Although casualty numbers were higher in the European theater because of the number of combatants, the Marines suffered the highest casualty rate of US forces in WW II. About 34% were killed in action. The psychological impact on the survivors is portrayed really well in this series. As hard as this was for you to watch, I've really enjoyed your reactions to this series, young lady. You now have a profound appreciation for the price paid by our greatest generation to protect the freedoms we all to often take for granted. I'm looking forward to the next one.
My Dad fought on Okinawa with the 6th Division Marines. He would never talk of it and I would learn later in life his Marines were awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for their role in "fighting a fanatical enemy.."
Even the real clips can’t accurately portray how brutal this battle was. Just hell beyond imagining. Can’t believe there were any survivors on either side.
My father commanded an Army infantry company in 6th Infantry Division during the amphibious landing on the main island of Luzon in the Philippines in World War II. Several months later his battalion was defending the town (now, a city) of Orion on the Bataan Peninsula. Late at night, the U.S. soldiers heard a lot of talking and crying of women and children. It was total darkness--not stars or moon. The soldiers had been ordered to immediately shoot anything that moved--no questions asked. But the squad leader on the roadblock was fairly new; he disobeyed his orders and he ordered his men to hold their fire. Turned out, however, that a Japanese unit was advancing up the road, using the Philippine women and children as a human shield. By allowing the women and children to get close enough to identify them as civilians, the Japanese were able to kill many soldiers and to attack into the town. The women and children were all killed or wounded. It was all very much larger an incident than the one depicted in this episode. I completed an oral history with my dad in 1988-1990, and this sort of thing happened--a lot.
All the more amazing that decades later one of the last IJA holdouts on the islands (Hiro Onoda) was convinced to walk out of the jungle. I want to say that it finally took a Japanese visiting the island to be brought to him to translate and talk him down since he'd been killing locals for years, pillaging for food and supplies. But despite all of that, those same locals still walked him out with "Please sir, come on out, it's ok. The war is over. No one will hurt you" and feeding him afterwards. Just goes to show the character of the people that had to suffer all of that, and still emerge on the other side feeding a former enemy that had been forgotten and thrown away.
An element of Japanese culture that many non-Japanese fail to grasp is the concept that "if beaten, never surrender." Japanese culture's greatest heroes: Yoshitsune, Kusunoki, Saigo, the 47 Ronin, all carry that same message. Even in the face of certain destruction the morally superior individual does not abandon the cause. It is a theme still visible in their culture today.
Unfortunately, "morally superior" was defined in a circular way. Moral superiority was thought to be _defined_ by the fact of not surrendering, despite plain knowledge among many Japanese by the end that the moral high ground, if their government had ever held it, was no longer theirs.
Eugene Sledge gives a speech called “with the old breed and the cost of war” it’s on TH-cam it’s 36 minutes highly suggest when your on your own listening to it. He gets very detailed and explains who the Japanese soldier was and how “compared to the German who wanted to fight honorably and to get home to the family while the Japanese wanted to fight honorably and die for the Emporer” he then gets into the mindset on the battlefield and gets into the cost and at the end no matter what I always tear up hearing it.
The audiobook of 'With The Old Breed' is free on TH-cam. It's broken down into 12 parts. I read the book several years ago but listening to the audiobook after reading it gave me an even deeper understanding of Sledge's emotions and the brutality and suffering these men endured.
The teenager that Eugene spared was probably one of the Okinawan teens forced to fight against the Americans. Most were not even issued weapons. We are taught how brutal and beastial the Nazis were but little about Japanese brutality. They were just as bad and in some ways worse than the Nazis. Many Okinawans died because of the Japanese, and not just collateral damage.
The Japanese killed and stole food from the Okinawans in the attempt to repel the Americans. They were completely caught in the middle. To this day it's part of Japan but still very much has it's own culture. I have become a student of Japanese culture, history and admire modern Japan a great deal. Having said that they have never really been made to own this dark chapter of their history. Certainly not in the way the Germans have been. And before anyone gets on my case I am very much aware of Allied atrocities during the 2nd World War.
Aria, if watching babies suffer and die don't ever watch a movie or documentary on The Battle of Saipan. Japanese propaganda had convinced the native population of Saipan that the Americans would brutalize them that they committed mass suicide. There is film showing mothers throwing their babies off a cliff into the ocean below while American translators try to get them to stop. I recall a documentary on that battle where Marines talked about their experiences on Saipan. One Marine was deeply moved decades later when he recalled how one of his friends was killed inspecting a cave to see if there were civilians or the enemy in it. The next cave they came to he and a couple of others just threw grenades in only to find out that the inhabitants were a bunch of school girls hiding. These are the things of nightmares. My best friend did 2 tours of duty as a combat Marine. His wife told me that his nightmares and PTSD was due to civilian deaths especially one little girl.
