It's cringey but true nontheless. The USA only raised, IIRC, 100 military divisions because it was recognized that if we didn't have people have home to produce the munitions it didn't matter that we had a lot of soldiers. The soldiers were stretched thin at times over this, particularly in the Pacific, but at one point Richard Winters asked if Eisenhower didn't have anyone else in the army fill the line. And, honestly, Eisenhower did not.
"On February 19, 1945, Basilone was killed in action leading an assault off the beaches of Iwo Jima. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the only enlisted Marine to be honored with both the Navy Cross and the Medal of Honor." "The cost was staggering. The assault units of the corps-Marines and organic Navy personnel-sustained 24,053 casualties, by far the highest single-action losses in Marine Corps history. Of these, a total of 6,140 died. Roughly one Marine or corpsman became a casualty for every three who landed on Iwo Jima." The above statement is why the US dropped the bombs on Japan. Japan wasn't going to surrender and "According to historical estimates, a US invasion of Japan without the atomic bomb, known as "Operation Downfall," would have likely resulted in hundreds of thousands to potentially millions of American casualties, with an even higher number of Japanese casualties, with some experts predicting up to a million American deaths alone."
You guys should consider watching Flags of our fathers AND Letters from Iwo Jima. One is from American perspective and the other from the Japanese about this battle. Those movies are great!
@@jakesanchez7235interesting thing to make illegal. Maybe they were thinking if you won 1, you deserve to go home and relax so no way you'd get 2. Or maybe to prevent fraud like just giving themselves medals or something
@@jakesanchez7235 19 people have received two medals of honor and its still possible though wildly unlikely today. This includes several marines awarded both the Navy and Army medals for the same action. The last 2nd award was Smedley Butlers 1917. After this the law changed to mean no one received two physical medals and inline with other military awards the first award is the medal itself and subsequent awards are denoted with a star or other device on the original medal.
As prior corpsman with marines in Camp Pendleton, CA, John is the patron saint of machine gunners and the corps in general. The man’s history and feats are drilled into every marines head and he is up there with the all time greatest and most famous marines in history. He’s also got a statue and day dedicated to him in his hometown of Raritan NJ
USS John Basilone (DDG-122) is a Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. The 72nd ship in the class, she is named for United States Marine Corps Gunnery sergeant John Basilone, who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award for valor, for actions during the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific War. Basilone was the only enlisted Marine to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross during World War II. This is the second US Navy vessel to be named after Basilone, the first being USS Basilone (DD-824), a Gearing-class destroyer commissioned in 1949 and decommissioned in 1977. The Navy christened PCU(pre commissioning unit) John Basilone in a ceremony held on 18 June 2022. On March 18, 2024, the ship traveled the Kennebec River to the Atlantic Ocean for four days of sea trials. She was delivered to the US Navy in July 2024 by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and was commissioned in New York City on November 9 2024.
This episode is always hard for me, because the first time I laid my eyes on my Wife she was in her Dress Greens at the Memphis Airport. We were both fresh out of boot camp and going to our Navy and Marine Technical school in Millington Tennessee. The end scene with Lina at the beach in her dress greens with the letter telling her John was killed always causes me to cry, just thinking during my Navy Career my wife could have received the same type of letter. About 35 years later I bought my Wife a set of Marine Dress Blues (At the time she went to boot camp, they were not issued the Dress Blues and had to purchase. The Marine's Dress Blues is the most beautiful military uniform out of all the military uniforms). My wife did not want me to purchase her the uniform and wanted to know when she would wear it. I told her for ceremonies and it will be on her at her death.
They completely missed Tarawa...probably the most evil of all Amphibious Landings in the Pacific War, and the most intense, nastiest battle, after Iwo Jima. Tiny, tiny island, short battle, only a couple of days or so...intense, brutal Violence on a piece of coral island the size of the Pentagon's parking lot. Huge amount of casualties. Issue was in doubt. Last reserves were thrown in. Heroism. Three MoH. Nowadays, a largely forgotten battle. November 1943. Tarawa.
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 I actually saw a wartime documentary made about that battle called with the marines at Tarawa and from my understanding it was made by the government to calm the public down because they were shocked by the high casualties that our military suffered during that campaign and you're absolutely right it's hardly ever mentioned anywhere when they talk about world war II in the Pacific
@ClancyWoodard-yw6tg Yes, the public was shocked to see the gruesome footage of the huge amounts of young Marines' dead bodies washing ashore in the lagoon at the island of Betio, Tarawa Atoll... The American public hadn't really seen such gruesome imagery of US casualties before that 😳 I think there had been photos from the 'Bataan Death March', though, that shocked and enraged the American Public...
