before Pearl Harbor. By the time of the rapid expansion of the Army Air Force, he was an "old hand" at 20. He was trained as a Senior Navigational Instructor, and the (slightly) younger guys all considered him a "salty old soldier"
A lot of them lied to say they were 18. I watch a lot of WW2 vets say that. A lot 16 year olds
The sniper didnt shoot caparzo again because he was using him as bait to see where the rest of his squad was hiding so he could kill them too. Plus Caparzo got shot through the chest, he was a dead man anyways.
A wounded soldier occupies more resources than a single dead soldier. As you pointed out nicely, that sniper was using him as a resource.
The shot through the scope and into the eye of the German sniper was not possible. The trajectory of the bullet would have been an arc not a straight line. The other bullet scenes I find hard to believe are the ones where the little missiles travel hundreds of yards through the air, then through 2-3 feet of water, then completely through a man's body, and finally exiting out his back. Most of a bullet's kinetic energy would have been lost once the thing hit the water. The movie does capture the essence of what Omaha Beach was like and that is what's important.
Just like at the start when he tells the men to not group up. 1 man alone is a waste of bullets. 5 men together is a juicy target.
@@mikealvarez2322both snipers were lined up in each other's cross hairs when the shot was taken therfore both faces of the scopes are angled accordingly, as long as the sniper on the ground adjusts to the elevation the shot would definitely be possible, maybe not a direct eye hit but not impossible other than that I agree, war films are specifically hard to make due to the insane amount of noticeable detail.
@@mikealvarez2322 You should've started with the end of that comment in your head and kept it there, and we would've all been saved the drywall you instead decided to share.
13:19 that’s their skin, organs, eyeballs, brains etc frying and boiling in the heat of the fire. If you’ve ever grilled chicken wings they do the same thing when the fat and water boils out
Its also the sound that lungs make when you inhale fire and they pop.
Thank you I was just about to comment about this.
holy fucking shit
Most people are unaware that over 900 Americans died on the night of April 27, 1944 off the coast of Devon in the rehearsal for the D-Day landings. The LSTs packed with soldiers were attacked by German patrol boats. Most of the men either drowned or died of hypothermia in the icy waters. It was a tragedy caused by poor defensive preparations and poor radio communication. The tragedy was not reported until August 1944.
Oh wow! I had no idea about this. Thanks for sharing :)
Wow I didn't know that, tragic!
Ages 17-22. You were old if you were 28.
@@freddakin7119 Draft age was 18-46. The 26 years old is the average of all those serving. My guess is most combat troops were in their late teens and early 20s but that is just a guess.
Slapton Sands...😡
The movie was so realistic many Veterans said they had flashbacks watching it in the theater.
It went beyond mere flashbacks and memories being stirred. Many said that scene got so real, that when they watched it, they thought they could smell the ocean, mixed with the blood and feces of the dead. The mind is a powerful thing, and most of us have more vivid memories of tragedies than we would like to acknowledge. Stir those up and it's a real nightmare.
A lot of men drowned before they even got to the beach, with their equipment weighing them down. Capt. Miller tells the Navy demolitions man who was telling him he had to blow a path for the tanks that the tanks were "floundering in the channel." Tanks were equipped with special "water-wings", basically a canvas screen to protect them from the waves and "duplex drives" to drive thru the water to the beach to give the troops immediate tank support. At the American beaches they were launched far from shore and the rough surf sunk nearly all of them, and some men went down with them.
You are so observant! I've seen this movie several times and never noticed the canteen with the water and then blood spilling out. And also the photo of the brothers on the table.
The most-often said comment by a reactor to the movie- "Is that Vin Diesel?!" 🤣
Only half of the DD tanks were launched into the water...the commander of the other tank battalion saw those tanks sinking and decided to carry his DD tanks all the way to shore along with his wading tanks. It delayed the arrival of the armor by up to an hour, but well over half of the 112 or so tanks that were sent to Omaha Beach did reach shore and get into the action.
My uncle was in the first wave on Utah beach on D-Day.
He tried to watch this film when it came out, he had to leave only a couple of minutes into the opening scene.
He refused to watch the movie after that, saying it was too realistic and brought back too many painful memories of that day.
This movie was definitely well made and apparently hits very close to the mark for realness.
I was in a theater in Edmonton Alberta Canada with Canadian veterans, and had to leave as well after the opening scene weeping and crying.... that's how real this film is!
I had a similar experience at the theaters on opening weekend, I heard a d-day vet crying his soul out after the beach landing scene.
9:24 "I didn't know th emovie would be this graphic."
Nobody did.
Entire theaters were sitting in stunned disbelief, shocked out of our minds.
Many of the veterans of this or other wars suffered PTSD and many of them had to leave by this point of the movie.
It's hard to watch.
Spielberg did that on purpose, of course.
War is awful and he wanted every one of us to know just how awful it could be.
Does the movie need this level of graphic detail?
Maybe.
I mean, the title is Saving Private Ryan.
What are we saving him from?
Well, now we know EXACTLY what we're saving him from.
This carnage.
Starting this way makes us absolutely aware of how important it really is to save Ryan.
