With the Old Breed at Pelelui and Okinawa is the best war book I have ever read hands down. I first tried reading it at 12yrs old, after the show I got to the airfield and had to set it down bc my brain couldn’t process at that age what I was reading. I picked it up again when I was in my extra math class I wasn’t paying attention to and read it that entire class. I was captivated by the way he described things and thought how my grandfathers faced the same wrath on those exact islands.
@@aaronwalters6134 They could have done more of that if they were less woke and cared more about the actual events. Forcing in complete BS like the SOE fiction on D-Day and at least 50% of the POW stuff was really awful. And the Tuskegee Airmen stuff was cringe worthy and totally unnecessary. Episodes 8-10 almost ruined the entire series for me. That said I really did enjoy Masters of Air and it is certainly worth watching.
I have truly enjoyed watching you two watch this series. Your reactions and emotions are truly sincere and not forced to get likes. I still highly recommend you two watch Schindler’s list. Though David I’ll warn you it’s truly a rough one to watch. It’ll definitely be rough for your wife Tony, please tell me I spelled that right. But it truly is a masterpiece. I hope you two decide to watch it.
I felt the same way, I preferred BoB more than the Pacific when I first watched it when the Pacific first came out. I’ve since watched both dozens and dozens of times. I now feel the Pacific is as good and in some cases better than BoB! BoB was great and tough to watch but it was centered around the brotherhood found in war. The Pacific focused on the psychological effects of war in a real way that not many movies or shows have shown
Most of these guys did NOT have a happy life after the war and almost all suffered greatly from "shell shock" or "combat fatigue" as it was called back then (what we now call PTSD). The military gave minimal help or support for their suffering and these men suffered their entire lives. Now that you've watched both series you need to watch the 'unofficial' Episode 22 - "He Has Seen War", which is an HBO/Playtone (Tom Hanks) documentary from 2011 (10 yrs after Band of Brothers and The Pacific). It has interviews with a few of the guys from both series (and their family members) and talks about their lives after the war. He Has Seen War - th-cam.com/video/O6w6XEDh5hM/w-d-xo.html
I know Masters Of the Air is going to be recommended a lot, but I think Generation Kill could also be a good miniseries to watch. It follows Marine Recon guys during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It's based on the writings of an embeded reporter who was with the Marines. Very different. Still it's been called the spiritual successor to these ones and an unofficial part of the trilogy of Band of Brothers and The Pacific. At least before Masters of the Air came out. Definitely very different whilst still keeping it real. Nowadays I think it's my favorite out of the three as it feels the most relatable and very realistic. Great actors as well, and definitely not as dreary
This is a brutal series. The pacific theater was hell on earth. Probably the harder of the two series to watch. I've got a copy of Eugene Sledges book "With the Old Breed" coming in the mail this week. I look forward to reading his actual account of what went on, untouched by a Hollywood adaptation. Thanks for working your way through this one you two.
What this show doesn't touch on is that after Okinawa, sledge spent 6 months in China as part of the security force between the communist and imperial chinese parties. So by the time they got back the war was in the past. He stayed with a Chinese family who he grew to love like his own and after the communists won the war he lost contact with them. Also he could never shoot anything again. It briefly touches on this at the end. He talks alot about it in his book, China Marine.
When I was a senior in HS in 1977 and 1978, one of my elective courses was typing. And we had to learn on a typewriter similar to that. Actually, it wasn't that hard because what did we have to compare it too? With the Vietnam War, it was much worse for them coming back. The anti war people were taking it out on the soldiers that fought in the war. Like it was their fault. They would call them baby killer and all sort of things. They had a much different and harder homecoming than WW 2. My much, much older brother avoided the war by becoming a teacher. I avoided the war because I was I think 14 when it ended. But they still had the draft, so I was getting a little worried. When I Was in my 30's, I Was dating a woman ten years older than me. So she and her friends grew up right in the middle of the VN war. She told me that her male friends, if they even came back from VN at all, were not the same for a long time. Many of them had a VERY hard time adjusting to civilian life and mostly just hung out with other vets. Many became homeless and or unemployed.