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 yeah I know what photos you're talking about they were snuck out of the Philippines by a couple of army officers that escaped the march
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 yeah believe I know what photos you're talking about they were snuck out of the Philippines by a couple of army officers that escaped the march
In 1983, as a California Highway Patrol officer & US Air Force vet I patrolled I-5 in northern San Diego county adjacent to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. One of our many reference landmark highways had a name I did not recognize at the time….until watching this series. It was Basilone Rd. A true American hero.
D-day does not refer to the D-day you're probably thinking of. "D-day" means day 1 of an operation. So for example, D-day, D- plus 1, D- plus 2, and so on. The landings you're more than likely thinking of is the Normandy landings in France. This was Iwo Jima which took place 1945 whereas Normandy was 1944.
When you compare basilone to Spiers recall that, though it wasn't mentioned in BoB, he married an English girl Margaret Griffiths, 15 days before the 101st dropped into France. So theres another similarity.
I'm currently reading Red blood, Black Sand by Chuck Tatum, one of the guys Basilone trains here. They used that as the basis for the combat scenes on Iwo Jima.
Iwo Jima was total carnage. Iwo saw the highest casualties of the pacific at that point. It was key for their airfield, to lead a mainland assault on Japan. On mount Surabachi, the Japanese dug in hundreds of cave systems that were massively effective on defending the island. Many good marines were laid to rest there. The main general and defender of the island studied and lived in America for many years.
That was my parents generation,it was one sacrifice after another,then got on with family and living,no safe place ,just early maturity.God bless them all.
Just imagine what it would have felt like seeing your hero die right infront of you. You look at this guy like he is a super hero and the next second he is gone forever. That would absolutely shatter my entire existence in that moment I doubt I would recover
John Basilone is a legend in the Marine Corps and is still remembered throughout America and especially the US Marines. He was a hero. Every Marine that goes through bootcamp knows of John Basilone, in Pendleton they make you go through training to try and mirror that of what he did in the Guelcanal.
5:06 A little bit of both, I'd guess. If you remember Sledge's first battle (the Battle of Peleliu) when they landed on the beach under fire, the Battle of Tarawa was a LOT like that (except it happened a year before Peleliu) The Battle for Henderson Field (which John Basilone fought in) lasted 3 days and about 80 American soldiers were killed compared to the 300 Japanese soldiers killed in that one suicidal banzai charge. I made a comment on an earlier episode explaining that because of the high casualties from banzai charges, the Japanese had changed their tactics, lying in wait for the Americans to come into range before opening fire. This new tactic was first used at the Battle of Tarawa, setting a deadly precedent for later battles like Saipan, Kwajalein, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima, the latter of which is depicted in this episode. Over the course of the 3 days that the Battle of Tarawa lasted, 1600 American soldiers were killed, most of them being killed upon landing on D-Day (a word used to indicate the day a major operation begins).
I live in Riverside, CA, and my uncle who was a Vietnam Vet passed recently, I only found out later that John Basilone’s wife Elena was buried in the same cemetery.
There is a real comparison with the disbelief of men under their command when John died and when Ack Ack died in the last episode. John got his own company off the beach and could have pushed up with them into positions of cover but that's not who he was. I think what actually happened was he saw a whole company hiding behind a tank getting picked off with no commander so he took it upon himself to get them off the beach too. He was just naturally brave, like Speirs in BoB but also very tactically astute like Winters.
John Basilone was a Marine through and through it was who he was, once a Marine always a Marine. All branches of the US military have their own self-identity molded into them then it's baked in. If I were young again and could pass the requirements and testing, I would enlist in the United States Space Force which only came into existence on Dec 20th. 2019. I am a USAF vet.
I absolutely love your Band of Brothers and the Pacific reactions they have been the highlight of my weeks🔥 hopefully you get to see Masters of the Air next you’ll definitely enjoy that too!
"D-Day" is what they call the day of ANY invasion. So, the invasion of Iwo Jima was on D-Day, February 19 1945. Yes, the June 6th 1944 invasion of Normandy is still called D-Day. But an invasion during WWII was on D-Day, at H-Hour.