My father was a 23-year old lieutenant on D-Day. His ship, the heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-71), went up and down the coast trying to take out the big German guns prior to the invasion. The way they did this was to come to a full stop, dead in the water, let the Germans roll out their big guns and take a shot at them, then the ship would open up their nine 8" guns and give full power (flank speed) to try to out run the German shell before it hit where the ship had been. My father was in charge of the engine room and for a week they got the order "Full Stop" followed by "Flank Speed" or full speed. Then they'd hear the shells land near them and it sounded like a sledge hammer hitting the side of the ship. Fortunately for me (or I wouldn't be here) they only scored one near hit that killed one sailor. They fired every round of 8" and 5" shells they had that day, then they would fall back and let another ship take their place while they were resupplied, then they'd rejoin the battle.
During and following the D-Day landings on the beach they continued firing at targets on the shore and inland as the invasion progressed. They continued this for a week as they were able to hit targets 7 or 8 miles inland in support of the troops. They fired so many rounds that many parts of this new cruiser were worn out from the violent shaking of their own guns. As you can see in the one of the upcoming shots when they look back at all the Navy ships, they were far from alone. The Allies had ships as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, despite all air and sea support the German defenses were still very formidable and took a horrific toll on the first wave, as you can see in the movie.
Information is hard to come by during wartime and the ship's crew didn't fully realize how bad things had been on the beach until they sent 200 of the fallen service men to his ship for burial at sea. The number of dead overwhelmed the temporary morgues set up on land. The crew was required to attend all the burial services and he said every man stood at attention with tears running down their faces as the fallen were laid to rest; the death toll being almost incomprehensible. My father lived to be 100 and wrote his memoirs in his 90s. But he didn't tell me some of his experiences until his last year. He kept them to himself all that time but didn't want them to be forgotten. This was very common among "The Greatest Generation" and you can see from the opening cemetery scene that Ryan did the same thing because his family had no idea what was happening. Real heroes don't need to brag.
The thing about Capt. Miller and his men was that they were very elite soldiers with the best possible training as Army Rangers. In fact, they had already fought in North Africa and Italy for a year and a half by the Normandy landing, unlike many other troops who were "green". So too Ryan's men were the elite Paratroopers, chosen for physical ability and about as well prepared as any soldiers could be. The fact that all the men ultimately were very capable. even outnumbered, in combat was a reflection of that training and ability.
Another term to know is "defilade", which indicates a firing position that is covered by a natural barrier, vehicle, building, etc.
You should check out an older movie called The Longest day it has many famous stars in it and also takes place during D-day but it doesn't just follow the American and British soldiers it also follows the French resistance and a squad of French soldiers who also took part in the landings. There's a great scene when they are still on the boats when the French commander gives a speech to his troops telling them that they are about to open fire on their own country to free it of occupation.
My Dad is 91 years old. He had an uncle who was just about eight years older than him, and this uncle (his mother's little brother) was in the D-Day landings. I am amazed by the courage and sacrifice of these young people.
My grandfather served in the 5th Rangers (alongside the 2nd) at/near Point Du Hoc. Fought at Saint-Lo in July 44. Got the Bronze Star on D-Day & 2 purple hearts. He died in 2000 from cancer.
For the draft for war during WW2 and Vietnam wars. The United States tries to leave the families with at least 1 male child so they can carry on the family. Thats why this movie makes a big deal about finding 1 soldier. They did that for my dad during the Vietnam War, my grandfather stop them from sending my dad to war because my grandfather served honorably during WW2 and my dad was the only male of the family. My grandfather was a Marauder, only a few know them.
Didn’t drafting occur more often during the Vietnam? I’m pretty sure majority of the US population volunteered to go fight in WWII than Vietnam. Hence, called “The Greatest Generation”, isn’t it? During the Vietnam War, I think if I recall correctly, there was a live national broadcast where they state certain numbers that US civilians received that will be drafted. Exactly like playing a game of Bingo in a lottery.
I'm aware of the Marauders. They fought in Burma behind the Japanese lines.
Not sure why my comment got deleted even though mine earlier had nothing wrong it. I guess TH-cam peeps or algorithm can't tell the meaning as if I was throwing hate or insulting. I was just saying.
@@MichaelPower212 yup
@@Commander-vf1lk Check for your comment under the 'Newest first' listing. I've noticed in the past that a lot of missing comments are usually there.
*Wow!* Your observation skills are impressive! I've seen this movie several times and countless reactions and had never noticed the medic's canteen leaking water and then blood.
I agree. I've seen this movie many, many times and watched reactions to it probably more times than I've seen it, and never noticed the photo of the brothers when mom got the devastating news, or the water and subsequent blood that pours out of the medics canteen ...sharp eyes
In the case of the water canteen leaking blood, it was a mistake, it doesn't make sense, what should be leaking there is water, not blood, the doctor wasn't even hit by the bullet
Yes, the Bixby Letter is real. Written by Abraham Lincoln. Civil War. Very good, Amanda.
The part where Wade talks about pretending to be asleep when his mom just wanted to talk, tears me up. Every time.