I saw 8mm footage from a library when I was a boy. The bodies of the mothers, children even infants washing up against the bottom of the cliff face still haunts me to this damn day. The Japanese had told them that they would be raped and worse...
When you first began watching the series and we told you the watch would get increasingly difficult I think we had this episode in mind. The suicide bomber and the babies and the dying mother -- it's all very tough to handle. So much so that it even broke Snafu. The only bright side of the episode is that it was the last major battle of the war. As surprising as it may seem, watching a documentary about the actual battle may help create some distance from it. The 2017 documentary Battle of Okinawa in Color presents footage captured by military cameramen during the battle. It's less than an hour long. It might help some.
Aria, your sentiments are so pure. We should all not just cry for these men. The few I knew from my neighborhood were proud to serve, and proud that they stopped the terror of the Nazis and Imperial Japan. Domingo, my father's friend that was in the merchant marine ( his ship was torpedoed twice), once said, "We just did what we had to do." He and my dad would sit on the front porch and talk about all sorts of things. I was a pre-teen back then. The best we can do is to honor these men and always be vigilant for those who would take our freedom.
Please, don't be ashamed of not wanting to endure these sort of difficult to watch, based on true stories about war. War is traumatizing. War is ruthless. To some who practice war there is a shadow of honor that walks with them. To others who don't have honor it would be a hellish world on the battlefield. These stories are told as a tribute and as a cautionary tale. If everyone on this planet understood the horrors of war, people would probably do everything they could to avoid such decorations. However, people have to fight for how their world ought to be. Coexisting is difficult for those not indoctrinated by understanding and tolerance. And, sadly those who have such understandings are usually the ones who get walked over. We live in a wonderful time. History can be set and unaltered. Humanity now has an opportunity to never ever make the same mistakes. However, there are those who want to deny such horrible things took place thus the permanent record. It would be beneficial for humanity to learn from the past and see through the motivations of hate speech and so on. Stories like these give insight to how evil people can be for those who may have too much idealism, as well. Stories like these harden you, prepare you, for such occurrences. "How can people become so evil?" You may be asking and stories like this may help give somewhat of an answer to such plaguing questions.
The Battle of Hacksaw Ridge was one of the bloodiest within the Battle for Okinawa. When I was growing up my best friend's father was part of an anti-aircraft crew on a cruiser that was hit by a Kamikaze. He still had scrapnel in his body when I knew him.
I think the worst part is the people of okinawa aren't even ethnically Japanese.They were just another people subjugated by them And then used as human shields during the battle. Some of the footage of the civilian population during the battle is some of the most horrific footage ever shot during the war.
Okinawians were not Japanese, and therefore considered inferior in the eyes of the Japanese. Many of the civilians on the Island were led to believe that the Americans would rape and brutally murder them (they did the same on Saipan, which led to many civilians committing suicide). They also forced Okinawan teens to fight for them. The teenage boy Eugene spared but was killed by other Marines was probably one of the Okinawan teens forced to serve. BTW, most weren't issued weapons.
Yes, I agree with your statements about the raw brutality of this episode. The woman dying, begging Eugebe Sledge to shoot her was perhaps the most emotionally challenging scene of the whole series. This episode so captures the fact that we do indeed live in a very broken world.
The Marines' reaction to the Japanese prisoners should be understood within the context of what Allied troops had known for over two years about how horribly Allied prisoners were being treated in Japanese POW camps.
Great introduction and great reaction. You certainly seem like a wonderful woman. I can't imagine, no one who wasn't there can imagine what it was like. I can only read books and hear interviews of the people who were there and pray that nothing like that ever happens again. It was necessary to prevent the monstrous Japanese from bringing their evil to the rest of the world, but I truly pray it is never necessary again. The way they treated prisoners and the way they treated the people of the lands they conquered was barbaric beyond comprehension, and unlike the Germans, the Japanese deny it all to this day.
I think the men who went through these horrific events would be very understanding about you needing to take a break during the telling of their stories. I don't think there's any reason for you to feel self-conscious about pacing yourself as needed, nor do you have anything to feel ashamed about.