19:20 Imagine the shock of going from an easy, virtually unopposed, Guadalcanal beach landing, to THIS absolute chaotic hellscape. The war changed and intensified so much while he was gone
In the scene where he yelled at them about calling the Japanese soldiers names He is not wrong at all because the imperial Japanese army is one of the toughest soldiers that the US military has ever faced because like he said they could live off pickled vegetables maggety rice and dirty water for weeks
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 they fought multiple wars with them and they were pretty inconclusive. So we just kinda moved on. But I still agree with you and would put the Apache and the Comanche above them. I don’t think people realize how brutal the Apache were.
I have no idea why so many people in the comments are trying to claim John Basilone was the only enlisted Marine to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross, but it isn't true (he's the only one to do it during WWII, but not the only one to ever do it like some are claiming)...Dan Daly received 2 Medals of Honor, the Navy Cross, and the Distinguished Service Cross (which is essentially tied with the Navy Cross as the second highest medal the US military can award a soldier) in the early 1900s leading into WWI, and Smedley Butler did it at the same time Daly did it*. In fairness, Butler was not an enlisted man when he received his medals, unlike Daly who refused multiple offers of a commission, remained an NCO his entire career and retired at the rank of Sgt Major. Not trying to diminish the accomplishments of Basilone at all, the guy was a legend, but claiming he's the only one to ever do it is factually incorrect, not to mention insulting to those Marines who did it before him. *technically Butler got the Navy Distinguished Service Medal rather than the Navy Cross in WWI, which was the equivalent of the modern-era Navy Cross...the Navy swapped the Navy Distinguished Service Medal with the Navy Cross in "seniority ranking" in 1942 to avoid confusion between the Army and Navy versions of the Distinguished Service Medal...had his awards been given in the same time frame as Basilone's were, he would've gotten the Navy Cross instead of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.
10:58 she wanted to see how he handled the rejection I guess, when he handled it maturely without insulting her she was like “okay I’ll give you a shot,”
Because of the vast amount of military assets involved in such an operation and that weather and logistics can delay dates, D-day is the designation given to the starting point of all large scale operations, so that everyone is operating on the same timetable. H-hour is the specified time of day.
Think lots of people don't understand that D-Day is just the term used for the mission kick off day, like H-Hour. Just that June 6th is so famous as "D-Day".
John Basilone could have continued to dine out on his fame, safe in the States but he had the spirit to get back into the fight. I guess it was the times. Wished he could have stayed home and had a family, but all those guys he was training had to go out and fight and he felt he needed to as well. A heroic age. Really enjoy your Aussie perspective on this series. Mentioned it before but you should watch "The Last Bastion" to get the Australian story on the beginning of the war, the Aussie Tora Tora Tora.
Basilone was a real bad ass... I can recommend watching Letters of Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers for a Japanese and American perspective of the battle on this damn volcanic island.
i say again after you finish the pacific, you have to finish the hbo war series with GENERATION KILL, probably the most realistic portrayal of current day warfare and also what i went through when i was part of the invasion of iraq
The thing about Iwo Jima was that the Japanese commander there was a much better tactician. Most Japanese island defenses worked on the idea to defend the land. Put men and machine guns on beaches and fight to the death to stop the enemy from ever getting on the land. for honor! At Iwo Jima, he gave the orders to allow the americans to land unopposed, and not to open fire 'until the beach is full'. Instead of simply fighting til they lost, they turned the island into a complete killing field. It turned into the worst most costly opperation America had ever faced. And Marines paid the price.
WW1 and WW2 saw the last of heroes and legends. I'm not talking about current service men and women who have given their lives and as such are called "heroes" because they die, I'm talking about individuals that go above anything that the normal person does and inspires those around them to push harder and strive for more. That just doesn't happen anymore now a days.
@xdviper4518 sorry I would have to disagree. Just in the last 20 years of Iraq and Afghanistan we've had plenty of heroes. That have gone way above and beyond. Some have died and some have lived. MSGT Chapman and Kyle Carpenter are just 2 I can think of. And there have been countless others who did not receive the Medal of Honor. If you are unfamiliar with those 2 names I listed, look their stories up and reconsider your comment.
I can't agree with you but I do think it's way less heroic and respectable when the context is these pointless unjust wars, and the guys doing this stuff are career soldiers and not conscripted kids who against all odds and against their will performed their duty.
