"...we're losing a thousand (World War II) veterans a day..."
An era is swiftly passing into memory.
Right about this too:
Burns said he was astonished at the number of high school graduates who were not certain who the United States fought in World War II.
I am convinced, however, that the deconstruction of the WWII generation has begun in earnest, and in a short time WWII itself may be reinvisioned. I enjoyed Flags of Our Fathers, but in many ways felt that it had many of these elements. A new movie is also in the works about the USS Indianapolis tragedy. One wonders if its heroes will be portrayed honestly or with through a deconstructive lens that distills everything into a "People's History"?
In general, I like Burns' work. I alonng with millions enjoyed The Civil War immensely and want to be optimistic about this effort. Time will tell.
A new WW2 documentary?
Maybe they'll finally talk about divisions besides the 101st Airborne, and battles and events not named D-Day, MARKET-GARDEN, or the Bulge...
I look forward to this. I just hope he doesn't spend 3/4 of the series on the Tuskeegee airmen and 5 minutes on the Pacific Theater. lol.
In the back of my mind though, I wonder if he'll find some homosexual who wasn't allowed to serve....
Dad was a WWII vet - fought all the way accross Europe. I'll look forward to this and hope for the best.
Isn't Ken Burns the knucklehead who thought rascism was a more significant factor in baseball than in the Civil War?
Great Burns parody: The Old Negro Space Program
Well, gee, Ken. Whose fault do you think that is?
There is a segment of society, and not an insignificant portion, who feel that all things military are bad, and that there is no good reason to fight for anything. A hint here, Ken...and I am sure you have been to many cocktail parties attended by the devotees to PBS. For the most part, they are the same people who hold the reins of power in the public schools and colleges, write the curriculums and populate the Teacher's Unions. How could you fail to miss the conversations at those parties, chatter between the same people who dumped the military into the crapper back in the Sixties and Seventies, and were proud of it. Thank goodness for Ronald Reagan.
Yeah, Ken is talented, even has a video editing feature named after him. The Civil War documentary was great. But you sleep with dogs and you are going to wake up with fleas. Those SAME people who fete you with their dinners and ooh and ahh over you Ken, are the same people who want to rewrite history to suit their needs, beginning with what children are taught in school.
By the way, SquirrelKing, this is not a commentary on you. And you hit the deconstruction aspect on the head. Liberals like to paint conservatives as the perpetrators of what they view as the already (in their minds) existing 1984, but the truth is, liberals are the true Orwellians in that respect. They already think they can say whatever they want to, and will rarely get called out on it because the media holds their water for them and operates the "Memory Hole", and the only reason they profess to hold WWII vets in any kind of esteem is because they aren't all dead yet.
Yeah. PBS is a sore spot with me, and I am all for yanking the funding on them. Sure, I like Nova and a few other things, but it isn't worth my tax dollars.
The more I think about Flags of Our Fathers, the angrier I get. Eastwood added things that never happened, JUST TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY LOOK BAD...that's the truth.
Japanese american detainees will finally get their voices heard!
"When 9/11 happened what were you asked to do? Nothing. Go shopping. That's what we were told," Burns said. "Go shopping. It's ridiculous. Nobody said, 'This is a war born of oil, turn your thermostats down five degrees.'"
Burns obviously hasn't learned anything about what this war is about with a comment like that. It is about whether or not western Judeo-Christian civilization will defend itself against a group of radical Moslems who believe that the world should return to its 7th Century existence and all should either be Islamic or be 1) dead or 2) enslaved/subservient to the Islamic theocracy.
The Donald Trump of PBS strikes again. I gave up around the 100th factual error in his swollen, lumbering 'Baseball.'
This guy isn't any good.
Ken Burns is a left-wing piece of trash.
You can't do justice to a cataclysm like the Second World War with a documentary. Not possible. The best effort I've seen is the British, "The World at War".