To be quite honest, I love watching the reaction young people have when viewing movies that came out quite a few years ago. I lost my grandfather in WW2. He and my father served in the same war. My grandfather died in the battle of the bulge and my father fought the Japanese in the Pacific. They sent my father home in 1944 after his father was killed. My grandfather was killed outside of Bastogne, France. I always cry when watching this movie. My father saw it with me before he passed away and we both cried and he told me things about the war that I never heard before. They were men who had to do what they had to do. He had post traumatic stress for the rest of his life. We need to appreciate the sacrifices they made.
Yes. Same with music reactions. My daughters used to joke about my old-fogey music when I turned it on but a lot of their playlists now include those great songs from 30-50 years ago.
"Going home" after this mission is metaphorical for all of Miller's Men. For Ryan, he gets to go home immediately. Miller's squad gets to go home AFTER the war (which is what they're talking about when they say "earn the right to go home"). It just means that this mission is a part of the war they can feel good about after everything is over.
"This is so brutal"
Yeah, thats going to be a recurring theme in this film
My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps whice became the Air Force before the US entered the war. He'd joined up at the age of 18 in 1932, so would have been 30 in 1944 when this was all taking place. He was a bomber radioman, but due to poor vision didn't have flight status, instead would repair and install radios on the bombers. They had more planes than radios so he described taking radios out of returning planes and installing them on planes going out on sortie. He got in the war "early" in support of the British. The Mediterranean was too dangerous to sail through, so he told me about how they went around Africa and up to the Suez Canal, then from the airbase near Suez to another in Libya. After the US officially joined the war, he remained in Libya until the invasion of Italy and he then moved up there as part of that campaign, though was always "on-base." He wouldn't talk about damaged planes returning or friends shot down or anything, but was always kinda clinical about it, like "I was stationed here between these dates, then we moved to this base for these dates" and so on.
He absolutely hated guns, which I believe must have stemmed from him seeing shot-up bodies being pulled out of returning planes, though he never spoke about any of that. He even asked that the military honor guard at his funeral not fire a 3-round salute, as is traditionally done. He was "career" so he didn't retire from the militrary until 1953 at the age of 39, with 21 years of service.
24:07 the sniper is using Caparzo as bait. It’s to lure more people into the sniper’s line of sight in order to kill more men. This was a tactic done by snipers during the day. If you kill him, great. If you wound him, then his buddies will try to come to rescue him, meaning more targets to shoot. That’s why Wade wasn’t allowed to pull him back into cover.
My uncle drove the Landing craft on Omaha beach. He died from his wounds on 08 June, 2 days later. He made 3 trips to the beach...1st with troops, 2nd and 3rd with ammo; the 2nd and 3rd wave already had troops in the boats so he brought ammo to the fight. He is buried in Cambridge, England.
He survived other assaults before D-Day; North Africa, Sicily, Anzio & Salerno Italy, before the Normandy landings
Hey Amanda absolutely love your reactions can't wait for part II 👌
Best film ever made.
Cinematography, actors, the audio design, the authenticity (uniforms, set designs, historical accuracy, etc), the dialogue, the chemistyr between characters (the scene where Reiben just nods to Ryan beforew
the main battle for example shows more then any dialogue could ever do it justice)
No other movie will ever come close given how hollywood operates nowadays.
Change my mind.
Well...I won't try to change your mind, but Saving Private Ryan is very realistic, but not very historically accurate. There was no beach that Spielberg could film on that is anything like Omaha Beach, and he did not show that it really took 6 or so hours to do what he showed happening in 20 minutes or so, plus the story he is telling is heavily fictionalized. But there are all kinds of ways in which SPR does not get the history correct...the obstacles are not correct, the bunkers and other defences are not the same as what the GIs had to face as they came ashore, the landing craft for the Rangers are wrong...and myriad other historical issues. Even when you take away all the things that Spielberg would not have been able to get historically correct...like the beach and the landing craft...there are many many historical issues with the "history" that is portrayed in SPR.
So I would never say that you are wrong that it is the best film ever made...I would only say that it is not as historically accurate as you may think.
@@iKvetch558 Let me rephrase my OG comment: IN TERMS OF HOLLYWOOD FILMS, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN COMES THE CLOSEST TO BEING AUTHENTIC.
Better? Agree or disagree?
@@IAmNotARobotPinkySwear I cannot agree...I think that just keeping it to WW2 movies made in Hollywood, I would say that Empire of the Sun, Tora Tora Tora, Hacksaw Ridge, and The Longest Day are more "authentic". Although not all of those are better movies than SPR. If we include WW2 movies not made in Hollywood I would then add Das Boot as being more "authentic" than SPR.
But maybe "authenticity" is a kind of nebulous thing to use to judge? I prefer realism and historical accuracy...and by that measure I would definitely agree that SPR is a prime choice for realism, even if it is not as prime a contender for historical accuracy.👍
@@iKvetch558 Hacksaw Ridge? Oh my....
and although Empire of the Sun was a great film, lets not be pedantic and compare it to a movie like SPR. Yes both take place during a war, but come on man, one is an actual "war" movie, the other is a story told during a war.
I'll give you The Longest Day though.
Tora Tora Tora, I very much disagree on that one.
Edit: Period piece. Empire of the sun is a period piece, not a war film.
