On 2010-07-09 02:51:58 -0700, Neil said:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:30:00 -0700, John Navas wrote:

On Thu, 8 Jul 2010 18:10:38 -0700 (PDT), in
,
NotSure wrote:

There is a excellent 6 part documentary about the second world war which
uses colourised archival footage... a real MUST SEE.

screenshots: http://www-2.net/y23.stock.pictures/20100708-ww2doco/

I consider The Pacific a "must see".

Just fiction.

Actually "The Pacific" was not fiction. It was a poorly adapted , over
glamorized, and over produced. Some of the production was
fictionalized. The basic source material was the documented stories of
three marines, who were very real. In my opinion it was a poor telling
of very real events.

John Basilone was a marine sergeant who fought on Guadalcanal. His
action of Guadalcanal was heroic, and he was fully deserving of the
Medal of Honor he was awarded. So little is known of his personal life,
besides the action for which he won his decoration, and the subsequent
War bond campaign, his service record, and his death on Iwo Jima, the
makers of the series created glamorized fabrication of the man.

The big part the story was adapted from the war diaries of Eugene
Sledge, and his memoir "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa". He
suffered from what today would be termed PTSD or Post-traumatic Stress
Disorder. He went on to be a professor of Biology. His memoir could not
be described as fiction or a glamorization of his experience. It was
poorly adapted by the producers of "The Pacific."

The third contributor was Robert Leckie, who served on Guadalcanal and
was invoved in all of the Marines Pacific campaigns until he was
wounded on Peleliu. He too wrote an unglamorous and factual memoir,
"Helmet for my Pillow". The producers of "The Pacific" took great
liberties with this.

With what HBO did with over glamorizing the stories of these three men,
and their very real service in WWII, was to create a semi-fiction they
were not deserving of.

Since Basilone was killed on Iwo Jima, and Sledge, and Leckie died in
2001, they were not able to provide critical input.

So I would hardly call "The Pacific" a must see. Rather read, "With
the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" and "Helmet for my Pillow".

--
Regards,

Savageduck