@ Go back to the times of WW1 and WW2, the names of heroes would have been known by most people. Fast forward to today, and we get, "go look them up if you dont know who they are". Tells you everything you need to know. You clearly didnt understand my point, so maybe this one will help you.
It's very endearing AND heartwarming to me that you guys have felt the emotions that you have to these experiences of, not only Saving Private Ryan, BUT Band of Brothers and THIS series!! You're almost done with this one and then MAYBE you could take a little breather BUT PLEASE don't forget to react to Masters of the Air!!😮 It's the third installment also done by Hanks/ Spielberg and it focuses on a different part of World War II that not a lot of attention has been brought to until now!! Masters will put you in a B-17 bomber, flying bombing runs over occupied Europe!! These missions were done from late 1942 right on through to the end of the war in 1945!! Masters follows the 100th Bomb group of the 8th Army Air Force!! (The United States Air Force was not formed until 1946 or 47 after World War II, up until that point the Air Force was part of the army) They were known as the bloody 100th!!! 😮😮😢 They actually had MORE casualties than ALL the Marines that fought in the Pacific!!😮😮 Once you're done with Masters you're done with the historical documentary type series!! Although there is a series called "Generation Kill" which follows Marines in the Iraq theater of war post 9/11. I believe it's an eighth part series, pretty good!! I can't say that I've seen anyone on TH-cam reacting to Generation Kill. Anyway thanks for the reactions and love getting an Aussie point of view of all of this!! ❤❤❤❤
I'm glad you're feeling frustrated and disappointed about the life interruption and loss of this episode. Imagine this happening another 500,000 times, to families all over America. 100,000,000 times to people all over the world. Welcome to WWII.
Knew this one would be painful for these guys. Episodes like this one are why I think The Pacific is better than BoB. You get more from these characters than just their exploits in theater.
Although I still like this series (BoB is better imo) this was my least favourite episode. A bit too 'Hollywood' would have preferred if they had spread his relationship and re-enlisting over 2-3 episodes as this felt a bit forced. Great reaction as always.
I absolutely love your Band of Brothers and the Pacific reactions they have been the highlight of my weeks🔥 hopefully you get to see Masters of the Air next you’ll definitely enjoy that too!
This was such a heartbreaking and yet EPIC episode
Watch our reactions up to 4 weeks EARLY & UNCUT over on Patreon! www.patreon.com/spartanandpudgey
It's cringey but true nontheless. The USA only raised, IIRC, 100 military divisions because it was recognized that if we didn't have people have home to produce the munitions it didn't matter that we had a lot of soldiers. The soldiers were stretched thin at times over this, particularly in the Pacific, but at one point Richard Winters asked if Eisenhower didn't have anyone else in the army fill the line. And, honestly, Eisenhower did not.
She's an NCO just like Basilone. Did she have to command people with the Japanese attacking? Probably not. She runs a kitchen.
As you said, they didn't know about the nuclear bombs, many at the time thought the Pacific part of the war wouldn't be over until 1948.
@@SpartanandPudgey Brace yourselves for Episode 9...😬
@SpartanandPudgey. In real life, the hero doesn't often go home (unlike Hollywood movies).
14:22 "Didn't we see someone burn their hand?" It was him.
"On February 19, 1945, Basilone was killed in action leading an assault off the beaches of Iwo Jima. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the only enlisted Marine to be honored with both the Navy Cross and the Medal of Honor."
"The cost was staggering. The assault units of the corps-Marines and organic Navy personnel-sustained 24,053 casualties, by far the highest single-action losses in Marine Corps history. Of these, a total of 6,140 died. Roughly one Marine or corpsman became a casualty for every three who landed on Iwo Jima."
The above statement is why the US dropped the bombs on Japan. Japan wasn't going to surrender and
"According to historical estimates, a US invasion of Japan without the atomic bomb, known as "Operation Downfall," would have likely resulted in hundreds of thousands to potentially millions of American casualties, with an even higher number of Japanese casualties, with some experts predicting up to a million American deaths alone."
Bring back decisive action
They were estimating over 20 million casualties total, both civilian and American. The civilians were gearing up ready to fight to the bitter end.
John Basilone is an actual fcking legend.
You guys should consider watching Flags of our fathers AND Letters from Iwo Jima. One is from American perspective and the other from the Japanese about this battle. Those movies are great!
Johnny cash also made a song called “Ira Hayes” after the Native American who helped raised the flag at Iwo Jima.