@@IAmNotARobotPinkySwear Starting to slice the pie very finely...Empire of the Sun is categorized by pretty much everybody as a war film, so I do not agree with excluding it. It is definitely not as heavy as SPR...andIwill give SPR the advantage in realism, Empire of the Sun is a more true story. And Hacksaw Ridge is at least a true story with liberties taken, where SPR isnot a true story much at all.
A lot of the Paratroopers' objectives for D-Day were to capture and hold bridges the be able to prevent German reinforcements from pushing towards the beaches. British paratroops were tasked with seizing bridges on the eastern edge of the planned lodgement, and US paratroops were to size the bridges at the western end. A bridge is also a chokepoint where you can control movement in either direction, to allow your own side to cross to advance, as well as to prevent the enemy from doing so, and from using that bridge as an escape route.
FUBAR tends to be the normal state of things in war time. Thus the other term used by a lot of soldiers... SNAFU, which means "Situation Normal, All F****d Up"
The average age of US troops in WWII was 26. The opening scene was very realistic, according to men who were there. I read that, before the movie was released, they held a screening for WWII veterans, and many left the theater in tears during the opening scene, due to how realistic it was.
20:45 "This is art when you have money." This is what you can do when you're Steven Spielberg and you tell the studio you want to make a movie starring Tom Hanks.
If you haven't seen it yet, you should also watch Schindler's List.
The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramelle. The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramelle.
Spielberg researched small details, for instance, Pvt Jackson's right thumb has a black mark on it. That's actually a bruise that many U. S. riflemen had caused from getting their thumb caught in the loading mechanism from not locking the bolt back properly when loading/reloading the M1 Garand rifle. It was called "Garand thumb".
The Hitler Youth Knife is more literary liberty than fact. That knife is a hiking knife given to members of the Hitler Youth Corps, which was much like the Boy Scouts in training while being indoctrinated with the ideology of National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi). The only other group they were issued to were members of the SA. This knife was never part of a soldier of the Wehrmacht. As for the reaction of Carparzo and Mellish, it is highly unlikely an average G.I. would have known what that knife was and its symbolism. The matter of Mellish crying is also not likely as the Allies didn't find out about the fate of Jews in Europe until the first concentration camp was liberated April 4, 1945. The war in Europe ended May 7, 1945. So, following the real timeline, Mellish dies before the Allies knew anything about concentration and death camps. But, after-all, it is Hollywood.
Saving Private Ryan is not based on the Sullivan brothers. Fritz Niland became the basis for Private Ryan. He was dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day and spent five days in the French countryside, eventually earning a Bronze star in combat for taking a French. Robert Rodat first came up with the plot in 1994 when he saw a monument in a cemetery in Tonawanda, New York. The monument was to the Niland Brothers - 4 young American men who fought in the Second World War. When three of the Nilands were reported killed, the surviving brother - Fritz - was sent home. This inspired Rodat to write his movie. The average age of a U. S. troops armed forces personnel during WW II was 26 years old. Selective Service draft age range was 18 years of age to 45 years. The average age in Vietnam War was 22, not 19 as any think.
There are 26 military cemeteries across Normandy, but the most famous and visited site is the poignant Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. In real life with the Nilands, it actually turned out later that another of the brothers was alive - he’d been held captive in a Burmese POW camp. Attempts to point out the "discrepancies" between the stories of Fritz Niland and James Ryan are often misguided, as Ryan is only based on Niland, and is not meant to be (or claimed to be) a completely accurate representation of him. The differences in the two stories seem to stem in part from the fact that the true story of Sergeant Niland and his brothers is often reported inaccurately. The character of Private James Ryan is a mixture of fact and fiction, with some of the fictional elements coming from the erroneous stories about the Niland brothers.
The German credited as "Steamboat Willie" who was released by Capt. Miller is not the German who engaged and killed Pvt Stanley "Fish Mellish during hand-to-hand combat. "Steamboat Willie" was in the Heer (Army) of the Wehrmacht and the other was in the Waffen SS which was a paramilitary organization and not part of the Wehrmacht. Originally, the SS uniform differed from the Wehrmacht uniform-whereas the regular army wore field grey, the SS wore black, head to toe (although later the SS did adopt field grey and often wore camouflage pattern uniform. American troops were brown and they didn't wear jackboots. The lightning bolt SS insignia can be seen on the right collar lapel of the German as he passes Upham and reaches the bottom of the staircase. During the Battle at Ramelle, Upham became shell shocked and was unable to save a .30 cal team from a German soldier because he was too frozen with fear to do anything about it. He carried all the .30 caliber ammo at the battle of Ramelle, but was unable to do his job because he was always either pinned down or too afraid to move. He signified the loss of innocence in war and thought that soldiers could be civil, but he later succumbed to the evils of war and made up for his cowardice when he shot Steamboat Willie for killing Miller even after the latter had shown Willie mercy earlier.
Not only did Upham represent the loss of innocence of war but he also symbolized the "Every-man". His illusion of neutrality faded when he finally had to pick and side and kill Steamboat Willie, his character revelation being how he finally understood the horrors of war. It became clear that Upham had turned into a hardened and true soldier because of the whole experience. Upham's rank was Tech 5 Corporal (E-5), that meant he was technician in a specialty area. His was maps and translator, he was not a combat infantryman and was never trained for front-line duty. Gunnery Sergent Hartman explained it this way in the movie Full Metal Jacket: "It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill.