A Tribute to my Father and Hero who died in 2004.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, my Dad [Clarence] was eager to join the military as soon as he was old enough to do so. Clarence joined the Navy when he turned 18 in 1944 and served on the battleship USS Mississippi (BB 41) with 2,000 other men. With her twelve 14 inch guns Mississippi supported the Marine landings on the Island of Peleliu. She then assisted in the liberations of the Philippines, shelling the east coast of Leyte supporting the landings of General Macarthur’s troops.
On the night of October 24th the Army on Leyte passed the word that a powerful Japanese naval task force was approaching from the south, and with The U.S. main battle fleet and the carriers away in the opposite direction chasing a decoy, the soldiers knew the Japanese were about to spring a trap. They would be doomed if the Japanese ships opened up on them. They waited in the dark in stunned silence and quite desperation. But lying in wait for the Japanese were six of America’s oldest battleships including the Mississippi that waited at the mouth of the Surigao Strait. This line of old battleships accompanied by 7th Fleet destroyers and cruisers, opened fire with an enormous coordinated salvo at the approaching line of Japanese warships, immediately sinking the first of the two Japanese battleships they would sink that night, along with three destroyers and a heavy cruiser. Naval historians would later call this “The greatest Naval Battle in History”, but for the Army ashore who could see the ships burning in the night sky, they had no words to explain what they saw, for they knew their worst nightmare was stopped dead in it’s tracks by Admiral Oldendorf’s old battleships. The men ashore have eternal gratitude to those Sailors and to the 1,100 of them that died out there that night.
The Mississippi supported the landing forces in the Philippines until February, despite receiving heavy damage near her waterline from a kamikaze during the bombardment of Lingayen Gulf Luzon.
One of the more memorable moments for Dad came while supporting landing forces on Okinawa. Dad would often tell the story of how the Japanese stalled our offensive from their position in Shuri Castle, which the enemy claimed was indestructible, and our Marines were beginning to have doubts it could be taken. Clarence said. "We opened up with our 14 inch guns and with 56 direct hits destroyed the castle.” The Marines were finally able to capture the castle but only after the Navy laid waste of it.
Clarence recalls the ship remained off Okinawa for two months never shutting down it’s engines so they would always be ready for a fight and for the constant threat from the kamikazes. Even after being hit by a kamikaze once again, this time on her starboard 5 inch gun mounts, which caused heavy damage and many casualties the Mississippi refused to leave. The soldiers ashore were grateful that Ole Miss stayed on post even with her heavy damage. Her steadfast presence saved many lives on Okinawa.
After the announced surrender of Japan, the USS Mississippi anchored in Tokyo Bay while Clarence and his shipmates witnessed the signing of the surrender documents aboard the USS Missouri on September 2nd 1945.
The ship was sold for scrap in 1956, but the men to which she was so good haven’t forgotten her. It is recalled by us his children that the first word he taught us to spell was M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i., and there is no doubt why.
Burns will probably have several episodes on the Japanese round-up and several more on blacks dealing with racism in the military.
Baseball, Civil War and Unforgiveable Blackness are some excellent Ken Burns documentaries.
I hate Burns' work, at least the major mini-series documentaries.
He always has to harp on PC stuff. Guaranteed there will be a huge disproportional "black" segment, about how horrible everything was and how horrible America is. Also, a general pall over the whole thing as if it all wasn't quite right.
Which goes along with the dour, morose attitude that comes through with the low, quiet-speaking narrator who sounds depressed.
Which all leads to a boring atmosphere to his work. Not that baseball is truly the most exciting sport, but he continued this atmosphere in that and made it all seem boring and downright sad.
Geesh, he couldn't even make "Baseball" sound fun and care-free?
I like Ken Burns and his Civil War is nothing short of a classic, I have it on DVD and watch parts of it all the time. But damn Mr. Burns, this quote lost me: "Nobody said, 'This is a war born of oil, turn your thermostats down five degrees." WTF? Born of oil! Born of oil??!!! Are you kidding me. You need to do a series on Islam and get a clue.
"I am convinced, however, that the deconstruction of the WWII generation has begun in earnest, and in a short time WWII itself may be reinvisioned."
A few years ago here in AZ, a high school history book taught that the US attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor. The school allowed the teachers to teach that without denial!
Shameful!