With pstd, it usually doesnt fully kick in till youre out of the danger the trauma in a place thats safe and your system has no idea what so ever how to function then or there. The irony is youre finally free and safe and its then that your mind returns to things you couldnt process fully then. Ive no idea why but the nights are the worst. Sometimes just sitting there holding yourself looking at the nights sky praying for the sun to come up.
What reactors do not pick up on is the dove is a symbol of peace and I respect Sledge's choice to not go after the dove as actively hunting and killing that bird would be a huge disservice to peace time in the U.S. and to him, the killing needed to stop. Even if it is a bird that has done nothing wrong. He had a passion of Ornithology, the study of birds.
Both Leckies' Book (Helmet For My Pillow) and Sledges book (With the Old Breed: at Peleliu and Okinawa) are excellent! I don't think one should try to compare BoB to the Pacific...the Pacific war was so brutal.... both shows have great merit and I've watched them both many many times. Definitely check out the "unofficial " 11th episode... the documentary "He Has Seen War " which you can find on TH-cam. Has veterans and their families from both BoB and the Pacific. Really good. I loved Masters of the Air as well. I really enjoyed the most recent movie Midway also, tho most prefer the original one. There's a documentary on PBS by Ken Burns on WW2 that's very good as well, called The War. Very good interviews with Sid Phillips ( Sledges friend) and Sids sister Katherine who is an absolute treasure 😊 Was great going on this journey with you both.
I highly recommend reading Helmet for my Pillow. Robert Leckie is one of the greatest writers and he has such a distinct style of writing and speaking. One of the best books of the past half century I've read.
Syd Phillips wrote a book for his children and grandchildren about his time on Guadalcanal " You'll Be Sorree!" It does not dwell on the horror of it , the humor and day to day experience's are fascinating. Plus his courtship of Mary Houston! I highly recommend the audiobook.
The Pacific enemy and geography were different animals making this so much harder to watch than BoB. Once you're up to Masters of the Air, also consider watching Tom Hanks in Greyhound, a film about a WW2 allied ship convoy across the Mid Atlantic. I think it would have been better as a shorter mini series for better depth of story and getting to know characters, but I enjoyed learning how troops and supplies got to mainland Europe, something I'd never thought of.
Sledge's combat memoir is one of the best ever written. He also wrote China Marine about the time he spent in China after the war. I have been to the Mariana Islands and been in Japanese Caves with Artillery and saw what these men faced. Masters of The Air is from the book of the same name is about the bomber crews of American daylight bombing. You will meet special men such as Rosie Rosenthal and see how the crews coped with the high casualty rate. It is nine episodes plus a documentary movie called The Bloody Hundredth. There are a number of videos on TH-cam connected to this series including their families.
Been hanging out for this to see your pacific journey come to an end. Whilst i think the series is great and having mostly been shot in Australia making us proud, there are so many operations in the pacific that Australia, New Zealand, the Dutch, India and much more were involved in that America Barely or never touched. We just don't have the budgets to show those stories. I recommend for your own interest is learning about the battles for Papua New Guinea, Milne Bay, British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Most made up of Aussies who did not see themselves as British since 1901) And the all famous Battle of Brisbane fought between US Soldiers and Australians.
Please consider watching these two movies directed by Clint Eastwood... letters from Iwo Jima which takes place for the Japanese side... or Flags of Our Fathers which takes place on the American side
The DNA of the European war was completely different from the DNA of the Pacific war...the war itself, the series only correctly reflected this. The enemy were different. There was no translation of a Japanese commander speaking to his troops with words and in the same way as any American commander might have. The Japanese commanders committed suicide after ordering their troops to make suicide charges at the Marines. The Germans surrendered when it was clear they'd tactically lost, under commonly shared traditional European rules of war going back centuries. The island campaign against Japan weren't battles: they are island-by-island exterminations. 22,000 Japanese on the Island and the marines and soldiers walked from one side to the other shooting, burning, bludgeoning, blowing up and burying alive every Japanese solder, save the 200 or so who were captured. If you read Sledge's Book, 'With the old breed,' he describes it as 2 scorpions in a bottle trying to kill each other. Totally different DNA.
imagine closing your eyes to sleep every night and seeing a woman and baby blow up in front of you and their splatter hitting your face. A real nightmare becoming a recurring sleep nightmare. It would make you never want to put the uniform back on.