"The way the next of kin was notified of their loved one was killed in action during WW II was by Western Union telegram delivered by a bicycle riding messenger. If you were being notified of multiple deaths as was the case in this film, notification was done in-person by a military officer, usually from the same branch of service as the deceased when possible. That's why the mother upon seeing the officer exit the car momentarily froze knowing that meant at least 2 of her boys were either KIA or MIA, as the priest exits the car, she staggers and completely collapsed. Unfortunately, you didn't include that in your video presentation. That is one of the most important scenes in the movie. The mother speaks no lines in the movie, yet her breakdown brought a flood of tears form movie goers in theaters across the nation. Another important scene is it is clear from the few lines Ryan's wife speaks that she has never heard the name of Capt. John Miller, this means John has never spoken to her about what happened that day in Ramelle. What many missed is listening to Ryan speaking at the Miller's grave of how he thought about what those 8 men did for him every day was not guilt, but commitment.
There are units assigned to recover, bury and mark graves. Usually these were temporary battlefield cemeteries. As hostilities moved farther away, a more permanent site would be selected, at the family's request, whenever possible, the remains would be returned to the United States. At the Normandy Cemetery Visitors Center, you'll find the following inscription: IF EVER PROOF WERE NEEDED THAT WE FOUGHT FOR A CAUSE AND NOT FOR CONQUEST, IT COULD BE FOUND IN THESE CEMETERIES. HERE WAS OUR ONLY CONQUEST: ALL WE ASKED … WAS ENOUGH … SOIL IN WHICH TO BURY OUR GALLANT DEAD.General Mark W. ClarkChairman, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1969-1984
The blimps flying over the beach area were barrage balloons to prevent German planes from attacking the landing force. The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion was the only unit that stormed the beaches on D-Day that was made up entirely of Black Americans. They displayed unmatched bravery during the 48 hours it took to secure the beaches. Members of 320th, unlike the other units, had to remain on the beaches with no relief units, exposed to continuous enemy fire during the 2 days it took to secure the area. Because they were Black, the photographers never show them in the photos taken on the beaches that day. All shots showing the barrage balloons are taken at far away distances. Following the end of the war, like the Tuskegee Airman and the 761st Tank Battalion, their bravery under fire was intentionally kept from the public for decades.
It is said that the opening scene of this film was so accurate/realistic, there were WWII veterans who had to leave the theaters due to PTSD attacks. They were sent right back to Utah and Omaha Beaches because of this film.
In my travels in Normandy, I found the French people to be very appreciative of the sacrifices of the American, British and Canadian troops in their effort to liberate the French from the German yoke, even though they suffered horribly in terms of civilian casualties..it’s nice, as an American, to be so honored and appreciated so many years later! God bless the French and their indominatible spirit under the 4 years of a Brutal German occupation. Thats a rare fighting spirit that should be remembered, honored and appreciated!
I had the same experience back in 2008...spent a long weekend in Normandy and had a wonderful time. My friends who went to Paris had the usual stories about French standoffishness and even rudeness...but I saw nothing of that in Normandy...the people were incredibly friendly and patient with me.
Early on into America's entry into WW II, 5 brothers, last name Sullivan, enlisted in the navy with the promise that they be stationed on the same ship together, during a deployment, their ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, killing all 5 brothers, and ending the Sullivan name to continue. After that, the US military decided that siblings could no longer serve in the same duty station, ensuring the chance of a namesake would continue. Later after the war, there was a ship commissioned called the USS The Sullivans, in honor of the brothers, after it was decommissioned, it was turned into a museum, which still exists today.
Your the first reactor I've seen to say "what about the husband (father)"? When the mother got the visit from the priest....it's good
Yes, the “surrender” motion should lead to certain actions, but in this particular situation there was no place yet to hold prisoners of war, no troops available to watch them and the battle was still ongoing with an unknown outcome of success or failure, while the Allies were hoping to establish their presence on the beach. Later in the film, the same question arises, but the circumstances were different and the surrender took place not in the middle of a major conflict like the attempt to take the beach.
Plus after what those men just went through just getting off the beach, they were pissed. A lot of there friends were killed. I imagine it would be hard to take German prisoners after that.
Add to that the troops were under orders NOT to take prisoners until the beachead was secure.
My grandpa was there on utah beach on day. He was born in 1919. He told my dad some stories but didn’t want to talk about it.
Well done ladies. You had a better grasp of what was going on than most reactors twice your age
First reacter I've seen catch that medic getting hit through the canteen, the water turning to blood, then the medic treating himself.
The sniper shot to wound him because he’s using him as bait. When other soldiers come to aid him, they present themselves as targets. Also, the more he shoots, the more he makes his location known.
A lot of guys volunteered before the draft was announced. My Dad signed up right after graduating high school and even lied about his age-he was not quite 18 when he signed up and told me a lot of guys had done that. The draft was announced in Oct 1940. There were many enlisted men who were in their late teens and early 20’s. Officers could be a bit older, since they tended to be college graduates.
