I just finished this 6 episode series and think very highly of it. It's probably the best historical documentary on the topic that I've seen since "They Shall Not Grow Old" (albeit that covers WWI). I'm not sure what other folks experienced but while I was growing up it seemed like the one small "coal town" in PA where my father grew up in singlehandedly fought WWII and I had the privilege to meet & know many of those veterans. I recall when the movie "Saving Private Ryan" came out, I had an opportunity to interview a 1st wave D-Day veteran and in my youth foolishly squandered the honor of talking with the gentleman about his experiences by continually referencing the movie that had just been released.
Throughout the 90's, I had the pleasure of attending annual Veteran's banquets at the American Legion with my father & grandfather in that small Coal Town and drinking Coke while those WWII vets pounded drinks like "7&7" and never talking about their experiences from what I remember but rather a sense of "we did what we needed to" type of mantra. These folks were products of the Great Depression and some of them were real "characters" because of that. It's been years since I've thought of it but one of them used to sit in their house naked, not because they were nudist per say, but because they didn't see the point in "wearing out perfectly good clothes sitting at home". It's comical to me now but at the time I thought that fellow at least, was a bit "off his rocker". Maybe the majority of them were in hindsight, they didn't seem to complain but holy smokes did they ever drink. Of course they've all since passed away and now the Vietnam folks are as well but they didn't have the opportunity to share their contributions like the WWII crew did. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Korea War Vets (still looking for a solid documentary about the "Forgotten War"). A couple of years ago I was able to spend a few hours with a Korea War Vet at the American Legion and resembled something like the "People Are Crazy" song if I were to be honest.
Guess the takeaway from the documentary, as well as why I wanted to discuss it at least, is I'm sure many of us here have the same memories & experiences and thought it'd be appropriate to honor their stories by keeping them still flowing and not resorting to waiting for either Memorial or Veteran's Day to share the stories as a passing glance.
Anyway, I'm derailing my own post- if anyone else appreciates WWII documentaries I'd highly recommend checking this one out (as well as the WWI documentary "They Shall Not Grow Old").
-LD
Throughout the 90's, I had the pleasure of attending annual Veteran's banquets at the American Legion with my father & grandfather in that small Coal Town and drinking Coke while those WWII vets pounded drinks like "7&7" and never talking about their experiences from what I remember but rather a sense of "we did what we needed to" type of mantra. These folks were products of the Great Depression and some of them were real "characters" because of that. It's been years since I've thought of it but one of them used to sit in their house naked, not because they were nudist per say, but because they didn't see the point in "wearing out perfectly good clothes sitting at home". It's comical to me now but at the time I thought that fellow at least, was a bit "off his rocker". Maybe the majority of them were in hindsight, they didn't seem to complain but holy smokes did they ever drink. Of course they've all since passed away and now the Vietnam folks are as well but they didn't have the opportunity to share their contributions like the WWII crew did. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Korea War Vets (still looking for a solid documentary about the "Forgotten War"). A couple of years ago I was able to spend a few hours with a Korea War Vet at the American Legion and resembled something like the "People Are Crazy" song if I were to be honest.
Guess the takeaway from the documentary, as well as why I wanted to discuss it at least, is I'm sure many of us here have the same memories & experiences and thought it'd be appropriate to honor their stories by keeping them still flowing and not resorting to waiting for either Memorial or Veteran's Day to share the stories as a passing glance.
Anyway, I'm derailing my own post- if anyone else appreciates WWII documentaries I'd highly recommend checking this one out (as well as the WWI documentary "They Shall Not Grow Old").
-LD