Just about every vet that fought the good fight returned to make a life for themselves and their loved ones. WW2 Vets had it better than the men who fought in Vietnam. The WW2 vets had time with their units and they came home together as heroes. Vietnam vets came home individually. One minute in Nam the next in the US where they were often despised. My best friend did 2 tours of duty as a combat Marine in Vietnam. He had a hard time adjusting which cost him his marriage. He died in 97 a victim of Agent Orange. On the other hand my father-in-law was a waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator. He came home, went to work for GE, adopted a brother and sister, my wife, and lived into his 90s. I hope you guys look into the Vietnam War movies. There are some really good ones like Platoon, We Were Soldiers, Hamburger Hill, etc. The Korean War is often called the Forgotten War. There are some movies from the 50s like Porkchop Hill. It might be a good idea to look into them.
I liked how when Leckie gets back home, the first vet he meets is a paratrooper who jumped into Normandy.
With the Old Breed at Pelelui and Okinawa is the best war book I have ever read hands down. I first tried reading it at 12yrs old, after the show I got to the airfield and had to set it down bc my brain couldn’t process at that age what I was reading. I picked it up again when I was in my extra math class I wasn’t paying attention to and read it that entire class. I was captivated by the way he described things and thought how my grandfathers faced the same wrath on those exact islands.
If you can find it, you should also read Marine at War by Russell Davis. He was in Sledges unit and is equally a great read.
Sledge's book is a superb example of nonfiction. They definitely picked worthy company for BoB.
The scene where Sledge’s father stays outside his room listening to him breaks my heart every time I see it. His father wanted to save him from that.
Masters of the Air has to be next
Good series that could have been great.
@@TheSocratesianI really liked it. Definitely could have used 10 episodes for character development.
@@aaronwalters6134 They could have done more of that if they were less woke and cared more about the actual events. Forcing in complete BS like the SOE fiction on D-Day and at least 50% of the POW stuff was really awful. And the Tuskegee Airmen stuff was cringe worthy and totally unnecessary. Episodes 8-10 almost ruined the entire series for me. That said I really did enjoy Masters of Air and it is certainly worth watching.
@@TheSocratesianI read the book. That show could’ve been 20 episodes. It’s like they got the whole miniseries from just the Introduction.
I have truly enjoyed watching you two watch this series. Your reactions and emotions are truly sincere and not forced to get likes.
I still highly recommend you two watch Schindler’s list. Though David I’ll warn you it’s truly a rough one to watch. It’ll definitely be rough for your wife Tony, please tell me I spelled that right. But it truly is a masterpiece. I hope you two decide to watch it.
Thank you for the suggestion and we'll definitely add it to our list. - Toni 🤓
I felt the same way, I preferred BoB more than the Pacific when I first watched it when the Pacific first came out. I’ve since watched both dozens and dozens of times. I now feel the Pacific is as good and in some cases better than BoB! BoB was great and tough to watch but it was centered around the brotherhood found in war. The Pacific focused on the psychological effects of war in a real way that not many movies or shows have shown
Most of these guys did NOT have a happy life after the war and almost all suffered greatly from "shell shock" or "combat fatigue" as it was called back then (what we now call PTSD). The military gave minimal help or support for their suffering and these men suffered their entire lives.
Now that you've watched both series you need to watch the 'unofficial' Episode 22 - "He Has Seen War", which is an HBO/Playtone (Tom Hanks) documentary from 2011 (10 yrs after Band of Brothers and The Pacific). It has interviews with a few of the guys from both series (and their family members) and talks about their lives after the war.
He Has Seen War - th-cam.com/video/O6w6XEDh5hM/w-d-xo.html
I know Masters Of the Air is going to be recommended a lot, but I think Generation Kill could also be a good miniseries to watch. It follows Marine Recon guys during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It's based on the writings of an embeded reporter who was with the Marines. Very different. Still it's been called the spiritual successor to these ones and an unofficial part of the trilogy of Band of Brothers and The Pacific. At least before Masters of the Air came out. Definitely very different whilst still keeping it real. Nowadays I think it's my favorite out of the three as it feels the most relatable and very realistic. Great actors as well, and definitely not as dreary
Thank you for the recommendation and insight. I hadn’t heard of Generation Kill. - Toni 🤓
This is a brutal series. The pacific theater was hell on earth. Probably the harder of the two series to watch.
