I’m too old and run down to run Currahee but even driving it you get a little more respect for their toughness. I was in the 101st in the mid to late 80’s and Airborne School at Benning and we ran a LOT. Running that mountain in boots in summer and that crazy long road march from Toccoa is really something.

Just finished a second run through. Now we are starting The Pacific again. I had forgotten how good they were.

I work with a young engineer whose last name is Sobel. He does not understand when I occasionally bellow at him "What is the Goddamn holdup, Mr. Sobel?"

The CGI bits are starting to come through a little more obviously, but the story, characters, and action are hard to beat.

They should give the Korean War that same treatment. It seems like retelling stories about that war is purposely avoided.

quote:

Originally posted by murphman:
Actually, I think a lot of people would need to see a TV show to understand why our victory was important at all. But they aren't on Sigforum.

And I think a lot of them wouldn't understand it even if they watched it. There are a huge number of totally clueless people alive today.

flashguy

We started a pay-it-forward thing with a box set of the BoB (maybe I won the Karma on it? Can't remember which generous member put it up). Anyhow, it's with one of our members, if anyone wants to dig up the thread and try to get that kicked back off.

Finished The Pacific - again.

I can't even imagine how one goes from being in combat for months/years and then suddenly being dumped back into civilized society mostly full of people who's lives are still in a lot of ways the same as they were before the war. Only those that served would understand. Even seeing it portrayed in stories and movies, it is hard to understand what those guys went through and then came back to try to live regular lives.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Finished The Pacific - again...

... Even seeing it portrayed in stories and movies, it is hard to understand what those guys went through and then came back to try to live regular lives.

Minor thread drift: That describes "The Best Years of Our Lives" from 1946.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0...8/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

^^^^^^^^^^
Excellent film. I reccomend it highly.

I've just started watching BoB for the first time. Thank God for those men!

My Dad was a World War II vet. Battle of the Bulge etc. He would have loved Band of Brothers. Victory at Sea was a staple in our household growing up.

The book ain't bad either.

I could not find the original thread for the Band of Brothers so I wanted to put the update here...

Col. Edward Shames, the last surviving member of the World War II military unit portrayed in HBO’s “Band of Brothers,” died Friday at age 99.

Shames was part of the U.S. Army’s Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, a highly regarded unit of parachute infantrymen who saw combat in many of the conflict’s most famous battles.

He “passed away peacefully at home,” according to an obituary posted by Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home & Crematory in Norfolk, Virginia.

The real Shames, a Virginia native, was drafted into the military in 1942 at age 20.

His first combat mission involved parachuting into Normandy on D-Day as part of Operation Overload, and he later fought with Easy Company in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands and in the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, France, according to his obituary. He also volunteered for Operation Pegasus, carried out in the Netherlands.

“Ed gained a reputation as a stubborn and very outspoken soldier who demanded the highest of standards from himself and his fellow soldiers,” the obituary read. He was promoted to second lieutenant in 1944.

Shames was the first member of his unit to set foot in the Dachau concentration camp in Germany just days after its liberation, according to the obituary.

When Germany surrendered, Easy Company made its way up to Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, “where Ed managed to acquire a few bottles of cognac, a label indicating they were ‘for the Fuhrer’s use only,’” per the obituary.

After the war, Shames worked for the National Security Agency as an expert on Middle East affairs. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserve Division and later retired as a colonel.

He married Ida Aframe (April 9, 1922 – February 21, 2019) in 1946 and remained married for 73 years until his wife's death on February 21, 2019 at the age of 96.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
Both great series

Don't know I buy that 'Greatest Generation' stuff though

Do you not understand they literally saved the world? Without their sacrifice nothing after that would have mattered because none of that would have ever even occurred.

We’d be living the plot of The Man In The High Castle at this moment.

In my opinion, they deserve that term, all of them.

Brad Freeman is still alive. Blessings on Him.

The Shames article left out the best part about the congnac. He used it to toast his eldest sons bar mitzvah.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
I work with a young engineer whose last name is Sobel. He does not understand when I occasionally bellow at him "What is the Goddamn holdup, Mr. Sobel?"

I hope that you use the appropriate southern twang when bellowing!

quote:

Originally posted by murphman:

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Then watch "The Man in the High Castle" to see an example of why our victory was so important.

I don't think anyone needs to watch a TV show to see why victory over Nazi Germany was so important.

Actually, I think a lot of people would need to see a TV show to understand why our victory was important at all. But they aren't on Sigforum.

I suspect anyone born after 2000 might need it.

flashguy

I’m watching BoB for the I don’t know how many’th time again. This time it’s on Netflix along with The Pacific.
As often as I’ve watched it, there’s several things I missed in earlier viewings.
This year marks eighty years since D-day in June. Very few are left.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I’m watching BoB for the I don’t know how many’th time again. This time it’s on Netflix along with The Pacific.
As often as I’ve watched it, there’s several things I missed in earlier viewings.
This year marks eighty years since D-day in June. Very few are left.

I've been binging vintage [70s+ currently on 1988] F1, but may take a pause to rewatch BoB while it's still on Netflix