War is evil. But, one has to fight aggressors, whether it's Japanese in the Pacific, the Germans in Europe, or the Russians in Ukraine. To paraphrase Tolkien, "those who have not swords may still die upon them"
No need to apologize for this being hard to watch, it is no question. The Japanese HATED Okinawans, and killed several thousand even before the U.S arrived. The U.S troops were in a desperate battle not only to win against the Japanese, but protect the civilians from the Japanese. The IJN made mothers throw their babies off cliffs, nearly 8,000 civilians jumped from the cliffs for propaganda fear given by the Japanese. In total, the Japanese military killed over 31 million civilians in Asia, making them the worst regime to exist in history next to the Germans.
Your innocent of it. People sleep peacefully at night because rough men are willing to do violence in their behalf. They wanted you to be innocent of this.
Hate to break it to you but there are occasions where your choice is fight or die...and fighting always has the chance of death. If you can't think of anything worth fighting for then you are already dead.
@@GerhardiumIf you have gotten to such a state that the only recourse is to fight bloody war... you have already failed somewhere along the line. On both sides.
@@catherinelw9365 Do you remember the time period in which "War" was first released? It was during the height of the Vietnam War era and more and more of the U.S. was finding out just how awful and completely unnecessary that conflict was. Not to mention all the coffins coming home draped in the U.S. flag. Stupid and naive, huh? I guess I just don't understand some people, and sadly you appear to be one of them. The fundamentals of war are not good at all and yes only the undertakers are its friend, oh and maybe the weapons manufacturers.
Don't apologize for who and how you are, you're great the way you are.
Although casualty numbers were higher in the European theater because of the number of combatants, the Marines suffered the highest casualty rate of US forces in WW II. About 34% were killed in action. The psychological impact on the survivors is portrayed really well in this series.
As hard as this was for you to watch, I've really enjoyed your reactions to this series, young lady. You now have a profound appreciation for the price paid by our greatest generation to protect the freedoms we all to often take for granted. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Hate to dispel your numbers, but the highest casualty rate for the US was the USAAF Bombers over Europe, it was a 44% casualty rate.
My Dad fought on Okinawa with the 6th Division Marines. He would never talk of it and I would learn later in life his Marines were awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for their role in "fighting a fanatical enemy.."
Even the real clips can’t accurately portray how brutal this battle was. Just hell beyond imagining. Can’t believe there were any survivors on either side.
My father commanded an Army infantry company in 6th Infantry Division during the amphibious landing on the main island of Luzon in the Philippines in World War II. Several months later his battalion was defending the town (now, a city) of Orion on the Bataan Peninsula. Late at night, the U.S. soldiers heard a lot of talking and crying of women and children. It was total darkness--not stars or moon. The soldiers had been ordered to immediately shoot anything that moved--no questions asked. But the squad leader on the roadblock was fairly new; he disobeyed his orders and he ordered his men to hold their fire. Turned out, however, that a Japanese unit was advancing up the road, using the Philippine women and children as a human shield. By allowing the women and children to get close enough to identify them as civilians, the Japanese were able to kill many soldiers and to attack into the town. The women and children were all killed or wounded. It was all very much larger an incident than the one depicted in this episode. I completed an oral history with my dad in 1988-1990, and this sort of thing happened--a lot.
All the more amazing that decades later one of the last IJA holdouts on the islands (Hiro Onoda) was convinced to walk out of the jungle. I want to say that it finally took a Japanese visiting the island to be brought to him to translate and talk him down since he'd been killing locals for years, pillaging for food and supplies. But despite all of that, those same locals still walked him out with "Please sir, come on out, it's ok. The war is over. No one will hurt you" and feeding him afterwards.
Just goes to show the character of the people that had to suffer all of that, and still emerge on the other side feeding a former enemy that had been forgotten and thrown away.
that shaking child in the beginning BROKE MY HEART!!! 😭
Seriously
@@ariachanson01 LIFE with Eddie Murphy next please
An element of Japanese culture that many non-Japanese fail to grasp is the concept that "if beaten, never surrender." Japanese culture's greatest heroes: Yoshitsune, Kusunoki, Saigo, the 47 Ronin, all carry that same message. Even in the face of certain destruction the morally superior individual does not abandon the cause. It is a theme still visible in their culture today.
Unfortunately, "morally superior" was defined in a circular way. Moral superiority was thought to be _defined_ by the fact of not surrendering, despite plain knowledge among many Japanese by the end that the moral high ground, if their government had ever held it, was no longer theirs.