I've got a copy of Eugene Sledges book "With the Old Breed" coming in the mail this week. I look forward to reading his actual account of what went on, untouched by a Hollywood adaptation.
Thanks for working your way through this one you two.
The Hollywood adaptation. stayed true to the books, "Helmet for My Pillow", and "With the Old Breed", except the books are more detailed and graphic.
Great book
You might want to check out "He has Seen War" Documentary!!! Interviews with the Veterans !!!
What this show doesn't touch on is that after Okinawa, sledge spent 6 months in China as part of the security force between the communist and imperial chinese parties. So by the time they got back the war was in the past. He stayed with a Chinese family who he grew to love like his own and after the communists won the war he lost contact with them. Also he could never shoot anything again. It briefly touches on this at the end. He talks alot about it in his book, China Marine.
Thank you so much for the insight. Looking forward to reading the book. - Toni 🤓
So Glad to see Y'all, and Smiling too😁looks like tonight will indeed be a Happy Homecoming❤🩹for All of Us...🎉
When I was a senior in HS in 1977 and 1978, one of my elective courses was typing. And we had to learn on a typewriter similar to that. Actually, it wasn't that hard because what did we have to compare it too?
With the Vietnam War, it was much worse for them coming back. The anti war people were taking it out on the soldiers that fought in the war. Like it was their fault. They would call them baby killer and all sort of things. They had a much different and harder homecoming than WW 2. My much, much older brother avoided the war by becoming a teacher. I avoided the war because I was I think 14 when it ended. But they still had the draft, so I was getting a little worried.
When I Was in my 30's, I Was dating a woman ten years older than me. So she and her friends grew up right in the middle of the VN war. She told me that her male friends, if they even came back from VN at all, were not the same for a long time. Many of them had a VERY hard time adjusting to civilian life and mostly just hung out with other vets. Many became homeless and or unemployed.
Thank y'all!
With pstd, it usually doesnt fully kick in till youre out of the danger the trauma in a place thats safe and your system has no idea what so ever how to function then or there. The irony is youre finally free and safe and its then that your mind returns to things you couldnt process fully then. Ive no idea why but the nights are the worst. Sometimes just sitting there holding yourself looking at the nights sky praying for the sun to come up.
We all stand on their shoulders in freedom.
What reactors do not pick up on is the dove is a symbol of peace and I respect Sledge's choice to not go after the dove as actively hunting and killing that bird would be a huge disservice to peace time in the U.S. and to him, the killing needed to stop. Even if it is a bird that has done nothing wrong. He had a passion of Ornithology, the study of birds.
Now you guys have to watch masters of the air! It’s the 3rd part of the Spielberg hanks WW2 trilogy! It focuses on the air war over Germany
It was a good series. But Band of Brothers is truly the masterpiece of masterpieces.
Both Leckies' Book (Helmet For My Pillow) and Sledges book (With the Old Breed: at Peleliu and Okinawa) are excellent!
I don't think one should try to compare BoB to the Pacific...the Pacific war was so brutal.... both shows have great merit and I've watched them both many many times. Definitely check out the "unofficial " 11th episode... the documentary "He Has Seen War " which you can find on TH-cam. Has veterans and their families from both BoB and the Pacific. Really good. I loved Masters of the Air as well. I really enjoyed the most recent movie Midway also, tho most prefer the original one. There's a documentary on PBS by Ken Burns on WW2 that's very good as well, called The War. Very good interviews with Sid Phillips ( Sledges friend) and Sids sister Katherine who is an absolute treasure 😊
Was great going on this journey with you both.
I highly recommend reading Helmet for my Pillow. Robert Leckie is one of the greatest writers and he has such a distinct style of writing and speaking. One of the best books of the past half century I've read.
Syd Phillips wrote a book for his children and grandchildren about his time on Guadalcanal " You'll Be Sorree!" It does not dwell on the horror of it , the humor and day to day experience's are fascinating. Plus his courtship of Mary Houston! I highly recommend the audiobook.