The normal protocol for medics during a battle is to triage the wounded and patch up the slightly-injured first. ("Your first duty is not to preserve life, but to preserve the fighting strength.") Then, treat the badly wounded and transport them to the rear. Of course, in a situation like the D-Day landing, everything is chaos, the medics are overwhelmed, and there is no "rear."
Some American medics were 1-A-O conscientious objectors, meaning they were willing to serve in uniform but wouldn't handle weapons. (For an example, review the movie "Hacksaw Ridge.") The rest of the medics were armed, and had gone thru regular combat training plus cross-training as medics. So, just wearing Red Cross markings did not make them immune from enemy fire.
Each army had a different general philosophy about shooting medics and about further shooting the wounded. But tactically speaking, the most advantageous thing would be to give an enemy soldier a serious but not immediately fatal wound and then not target him further, because that meant that two other guys would be occupied with trying to treat him and take him to the rear. That meant a total of three guys were at least temporarily taken out of the battle, all with one bullet.
Yes, according to the Geneva Convention, as soon as an enemy drops his weapon and indicates that he's surrendering, he's no longer an enemy and cannot be targeted. But in practice, it's not easy to turn the adrenaline off, even if you want to.
The British and Canadians faced off against 8 panzer divisions (4 of which were SS) and 3 heavy panzer battalions (2 of which were SS) with Tiger and King Tigers. Despite this they managed to keep the enemy off balance forcing them to commit forces piecemeal and attrit the enemy forces to the stage where the units were shadows of their former selves.
The allies supply situation was result of Patton not capturing the Brittany ports as he was ordered. The Brittany ports were to supply the US troops and the Channel ports were to supply the British and Canadians. The Canadian 1st Army having the task of clearing the ports and took Le Harve, Boulogne and Calais before repositioning and clearing the Scheldt.
The broad front strategy was another contributing factor to the supply crisis of autumn 1944.
Thanks for reacting to such a difficult but important movie..
"All men between the ages of 21 and 45 were eligible to serve, but there were instances of younger individuals enlisting by lying about their age. Notably, the youngest person to serve in the U.S. military during World War II was Calvin Graham, who was only 12 years old. His story is highlighted in the film 'Too Young the Hero,' showcasing how he managed to deceive authorities to fulfill his desire to serve."
*The German sniper only shot caparzo once leaving him out there to lure others out to shoot*
My grandfather was at Anzio, and later sent to France, while there, German threw a grenade into his fox hole. It killed his 3 friends and he was wounded. He was sent home after that injury. He would say very little about the things he saw. But it changed him for the rest of his life.
Fun fact: the deaf guy played Beta from the Whisperers in _The Walking Dead_
Most of the soldiers on Omaha Beach were fresh, green 18-20 year old kids barely out of basic training.
The canteen bleeding is because the bullet went through the canteen into the Medic's hip, you see him stuffing a bandage down his pants and go back to his work on the casualty.
Omaha Beach was so deadly because the tanks that were supposed to land sank. For Normandy they had a problem of the coast not allowing the landing craft for tanks to get in far enough so they put inflatable tubes and propellers on the Sherman tanks so they could basically swim ashore. Unfortunately they were deployed too far out and they all sank, lucky only 5 crew were lost. Hanks mentions them when he says "we have no DD Tanks, Dog 1 is not open".
This movie is loosely based on a real family from Tonawanda, NY very close to where I live in NY. In May 1944 Edward Niland who volunteered for service was shot down over Burma and presumed killed, in June brothers Preston and Robert Niland were killed on D-Day, Preston killed at Omaha Beach, while the 4th brother Sergeant Frederick Niland went missing. Father Francis Sampson found Fred's location and sent him home. In a wonderful twist of fate Edward Niland was actually alive and was rescued from a Burmese POW camp, also returning home.
Captain Miller and his squad is purely fictional but based on a story only overshadowed by the 4 Sullivan brothers killed at the Battle of Guadalcanal on the USS Juneau. The event that started the "sole survivor" policy of the US Military to send home a sole survivor if their family is killed. The policy started in 1942 after the Sullivans' death.
Only half of the DD tanks were launched into the water...the commander of the other tank battalion saw those tanks sinking and decided to carry his DD tanks all the way to shore along with his wading tanks. It delayed the arrival of the armor by up to an hour, but well over half of the 112 or so tanks that were sent to Omaha Beach did reach shore and get into the action.
All the inexperienced soldiers were sent to England and trained for around 1.5 years before the invasion. Plus the 29th Division was a National Guard unit. Then there was the 1st Division that landed on the eastern portion of Omaha. They had participated in two invasions in the Mediterranean the previous year. Some of those experienced troops were transferred to the 29th Division with the goal of having some battle hardened troops in every company.
You mentioned earlier that you only live there temporarily, and perhaps you have no other space, but I have to warn you about working on your bed.
I developed a severe sleeping disorder when I shared an apartment and basically lived on my bed. I was on my bed reading, watching TV, eating, working just to do that in my own private space.
The only thing that made me able to sleep regularly again was stopping doing anything but sleeping in bed.
Just wishing you a good sleep when you need to and warning you to not get similar bad habits.