Eugene Sledge gives a speech called “with the old breed and the cost of war” it’s on TH-cam it’s 36 minutes highly suggest when your on your own listening to it. He gets very detailed and explains who the Japanese soldier was and how “compared to the German who wanted to fight honorably and to get home to the family while the Japanese wanted to fight honorably and die for the Emporer” he then gets into the mindset on the battlefield and gets into the cost and at the end no matter what I always tear up hearing it.
The audiobook of 'With The Old Breed' is free on TH-cam. It's broken down into 12 parts. I read the book several years ago but listening to the audiobook after reading it gave me an even deeper understanding of Sledge's emotions and the brutality and suffering these men endured.
@@billrab1890 his book is the best war memoir I have ever read
The teenager that Eugene spared was probably one of the Okinawan teens forced to fight against the Americans. Most were not even issued weapons.
We are taught how brutal and beastial the Nazis were but little about Japanese brutality. They were just as bad and in some ways worse than the Nazis. Many Okinawans died because of the Japanese, and not just collateral damage.
The Japanese killed and stole food from the Okinawans in the attempt to repel the Americans. They were completely caught in the middle. To this day it's part of Japan but still very much has it's own culture. I have become a student of Japanese culture, history and admire modern Japan a great deal. Having said that they have never really been made to own this dark chapter of their history. Certainly not in the way the Germans have been. And before anyone gets on my case I am very much aware of Allied atrocities during the 2nd World War.
Aria, if watching babies suffer and die don't ever watch a movie or documentary on The Battle of Saipan. Japanese propaganda had convinced the native population of Saipan that the Americans would brutalize them that they committed mass suicide. There is film showing mothers throwing their babies off a cliff into the ocean below while American translators try to get them to stop. I recall a documentary on that battle where Marines talked about their experiences on Saipan. One Marine was deeply moved decades later when he recalled how one of his friends was killed inspecting a cave to see if there were civilians or the enemy in it. The next cave they came to he and a couple of others just threw grenades in only to find out that the inhabitants were a bunch of school girls hiding. These are the things of nightmares. My best friend did 2 tours of duty as a combat Marine. His wife told me that his nightmares and PTSD was due to civilian deaths especially one little girl.
I saw 8mm footage from a library when I was a boy. The bodies of the mothers, children even infants washing up against the bottom of the cliff face still haunts me to this damn day. The Japanese had told them that they would be raped and worse...
When you first began watching the series and we told you the watch would get increasingly difficult I think we had this episode in mind. The suicide bomber and the babies and the dying mother -- it's all very tough to handle. So much so that it even broke Snafu. The only bright side of the episode is that it was the last major battle of the war. As surprising as it may seem, watching a documentary about the actual battle may help create some distance from it. The 2017 documentary Battle of Okinawa in Color presents footage captured by military cameramen during the battle. It's less than an hour long. It might help some.
Aria, your sentiments are so pure. We should all not just cry for these men. The few I knew from my neighborhood were proud to serve, and proud that they stopped the terror of the Nazis and Imperial Japan. Domingo, my father's friend that was in the merchant marine ( his ship was torpedoed twice), once said, "We just did what we had to do." He and my dad would sit on the front porch and talk about all sorts of things. I was a pre-teen back then. The best we can do is to honor these men and always be vigilant for those who would take our freedom.
Please, don't be ashamed of not wanting to endure these sort of difficult to watch, based on true stories about war. War is traumatizing. War is ruthless. To some who practice war there is a shadow of honor that walks with them. To others who don't have honor it would be a hellish world on the battlefield. These stories are told as a tribute and as a cautionary tale. If everyone on this planet understood the horrors of war, people would probably do everything they could to avoid such decorations. However, people have to fight for how their world ought to be. Coexisting is difficult for those not indoctrinated by understanding and tolerance. And, sadly those who have such understandings are usually the ones who get walked over. We live in a wonderful time. History can be set and unaltered. Humanity now has an opportunity to never ever make the same mistakes. However, there are those who want to deny such horrible things took place thus the permanent record. It would be beneficial for humanity to learn from the past and see through the motivations of hate speech and so on.
Stories like these give insight to how evil people can be for those who may have too much idealism, as well. Stories like these harden you, prepare you, for such occurrences.
"How can people become so evil?" You may be asking and stories like this may help give somewhat of an answer to such plaguing questions.