In WWII, Basilone was the only enlisted Marine to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. The latter posthumously. ♥
The only reason why he doesn’t have a 2nd Medal of Honor is because Congress made it illegal. He would have a 2nd MOH.
@@jakesanchez7235interesting thing to make illegal. Maybe they were thinking if you won 1, you deserve to go home and relax so no way you'd get 2.
Or maybe to prevent fraud like just giving themselves medals or something
@@jakesanchez7235 19 people have received two medals of honor and its still possible though wildly unlikely today. This includes several marines awarded both the Navy and Army medals for the same action. The last 2nd award was Smedley Butlers 1917. After this the law changed to mean no one received two physical medals and inline with other military awards the first award is the medal itself and subsequent awards are denoted with a star or other device on the original medal.
Off Pacific.
As prior corpsman with marines in Camp Pendleton, CA, John is the patron saint of machine gunners and the corps in general. The man’s history and feats are drilled into every marines head and he is up there with the all time greatest and most famous marines in history. He’s also got a statue and day dedicated to him in his hometown of Raritan NJ
USS John Basilone (DDG-122) is a Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. The 72nd ship in the class, she is named for United States Marine Corps Gunnery sergeant John Basilone, who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award for valor, for actions during the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific War. Basilone was the only enlisted Marine to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross during World War II.
This is the second US Navy vessel to be named after Basilone, the first being USS Basilone (DD-824), a Gearing-class destroyer commissioned in 1949 and decommissioned in 1977. The Navy christened PCU(pre commissioning unit) John Basilone in a ceremony held on 18 June 2022.
On March 18, 2024, the ship traveled the Kennebec River to the Atlantic Ocean for four days of sea trials. She was delivered to the US Navy in July 2024 by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and was commissioned in New York City on November 9 2024.
This episode is always hard for me, because the first time I laid my eyes on my Wife she was in her Dress Greens at the Memphis Airport. We were both fresh out of boot camp and going to our Navy and Marine Technical school in Millington Tennessee. The end scene with Lina at the beach in her dress greens with the letter telling her John was killed always causes me to cry, just thinking during my Navy Career my wife could have received the same type of letter. About 35 years later I bought my Wife a set of Marine Dress Blues (At the time she went to boot camp, they were not issued the Dress Blues and had to purchase. The Marine's Dress Blues is the most beautiful military uniform out of all the military uniforms). My wife did not want me to purchase her the uniform and wanted to know when she would wear it. I told her for ceremonies and it will be on her at her death.
They completely missed Tarawa...probably the most evil of all Amphibious Landings in the Pacific War, and the most intense, nastiest battle, after Iwo Jima.
Tiny, tiny island, short battle, only a couple of days or so...intense, brutal Violence on a piece of coral island the size of the Pentagon's parking lot. Huge amount of casualties. Issue was in doubt. Last reserves were thrown in. Heroism. Three MoH.
Nowadays, a largely forgotten battle. November 1943. Tarawa.
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 I actually saw a wartime documentary made about that battle called with the marines at Tarawa and from my understanding it was made by the government to calm the public down because they were shocked by the high casualties that our military suffered during that campaign and you're absolutely right it's hardly ever mentioned anywhere when they talk about world war II in the Pacific
@ClancyWoodard-yw6tg Yes, the public was shocked to see the gruesome footage of the huge amounts of young Marines' dead bodies washing ashore in the lagoon at the island of Betio, Tarawa Atoll...
The American public hadn't really seen such gruesome imagery of US casualties before that 😳
I think there had been photos from the 'Bataan Death March', though, that shocked and enraged the American Public...
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 yeah I know what photos you're talking about they were snuck out of the Philippines by a couple of army officers that escaped the march
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 yeah believe I know what photos you're talking about they were snuck out of the Philippines by a couple of army officers that escaped the march
Peleliu saw more casualites them tawara
In 1983, as a California Highway Patrol officer & US Air Force vet I patrolled I-5 in northern San Diego county adjacent to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. One of our many reference landmark highways had a name I did not recognize at the time….until watching this series. It was Basilone Rd. A true American hero.
D-day does not refer to the D-day you're probably thinking of. "D-day" means day 1 of an operation. So for example, D-day, D- plus 1, D- plus 2, and so on. The landings you're more than likely thinking of is the Normandy landings in France. This was Iwo Jima which took place 1945 whereas Normandy was 1944.
