Savageduck wrote:
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".

It's good to have an idea where the name of "Basilone Road" came from.
It serves the northwestern portion of Camp Pendleton, running across
the hills from near the Santa Margarita river at Vandegrift Boulevard
and ending in the area of Interstate Highway 5 and the Orange County
line. The freeway exit signs are seen by everyone who travels that
stretch of "5", and now at least one of them will recognize the
tribute.

--
Frank ess