The beach scene was filmed in lreland, and Stephen Speilberg used a lot of disabled amputees as extras soldiers for the scenes with legs being blown off.
Thanks for sharing the pictures of the French bunker and the drawings. But are you sure it was a WWII bunker? Wasn't it a WWI bunker?
I enjoyed how you picked out the details, especially the ones I had not noticed beforehand. Like the picture of the four brothers at the mother's house.
Hi Amanda, I really like your demeanor, you are not camera-shy at all. A real person with a strong personality, great to see that someone like you is on TH-cam.
Oh my gosh stop I adore you this is what I needed this morning queen!
This was a great reaction as a Hebrew Israelite I really love Germany in ww2 ✌🏽 they had super badass uniforms 🇩🇪❤️
“Couldn’t they use a radio transmission to ask him to report himself”. This statement had me laughing so much it reminded me why I see reaction videos in the first place. It’s a good point.
The rules of engagement are mostly, but not always, based on the protocols set by the Geneva convention. Protocols for surrender, civilians and medics are a few that are included. Generally speaking, the European theater abided by them. However situations occur like no resources to accomodate prisoners. The exception were the SS, technically not part of the army but everyone lumps them together, who specifically target civilians for fascist reasons or collective punishment. Both the German and Allied armies committed war crimes, but nowhere near what the fascists perpetrated. The Japanese army and navy often ignored the Geneva convention entirely
One of the reasons Omaha Beach was so bloody was because the bombs dropped did not hit their targets; most fell 2-3 miles inland.
I remember an old newspaper ad, it said...WW2 French rifle for sale. Never fired, dropped once
You look like you're in hospital! Someone brought you flowers lol
16:40 "Look at the brothers!"
if you look really close, you see three faces but the fourth is hidden.
The one you cannot see is Matt Damon.
When Spielberg hired Matt Damon, he was not a famous actor yet.
Spielberg wanted somebody with a young and likeable look but not a famous actor.
During filming of this movie, Good Will Hunting went viral and Matt Damon became famous overnight.
So Spielberg ended up getting a famous actor accidentally.
To compensate for that, Matt Damon was hidden, even in this family photograph, until his big reveal in the final act.
The "rat screech" was the sound of the flamethrower.
Average age of a US solider was about 23. D-Day plan was put over 150,000 men on 5 beaches in Normandy. About 15000 paratroopers had dropped in the night before behind the invasion beaches.
a typical rifleman on D-Day was about 20 - look around at the 20 year-olds you know - can you imagine them doing this?
When this movie came out in theaters many of the veterans had flashbacks due to the realism of it .
They did the paintings for the children in the camp to keep their spirit up.
This thought me to always do the best with what you have.
That’s crazy that you caught that canister moment. I didn’t notice that till years later.
Some in France feel Americans pushy, except for the people of Normandy love veterans and those that serve in the American military, because they know what sacrifice America did for them not once but in two world wars. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks (sons of WW Il veterans) said it best at the Academy Awards, "these were 18-20 year olds, and they saved the whole damn world".
If Spielberg and Hanks actually said that then it's hyperbole and disrespect to the other allies. Mind you, Saving Private Ryan doesn't even mention the British/Canadian effort except to mock them in the dialogue and then steal their adversary (SS Tiger tanks) and show the Americans defeating them in the Cotentin Peninsula. In realty all the Tigers were around Caen facing the British at Villers Bocage.
Many of those soldiers were 17- and 18-year-old boys, right out of high school, as volunteers at that age. A lot of them had also been drafted.
The Bixby letter is real but it's been debated whether Lincoln wrote it himself or if it was written by his secretary John Hay.
i like the 2 part edit.. and i love your reaction.. thanks for this
13:40 when it comes to the sfx of the weapons, most movies usually use generic sounds to save on production cost. Saving Private Ryan is one of the only movies where they recorded audio of the guns firing live ammunition and used those sounds in the post production. I personally own both an M1 Garand and 1903 Springfield (without a scope though), and they sound exactly like they do in the movie. I have also fired all of the other small arms in the movie and the sound is spot on 100%.
Thank you so much for that earthquake edit at the start 😂
Before the Allies liberated Paris the Resistance, including many Parisian police, rose up and had street battles against the German occupiers. They were mostly civilians, and many died fighting to help liberate their city.. They build barricades using paving stones. The bloodiest battles were fought near the Pont Neuf and by the Police HQ on the Isle de la Cite.
Humor is indeed a coping mechanism in the horror of war.
1. Many WWII vets left the theaters because the D-Day battle scenes were so realistic.
2. The German Captain Miller was talked into letting go is the same one that killed him. Upham finally put him down.
3. The story Ryan tells Miller about the last time he saw his brothers was made up by Matt Damon. He was told to say something interesting, so he did, and it was kept in the movie.
4. There was a USS Sullivans(DD- 68) dedicated to the brothers lost on one ship.
5. I did 24 years in the US Navy. My favorite character is Private Jackson/sniper and my second favorite is Sargent Horvath. RIP Tom Sizemore😇
6. Sizemore also played Boxman in "Flight of the Intruder", a movie I'm in briefly.
I think I once read that the average age of the fallen soldiers was 23 years. But unfortunately I don't have a source for that.