When you compare basilone to Spiers recall that, though it wasn't mentioned in BoB, he married an English girl Margaret Griffiths, 15 days before the 101st dropped into France. So theres another similarity.
I'm currently reading Red blood, Black Sand by Chuck Tatum, one of the guys Basilone trains here. They used that as the basis for the combat scenes on Iwo Jima.
I have the book 📖. Haven't read it yet, though...
Iwo Jima was total carnage. Iwo saw the highest casualties of the pacific at that point. It was key for their airfield, to lead a mainland assault on Japan. On mount Surabachi, the Japanese dug in hundreds of cave systems that were massively effective on defending the island. Many good marines were laid to rest there. The main general and defender of the island studied and lived in America for many years.
I used to live next to Camp Pendleton. That place is loud. Windows rattling, ground thumping, helicopter fleets flying over. Pretty darn cool. 😊
So do we- The Sounds of Freedom!
That was my parents generation,it was one sacrifice after another,then got on with family and living,no safe place ,just early maturity.God bless them all.
Just imagine what it would have felt like seeing your hero die right infront of you. You look at this guy like he is a super hero and the next second he is gone forever. That would absolutely shatter my entire existence in that moment I doubt I would recover
Basilogne's wife was the definition of an alpha-widow. Never remarried, never had children.
John Basilone is a legend in the Marine Corps and is still remembered throughout America and especially the US Marines. He was a hero. Every Marine that goes through bootcamp knows of John Basilone, in Pendleton they make you go through training to try and mirror that of what he did in the Guelcanal.
5:06 A little bit of both, I'd guess. If you remember Sledge's first battle (the Battle of Peleliu) when they landed on the beach under fire, the Battle of Tarawa was a LOT like that (except it happened a year before Peleliu) The Battle for Henderson Field (which John Basilone fought in) lasted 3 days and about 80 American soldiers were killed compared to the 300 Japanese soldiers killed in that one suicidal banzai charge. I made a comment on an earlier episode explaining that because of the high casualties from banzai charges, the Japanese had changed their tactics, lying in wait for the Americans to come into range before opening fire. This new tactic was first used at the Battle of Tarawa, setting a deadly precedent for later battles like Saipan, Kwajalein, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima, the latter of which is depicted in this episode. Over the course of the 3 days that the Battle of Tarawa lasted, 1600 American soldiers were killed, most of them being killed upon landing on D-Day (a word used to indicate the day a major operation begins).
I live in Riverside, CA, and my uncle who was a Vietnam Vet passed recently, I only found out later that John Basilone’s wife Elena was buried in the same cemetery.
There is a real comparison with the disbelief of men under their command when John died and when Ack Ack died in the last episode. John got his own company off the beach and could have pushed up with them into positions of cover but that's not who he was. I think what actually happened was he saw a whole company hiding behind a tank getting picked off with no commander so he took it upon himself to get them off the beach too. He was just naturally brave, like Speirs in BoB but also very tactically astute like Winters.
I'm from New Jersey and I've been to the Raritan Public Library's Basilone Room, a small but heartfelt hometown memorial to him.
John Basilone was a Marine through and through it was who he was, once a Marine always a Marine. All branches of the US military have their own self-identity molded into them then it's baked in. If I were young again and could pass the requirements and testing, I would enlist in the United States Space Force which only came into existence on Dec 20th. 2019. I am a USAF vet.
I absolutely love your Band of Brothers and the Pacific reactions they have been the highlight of my weeks🔥 hopefully you get to see Masters of the Air next you’ll definitely enjoy that too!
"D-Day" is what they call the day of ANY invasion. So, the invasion of Iwo Jima was on D-Day, February 19 1945. Yes, the June 6th 1944 invasion of Normandy is still called D-Day. But an invasion during WWII was on D-Day, at H-Hour.
19:20 Imagine the shock of going from an easy, virtually unopposed, Guadalcanal beach landing, to THIS absolute chaotic hellscape. The war changed and intensified so much while he was gone
In the scene where he yelled at them about calling the Japanese soldiers names He is not wrong at all because the imperial Japanese army is one of the toughest soldiers that the US military has ever faced because like he said they could live off pickled vegetables maggety rice and dirty water for weeks
The toughest enemy the US Army has ever fought, were the Apache, and probably the Comanche.
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258the Seminoles should get a mention here too
@scalisque5403 I just know that the US fought a war against them. I honestly don't know much about that war...