The Pacific enemy and geography were different animals making this so much harder to watch than BoB. Once you're up to Masters of the Air, also consider watching Tom Hanks in Greyhound, a film about a WW2 allied ship convoy across the Mid Atlantic. I think it would have been better as a shorter mini series for better depth of story and getting to know characters, but I enjoyed learning how troops and supplies got to mainland Europe, something I'd never thought of.
Sledge's combat memoir is one of the best ever written. He also wrote China Marine about the time he spent in China after the war. I have been to the Mariana Islands and been in Japanese Caves with Artillery and saw what these men faced. Masters of The Air is from the book of the same name is about the bomber crews of American daylight bombing. You will meet special men such as Rosie Rosenthal and see how the crews coped with the high casualty rate. It is nine episodes plus a documentary movie called The Bloody Hundredth. There are a number of videos on TH-cam connected to this series including their families.
12:27 He went to service earlier than Eugene due to Eugene's heart problem in the beginning of the series.
Look up The Pacific: Conditions of the War. Little 3 min video but you here about the diffences between the European and Pacific theater of war
Been hanging out for this to see your pacific journey come to an end. Whilst i think the series is great and having mostly been shot in Australia making us proud, there are so many operations in the pacific that Australia, New Zealand, the Dutch, India and much more were involved in that America Barely or never touched. We just don't have the budgets to show those stories. I recommend for your own interest is learning about the battles for Papua New Guinea, Milne Bay, British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Most made up of Aussies who did not see themselves as British since 1901) And the all famous Battle of Brisbane fought between US Soldiers and Australians.
Please consider watching these two movies directed by Clint Eastwood... letters from Iwo Jima which takes place for the Japanese side... or Flags of Our Fathers which takes place on the American side
The Pacific Theater was (incredibly) even more brutal than the European Theater
at least for my Great Grandpa Merl hunting was very theraputic after the war
you still got Masters of the Air to go, its done by the people who did this and Band of Brothers. hanks an speilberg
This was a great series, enjoyed watching with both of you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The DNA of the European war was completely different from the DNA of the Pacific war...the war itself, the series only correctly reflected this. The enemy were different. There was no translation of a Japanese commander speaking to his troops with words and in the same way as any American commander might have. The Japanese commanders committed suicide after ordering their troops to make suicide charges at the Marines. The Germans surrendered when it was clear they'd tactically lost, under commonly shared traditional European rules of war going back centuries. The island campaign against Japan weren't battles: they are island-by-island exterminations. 22,000 Japanese on the Island and the marines and soldiers walked from one side to the other shooting, burning, bludgeoning, blowing up and burying alive every Japanese solder, save the 200 or so who were captured. If you read Sledge's Book, 'With the old breed,' he describes it as 2 scorpions in a bottle trying to kill each other. Totally different DNA.
imagine closing your eyes to sleep every night and seeing a woman and baby blow up in front of you and their splatter hitting your face. A real nightmare becoming a recurring sleep nightmare. It would make you never want to put the uniform back on.
This series is brutal. But Sledge’s book “Old Breed” was way worse compared to the series. Very good book!
😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢🎉🎉🎉
please watch the movie Holes based on the Louis Sachar novel
They’ll be at 100 k before you know it
Wouldn't that be something? 🙂
Just about every vet that fought the good fight returned to make a life for themselves and their loved ones. WW2 Vets had it better than the men who fought in Vietnam. The WW2 vets had time with their units and they came home together as heroes. Vietnam vets came home individually. One minute in Nam the next in the US where they were often despised. My best friend did 2 tours of duty as a combat Marine in Vietnam. He had a hard time adjusting which cost him his marriage. He died in 97 a victim of Agent Orange. On the other hand my father-in-law was a waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator. He came home, went to work for GE, adopted a brother and sister, my wife, and lived into his 90s.
I hope you guys look into the Vietnam War movies. There are some really good ones like Platoon, We Were Soldiers, Hamburger Hill, etc.
The Korean War is often called the Forgotten War. There are some movies from the 50s like Porkchop Hill. It might be a good idea to look into them.
Can you please please please react to The Perfect Storm?
It's on our list!
@@popculturallychallenged Woooohooo! I can't wait!