Could you imagine all that training, all that work, anticipation, etc. and to just drown. I don't know if getting shot right away would be worse or not.
The Bixby letter is a real letter, signed if not written by Lincoln. But the five Bixby sons were not killed in action. One deserted. One either died as a prisoner of war or was killed trying to desert to the Confederate enemy, but he was still a prisoner when the letter was written. One died of tuberculosis while serving. but at the time the letter was written he was alive in hospital. Two were killed in action. Mrs. Bixby seems to have created the errors by lying about her sons. She was quite possibly a brothel madame, and was almost certainly a Southern sympathizer.
Kids... They were kids. Average age on Omaha was 22 years old. A college senior.
In terms of "Rules" for Medics. It was generally understood among the Western opponents that you shouldn't target Medics. They didn't carry weapons at that point in history and so were supposed to be considered "Non-Combatants" but that didn't meant that they were allowed to walk across a battlefield and expect NOT to be shot. It was simply a "Gentleman's Agreement" that if you positively identified a Medic on the opposing side then you shouldn't shoot him. In the Sniper Scene, he was leaving him alive to draw out more people so you're not going to risk sending your Medic out there and counting on that guy's humanity that he won't shoot him. In the Pacific Front, however, the Japanese didn't particularly care about those rules and their Snipers were known to put a premium on shooting the Medics. To the point that the Medics stopped wearing the Red Crosses.
Nowadays Medics do carry weapons because a lot of the people that Western Nations have fought don't honor the idea that Medics should be treated as Non-Combatants so they might as well be combatants. If someone gets hit they stop fighting and start treating though. They're a Medic first and a Rifleman second.
Spielberg talked to actual D day veterans and tried to make the beach scene as realistic as possible and the veterans who attended the film premiere said he did a good job but the real experience of Normandy landings was much worse
it depend, actually the landing went very well because most of the troops on the altantic wall were second ranks and shell shocked
The bombing at Utah beach were far too deep in the lands and the american troops face a veteran unit
The two men who were trying to surrender were speaking Czech. They were probably conscripts from territory that the Germans conquered. A lot of men from conquered lands were forced into the German army.
The 5 Sullivan brothers of Cedar Falls, Iowa, were all lost when the USS Jueanu off Guadalcanal in 1942. I can't imagine what their Mother and Father must have felt.
By leaving Caparzo alive, the sniper could watch him and get clues on where others were.
Great reaction so far! I always love your openings. 😁
The two soldiers who got killed trying to surrender in the opening battle were trying to tell the Americans not to shoot because they were Czech, not German, and they didn't kill anyone.
I'm from Bedford, which has the somber distinction of losing the most men during D-Day, on a per capita basis. 20 deaths from a town of 3,400. I believe any person who can send men off to die in battle should be forced to watch this movie. The view at the D-Day Cemetery is special. peaceful and powerful all at once. A lot of these young men were 19, some in their early 20s, some even younger because they lied about their age. Both sides would tend to avoid killing medics - nobody wants to get hurt and not have medical help around, and some medics are might help an enemy soldier, in the right situation. Also, it's a waste of ammo, because they're not a threat. But clearly there are plenty of ways for a medic to die out there. All of these men are under incredible stress. It's a miracle any of them are able to keep it together as well as they are. They have seen, and smelled, and heard, and LIVED what you saw on the screen.
Hi, I enjoyed your reaction thoroughly, so I subscribed , can't wait to see part 2, I had a relative who went to WW2 and he told me that the US sometimes sent to rescue men like in the movie so the last name would not be lost, I'm pretty sure you know some Spanish so if you do, Saludos desde Monterrey Mexico if not , greetings and best wishes with your Chanel.
You are the first person to react to this movie that I have seen that caught the medic who was shot in the hip through his canteen very cool detail they did in the movie that not many people realize the first time watching. 10:01
The average age of U.S. soldiers at Normandy was 22.
Caparzzo down and bleeding on the ground, "It's weird that he [the sniper] hasn't shot him again." Snipers will not shoot a wounded man again when there are others around. A wounded man is like bait for others to come and help.
Great Reaction, looking forward to Part 2
In the US, the veterans administration set up a special hot-line service for surviving D-Day veterans that saw this In theaters. Many walked out in the beginning of it because the realism and it sent them back
I am a Vietnam veteran and I know most of us were between 18 and 24 . the same in most wars my dad wad 19 at Normandy . God bless you
It always amazes me how brave the German people were.
Under brainwashing circumstances yes they were brave! Untell Hitler got desperate and started sending old men and kids to the Frontline.
Respect for medics is good for both sides, strategically, so competent leadership tends to avoid targeting them. You don't want to shoot enemy medics, because their efforts increase the number of wounded vs. dead, and that creates a burden on the enemy logistics. The Germans, ironically, mostly understood that despite the vileness of their intentions. The Japanese did not get it, and deliberately targeted medics. That stupidity damaged their prospects in the long-run.
First, I fell in love with your reaction channel immediately. The graphics you insert at the appropriate time are an appreciated touch. I hope you will go on to react to the epic mini series Band of Brothers, which I'm sure your Patreons have also recommended. This is a good intro to the events of that war, which you seem to be familiar with.