@@dioghaltasfoirneartach7258 they fought multiple wars with them and they were pretty inconclusive. So we just kinda moved on. But I still agree with you and would put the Apache and the Comanche above them. I don’t think people realize how brutal the Apache were.
Spartan & Pudgey Such A Awesome Video Today!!🔥🐐🐐💎
Basilone was the Ack Ack of his men.
Lena Basilone learned of John's death on her 31st birthday. Heck of a present.
I like that transition because it again mirrors what Sid said to Sledge. It's brilliant writing! So sad that this happened in real life.
Never forget how lucky you are Sparten, Pudgey is beautiful, also the name of my first pet cat who died at 16.
The US Navy recently took delivery of a guided missile destroyer named USS John Basilone. She's a beautiful ship.
Nice reaction and commentary. Thanks Spartan and Pudgeroo!
Reading the story of John Basilone ,when I was in high school ,is one of the reasons I chose the Marine Corps over the other branches of the military.
I have no idea why so many people in the comments are trying to claim John Basilone was the only enlisted Marine to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross, but it isn't true (he's the only one to do it during WWII, but not the only one to ever do it like some are claiming)...Dan Daly received 2 Medals of Honor, the Navy Cross, and the Distinguished Service Cross (which is essentially tied with the Navy Cross as the second highest medal the US military can award a soldier) in the early 1900s leading into WWI, and Smedley Butler did it at the same time Daly did it*. In fairness, Butler was not an enlisted man when he received his medals, unlike Daly who refused multiple offers of a commission, remained an NCO his entire career and retired at the rank of Sgt Major. Not trying to diminish the accomplishments of Basilone at all, the guy was a legend, but claiming he's the only one to ever do it is factually incorrect, not to mention insulting to those Marines who did it before him.
*technically Butler got the Navy Distinguished Service Medal rather than the Navy Cross in WWI, which was the equivalent of the modern-era Navy Cross...the Navy swapped the Navy Distinguished Service Medal with the Navy Cross in "seniority ranking" in 1942 to avoid confusion between the Army and Navy versions of the Distinguished Service Medal...had his awards been given in the same time frame as Basilone's were, he would've gotten the Navy Cross instead of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.
If you guys think you’re broken up till now. Just wait till ep9
D-Day is the first day of any invasion. This was Iwo Jima. The famous D-Day was Normandy.
You guys should wacth the Fat Electrician's video on John. He explains his motivation for wanting to fight, it's like it was his destiny.
10:58 she wanted to see how he handled the rejection I guess, when he handled it maturely without insulting her she was like “okay I’ll give you a shot,”
as soon as you saw John on Iwo Jima, you should have known
Because of the vast amount of military assets involved in such an operation and that weather and logistics can delay dates, D-day is the designation given to the starting point of all large scale operations, so that everyone is operating on the same timetable. H-hour is the specified time of day.
fyi not sure if you realized but Iwo Jima D-day is different than Normandy d-day
Think lots of people don't understand that D-Day is just the term used for the mission kick off day, like H-Hour. Just that June 6th is so famous as "D-Day".
Wrong. Everyone knows Normandy was defended by the Japanese army
John Basilone could have continued to dine out on his fame, safe in the States but he had the spirit to get back into the fight. I guess it was the times. Wished he could have stayed home and had a family, but all those guys he was training had to go out and fight and he felt he needed to as well. A heroic age. Really enjoy your Aussie perspective on this series. Mentioned it before but you should watch "The Last Bastion" to get the Australian story on the beginning of the war, the Aussie Tora Tora Tora.
The Navy has a destroyer named after Basilone.
Basilone was a real bad ass... I can recommend watching Letters of Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers for a Japanese and American perspective of the battle on this damn volcanic island.
Feb. 19, 1945 is the D-Day for the Pacific theater.
Iwo Jima was nasty for the US and Japan, A really strategic point in the Pacific part of ww2.
Spears and basilonge give off the same aura
i say again after you finish the pacific, you have to finish the hbo war series with GENERATION KILL, probably the most realistic portrayal of current day warfare and also what i went through when i was part of the invasion of iraq
The Pacific has John Basilogne and Band of Brothers had Ronald Speirs. Both complete bad asses.
great stuff, thank you
The Fat Election on youtube has recently done a video on John Basilone and covers his actions it's a great 1 to watch.
The thing about Iwo Jima was that the Japanese commander there was a much better tactician.
