WT Forums

PBS is airing the Ken Burns Documentary on WW II. One of the men he interviews was a P-47, (the origional Thunderbolt), pilot.

What are your thoughts on the show?

Anything you learned from watching?

For me, I really like it. As he is covering the time line both in the Pacific and European theaters as well as covering what was going on back in the States during the times, I'm finding that the overall time line of the war is really coming together for me more than ever before. I also like that he is covering some aspects of the war that I'd never heard of before, like the Civilian Prison in Manilla. I'd never known before that forgien citizens were interned there and the horrible conditions they were kept in. I'd also never really been up on how the Italian Campaign worked into the rest of the war's time line. I'd also never really heard much about the SNAFU of the Lost Battalian or the men, mostly Japanese Americans who gave their all to rescue them.

Granted, he also shows a dark side to the war, and doesn't always show our men in their shining moments, but I don't feel that he is trying to give our country a black eye or anything. As with all conflicts, WW II had it's share of leaders who shouldn't have been given the responcibility to command a FOD walk, and as most of us who've spent any time on active duty can attest to, they can really screw up a wet dream if given half a chance. Compound that with the utter chaos of war on a world wide level, and natrually you're going to have problems. However, he also shows many outstanding leaders of the time, Ike, Patton, Halsey, and many more, as well as many grunts who, though they may have only led a squad, really played a significant roll in the war, like the Army Sniper turned Medic who kept dozens of men alive during the siege at Bastogne, or the American Indian Private who led a small squad to deliver explosives and took out a German position. In the process, he Touched an enemy soldier, stole his weapon, led a war party, and stole an enemy's horse, and by doing these 4 things, became the last War Chief of the Crow Indian Tribe.

He also pulls no punches in showing the dark side of how the stress of combat can affect even the best of us. This is something that has affected fighting men since the dawn of combat, but was never publisied until the Viet Nam War when the press got into the field with the soldiers. However, as the press of the '60s and '70s was primarily an extreme left wing group of ass holes who only wanted to turn the folks back home against us and the war, I feel that Ken Burns is showing us this to bring to light, what the stress of long term combat can do to the human mind. Though he doesn't come right out and say it, I believe that this is the real reason why today we keep the length of deployments to a war zone as short as possible.

These are my feelings anyway, and I'd love to hear from others here, about how you feel about this documentary series. I'm not trying to start a flame war so please keep this as a discussion and back up what you like or dislike, with examples. Thanks.

_________________
Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

I have been watching it as WWII intrigues me. Both grandfathers served during WWII, one in the Pacific and one in Europe.

One thing that hit me real hard was the contrast between home life here in the USA then and now. I have wondered out loud many times why people here are not acting like we are at war when we clearly are? The answer came to me as I watched that show. There is no suffering here now like there was then. No ration cards, no doing without. People during that time felt a connection to the war, now days people couldn't care less that men and women are putting it on the line every d@mn day. That is the difference. Grocery stores are well stocked, Wal-Mart has everything you need. There are new cars to be had and IPods by the millions. You see, no suffering=no connection which leads to apathy.

Well said, fender.

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

You are 100% dead nuts on Fender. However, I think it goes even a little deeper. During WW II, there was the constant push for people to \"BUY WAR BONDS\" to pay for the war. We had Fiscal Responcibility then. Today's Government is so paranoid about making life hard on the citizens here, like raising taxes or cutting fuel supplies or rationing, that their willing to run the country to record levels of DEBT. This is not just the Dems, or just he Reps. It is the federal government in total. All polititians these days know that if they were up-front with us and said they'd have to raise taxes to pay for the war today, that they'd never get voted into public office again. So, they lie to us to get into office, and they drive us deeper in debt to stay there.

Whats worse, is that a side effect of the ever increasing debt, is that the value of the dollar on the world market suffers significantly. This inturn drives up the cost of every thing from fuel to food.

I really think that the people of our country need to pull their collective heads out of their asses and realize that we all need to tighten our belts a little, and pay for this war as we go.

Furthermore, politicians need to stop lieing to us, telling us that they can pay for a war without having to raise taxes. This is not now, nor has it ever been possible.

The other night I watched an episode of The War where they were talking about the war bond drives, and the monitary cost of the war. From what I recall, we've spent more in the first year of \"the war on Terror\" than we spent in total of WW II. Granted, the value of the US dollar is no where near where it used to be.

In short though, I think you are right Fender. The folks at home are not sharing the cost of the war, so it tends to slip from our thoughts unless we currently have a loved one in the fray. I know that food, fuel and supplies are plentiful, so rationing really isn't necesarry, but we do need to start paying for this war, and until we all feel the cost, I'm afraid that the apathy will continue to build, and we'll continue to build a dept that our Great Great Great Grandchildren will be paying for.

Most folk these days say, \"We Support Our Troops!\" But they're just not willing to PAY our troops. Of course, this is still better that what we saw during VN and the Cold War.

_________________
Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option