The Battle of Hacksaw Ridge was one of the bloodiest within the Battle for Okinawa. When I was growing up my best friend's father was part of an anti-aircraft crew on a cruiser that was hit by a Kamikaze. He still had scrapnel in his body when I knew him.
Someone once said, "There are no winners or losers in war; only survivors.
Always a refreshing presence, Aria. You're such a great antidote to fake reaction channels. Please keep it up.
I think the worst part is the people of okinawa aren't even ethnically Japanese.They were just another people subjugated by them And then used as human shields during the battle. Some of the footage of the civilian population during the battle is some of the most horrific footage ever shot during the war.
That clip in the intro, of the little kid shivering. It was heartbreaking.
Okinawians were not Japanese, and therefore considered inferior in the eyes of the Japanese. Many of the civilians on the Island were led to believe that the Americans would rape and brutally murder them (they did the same on Saipan, which led to many civilians committing suicide). They also forced Okinawan teens to fight for them. The teenage boy Eugene spared but was killed by other Marines was probably one of the Okinawan teens forced to serve. BTW, most weren't issued weapons.
Yes, I agree with your statements about the raw brutality of this episode. The woman dying, begging Eugebe Sledge to shoot her was perhaps the most emotionally challenging scene of the whole series. This episode so captures the fact that we do indeed live in a very broken world.
I wish all young people would watch and learn the price of freedom that alot of them take advantage of....
The Marines' reaction to the Japanese prisoners should be understood within the context of what Allied troops had known for over two years about how horribly Allied prisoners were being treated in Japanese POW camps.
Thank you
Great introduction and great reaction. You certainly seem like a wonderful woman. I can't imagine, no one who wasn't there can imagine what it was like. I can only read books and hear interviews of the people who were there and pray that nothing like that ever happens again. It was necessary to prevent the monstrous Japanese from bringing their evil to the rest of the world, but I truly pray it is never necessary again. The way they treated prisoners and the way they treated the people of the lands they conquered was barbaric beyond comprehension, and unlike the Germans, the Japanese deny it all to this day.
Eugene came so close to loosing his soul.
He lost part of it permanently as did anyone who fought in these battles
The last episode resolves this trauma.
I think the men who went through these horrific events would be very understanding about you needing to take a break during the telling of their stories. I don't think there's any reason for you to feel self-conscious about pacing yourself as needed, nor do you have anything to feel ashamed about.
Its episodes like this that make me think the Japanese got off too easy in WW2...
Over 12,000 Americans died. Many Japanese civilians died, even suicide !-(
Can you imagine the carnage if we had actually had to invade the Japanese home islands?
War is evil. But, one has to fight aggressors, whether it's Japanese in the Pacific, the Germans in Europe, or the Russians in Ukraine.
To paraphrase Tolkien, "those who have not swords may still die upon them"
No need to apologize for this being hard to watch, it is no question.
The Japanese HATED Okinawans, and killed several thousand even before the U.S arrived. The U.S troops were in a desperate battle not only to win against the Japanese, but protect the civilians from the Japanese. The IJN made mothers throw their babies off cliffs, nearly 8,000 civilians jumped from the cliffs for propaganda fear given by the Japanese. In total, the Japanese military killed over 31 million civilians in Asia, making them the worst regime to exist in history next to the Germans.
Stalin and Mao want a review from the videotape. Let’s just admit it. The twentieth century was a mess and the twenty-first isn’t starting so great.
Freedom isn't free.
Your innocent of it. People sleep peacefully at night because rough men are willing to do violence in their behalf. They wanted you to be innocent of this.
This is just one of many examples of why people make songs like "War."
"War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"
Hate to break it to you but there are occasions where your choice is fight or die...and fighting always has the chance of death. If you can't think of anything worth fighting for then you are already dead.
@@GerhardiumIf you have gotten to such a state that the only recourse is to fight bloody war... you have already failed somewhere along the line. On both sides.
War....where young men kill strangers for old men that all know each other.
@@dan_hitchman007 Well it’s the painful truth that only adults understand. That song always struck me as stupid and naive.
@@catherinelw9365 Do you remember the time period in which "War" was first released? It was during the height of the Vietnam War era and more and more of the U.S. was finding out just how awful and completely unnecessary that conflict was. Not to mention all the coffins coming home draped in the U.S. flag.
Stupid and naive, huh? I guess I just don't understand some people, and sadly you appear to be one of them.
The fundamentals of war are not good at all and yes only the undertakers are its friend, oh and maybe the weapons manufacturers.