Most Japanese island defenses worked on the idea to defend the land. Put men and machine guns on beaches and fight to the death to stop the enemy from ever getting on the land. for honor!
At Iwo Jima, he gave the orders to allow the americans to land unopposed, and not to open fire 'until the beach is full'. Instead of simply fighting til they lost, they turned the island into a complete killing field. It turned into the worst most costly opperation America had ever faced. And Marines paid the price.
Iwo Jima was brutal
"just get another one" lmao
Masters of the Air is also good guys
Great reaction.
WW1 and WW2 saw the last of heroes and legends. I'm not talking about current service men and women who have given their lives and as such are called "heroes" because they die, I'm talking about individuals that go above anything that the normal person does and inspires those around them to push harder and strive for more. That just doesn't happen anymore now a days.
@xdviper4518 sorry I would have to disagree. Just in the last 20 years of Iraq and Afghanistan we've had plenty of heroes. That have gone way above and beyond. Some have died and some have lived. MSGT Chapman and Kyle Carpenter are just 2 I can think of. And there have been countless others who did not receive the Medal of Honor. If you are unfamiliar with those 2 names I listed, look their stories up and reconsider your comment.
I can't agree with you but I do think it's way less heroic and respectable when the context is these pointless unjust wars, and the guys doing this stuff are career soldiers and not conscripted kids who against all odds and against their will performed their duty.
@ Go back to the times of WW1 and WW2, the names of heroes would have been known by most people. Fast forward to today, and we get, "go look them up if you dont know who they are". Tells you everything you need to know. You clearly didnt understand my point, so maybe this one will help you.
Spartan: “oh look that moved rather quickly (HUMONGOUS GULP)”
its rumored stan lee was inspired to create captain america because of john basilone.
it just a rumor and not true at all Captain America come out in March of 1941 and Basilone actions on the pacific occur in October 24, 1942
@@MarcoMM1 that makes sense. marvel definitely borrowed elements of basilone's life for the 2011 movie though.
There streets named after him and his wife
It's very endearing AND heartwarming to me that you guys have felt the emotions that you have to these experiences of, not only Saving Private Ryan, BUT Band of Brothers and THIS series!! You're almost done with this one and then MAYBE you could take a little breather BUT PLEASE don't forget to react to Masters of the Air!!😮
It's the third installment also done by Hanks/ Spielberg and it focuses on a different part of World War II that not a lot of attention has been brought to until now!!
Masters will put you in a B-17 bomber, flying bombing runs over occupied Europe!!
These missions were done from late 1942 right on through to the end of the war in 1945!!
Masters follows the 100th Bomb group of the 8th Army Air Force!! (The United States Air Force was not formed until 1946 or 47 after World War II, up until that point the Air Force was part of the army)
They were known as the bloody 100th!!! 😮😮😢
They actually had MORE casualties than ALL the Marines that fought in the Pacific!!😮😮
Once you're done with Masters you're done with the historical documentary type series!! Although there is a series called "Generation Kill" which follows Marines in the Iraq theater of war post 9/11. I believe it's an eighth part series, pretty good!! I can't say that I've seen anyone on TH-cam reacting to Generation Kill.
Anyway thanks for the reactions and love getting an Aussie point of view of all of this!!
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❤️🙏🏼
Episode 9 coming up 👀
Wow, it just dropped. I forgot you guys are on different time zone
A mortar got John Basilone not a bullet, and he lost his stomach.
Apocalypto
We never call them soldiers they’re either a marine Navy army and rank not soldiers
There's a John basilone day Feb 19
I'm glad you're feeling frustrated and disappointed about the life interruption and loss of this episode. Imagine this happening another 500,000 times, to families all over America. 100,000,000 times to people all over the world. Welcome to WWII.
Please make sure you have Kleenex for episode 9. You'll need them
WALLE and the best COCO
Knew this one would be painful for these guys. Episodes like this one are why I think The Pacific is better than BoB. You get more from these characters than just their exploits in theater.
I really hope you will watch masters of the air after this
She never remarried................................./////////////////////////////////////
basilone**
Although I still like this series (BoB is better imo) this was my least favourite episode. A bit too 'Hollywood' would have preferred if they had spread his relationship and re-enlisting over 2-3 episodes as this felt a bit forced. Great reaction as always.
I absolutely love your Band of Brothers and the Pacific reactions they have been the highlight of my weeks🔥 hopefully you get to see Masters of the Air next you’ll definitely enjoy that too!