I stumbled across this the other night on Netflix.

How I have missed this? It is very well done, and fairly accurate from the character perspectives of what I know about Lewis Puller and John Basilone.

And I will confess to not seeing Band of Brothers either.

I just started Band of Brothers, for the first time, a few nights ago, about 3 episodes in.
Have The Pacific queued up next.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
I stumbled across this the other night on Netflix.

How I have missed this? It is very well done, and fairly accurate from the character perspectives of what I know about Lewis Puller and John Basilone.

And I will confess to not seeing Band of Brothers either.

You got some good watching to do.

I finished the last episode last night. Outstanding. Highest recommendation.

I’ll have to watch The Pacific again; it’s been awhile. I started watching BoB a couple days ago, I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it—a lot, but it’s such a great series. Last night I watched “Day of Days,” episode 2 of the series. The jump into Normandy on the night of June 5th was recreated and nearly as powerful as the Omaha Beach landing in Saving Private Ryan. All those C-47s loaded with American paratroopers flying through a flak hailstorm…

Yeah, The Pacific is incredibly well done. It's up there with the others mentioned, and I'd put Flags of Our Fathers and Sands of Iwo Jima in there to round out my "if I'm going to sit though a WWII flick" list.

I first watched The Pacific maybe six or seven years ago. It's been a while, so when I saw it pop back up in the rotation, I grabbed my all-type 1 & 2 1943 Quality Hardware out of the safe and started the first episode.

Somewhere, I have Eugene Sledge and Bob Leckie's books, Helmet for My Pillow and With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. Need to finish unpacking and read them again. Their plot arcs are, of course, taken from their accounts, but combined with Basilone's story, you've got enough for a great ten part series. Well worth the read. If you enjoy those, Indestructible by Jack Lucas is also excellent. He was awarded the CMOH for his actions on Iwo Jima.

And then hopefully Masters of the Air gets released this year.

Mild Spoiler-

One of the things that struck me was the equipment. Early on in the battle for Henderson field, the Marines were scarcely equipped, and their firepower was water cooled 1917 machine guns and Enfield rifles. As the story progressed, you started seeing better equipment and “modern” equipment of that era such Thompson’s, M1 carbines and Garands.

When you put that in perspective, it makes the feats at Henderson Field all more heroic. Fighting a war on that magnitude on two fronts (Pacific and Europe) sucks.

Go read : Helmet for My Pillow

It's the book the series was written after. Its an amazing book.

Both series were quite good.

BoB was better, but both are well worth watching.

I felt The Pacific was more savage and brutal than BOB. But I also feel that that was true difference between the two campaigns.

Tony.

I just watched BoB for the at least 20th time. One of the best series ever put together and IMO was cast wonderfully . The Pacicfic was also very good but definitely falls short of BoB. I had family in both theaters so they both were pretty powerful.

BoB was better, but only for have been based on one book.
The Pacific was great on it's own, but being based on three books by three different participants it did not flow as well.
Both great series.....

OZ

I watched Band of Brothers in 2001 when it came out and have watched it a few dozen times since then. Well worth the watch.

Both my grandfathers fought in the Pacific and that particular series reminds me of them.

I'm really hoping they release Masters of the Air soon and it's as good as the other two series.

Yeah...my allergies kick into high gear when watching EITHER Band of Brothers or The Pacific. No words. Just...no words.

May God BLESS each and every one of those souls! I hope and pray I'll see them in heaven one day...I have MANY hands to shake and many "Thank yous" to give out.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Mild Spoiler-

One of the things that struck me was the equipment. Early on in the battle for Henderson field, the Marines were scarcely equipped, and their firepower was water cooled 1917 machine guns and Enfield rifles. As the story progressed, you started seeing better equipment and “modern” equipment of that era such Thompson’s, M1 carbines and Garands.

When you put that in perspective, it makes the feats at Henderson Field all more heroic. Fighting a war on that magnitude on two fronts (Pacific and Europe) sucks.

Early WWII, the USMC was still in the midst of evaluating and issuing the M1. While the Army already had them issued to infantry units, the USMC infantry was very possessive of their 1903's, while other combat arms & support units received M1s. It wasn't until 1942 that the M1 became a service wide standard, and the 1903 was retained for snipers and reserve use. The M1917 machine guns (water cooled) were remarkably reliable but, also quite a bit heavier than the more mobile air-cooled M1919, thus they were best used in fixed defensive positions.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
One of the things that struck me was the equipment. Early on in the battle for Henderson field, the Marines were scarcely equipped, and their firepower was water cooled 1917 machine guns and Enfield rifles. As the story progressed, you started seeing better equipment and “modern” equipment of that era such Thompson’s, M1 carbines and Garands.

Corsair nailed it, but it reminds me of something. In the book Ghost Soldiers, there's a line talking about the Marine Raiders who rescued the POWs in Cabanatuan were equipped almost entirely differently than the men they rescued - the men the Japanese led on the Bataan Death March had almost all the same equipment a Marine in WWI would have had. The Marine Corps was very slow to change what worked.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
I felt The Pacific was more savage and brutal than BOB. But I also feel that that was true difference between the two campaigns.

Agreed.

I'm a big fan of both Band of Brothers and The Pacific. I feel like the format of a series makes it easier to tell the story in detail than a movie would, and you get more background and character development. Generation Kill is another good one about the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

I just finished the Holland episode of BoB, I'll agree that it's a moving series. The 'blind' trooper episode as well.

One of the episodes in BoB, where Wahlberg (1SGT) is the feature character, is one of the very few times caught on screen where the responsibilities and stress' of being the leading NCO of a unit is highlighted. Hollywood rarely ever gets this nuance correct, most screen writers when they think of platoon sergeant is confused with drill sergeant. He's got to balance the demands that the officers are placing on him, disseminating those instructions to his squad leaders, all while lending a sympathetic but guiding ear to everyone.