What did Gilligan say??
The Germans were had terrible supply issues and when they realized how powerful American manufacturing was, they knew they'd lost.
The Best Years of Our Lives was a great movie, and one can see it online for free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAfM_1RirWY
What did you do in the war? This reminds me of a scene from the movie “Patton” with George C. Scott.
“At least you won’t have to say you shoveled in Louisiana.”.
Yes I left a word out there.
And now it’s time for a Mel Brooks story:
Mel’s film ‘The Producers’ had scenes of a comical Hitler. The portrayal offended someone and he told Mel that, adding “And I was in World War II.”
Mel’s reply: “So was I. I didn’t see you there.”
(Mel was a combat engineer, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.)
My 3 favorite WWII movies are Patton, The Battle of Britain, and The Enemy Below. As for tv mini-series goes, The Winds of War is good.
Me... I polished door knobs in Moss Landing. Once I got booted from the CG (asthma from whatever chemicals they used below decks) I did nothing.
Back in the days when any sort of competition required both a winner and a loser.
A beloved and still missed relative of mine was an officer in a Quartermaster Corps truck company that hauled ammo, fuel, food and equipment forward, and a lot of Germans to cages in the rear. He was not often officially involved with the “Red Ball” route, but there were other - less publicized - routes that he and his company moved on.
When I once artlessly asked him if he had ever shot anyone, he just shook his head and said “No... but I got shot AT a lot.” Many years later, I found a letter that recounted some of his near misses from Jerries off their game and some of the ways that being in the wrong place at the wrong time can kill a person in a support role.
A white junior officer in a black motor transport company was not exactly a career-building position in the Army back then. I still remember some of his stories, and some very frank talks about race, courage and what I suppose could be called “the content of one’s character.”
My Dad drove the Red Ball Express. Very interesting stories.
Hoss
I watched this flock on The Twilight Movie when I was ten years old.
One of the best was recent:
“The Pacific”
A true shame so many of those portrayed never got to see it like my father.
He had a front page photo in some NY paper showing him on Okinawa administering an IV to a Marine on a stretcher.
That B & W grittiness and mud were well shown in The Pacific.
Hated red balls on the Alert Pad, two-man rule and all.
Oh, not that red ball…
"Homo with Ali McGraw..." LOL
"A great movie then they put a girl in it..." LOL.
Etc. It would be awesome if The New Yorker subbed out the movie reviews to you FReepers.
Pauline Kael you ain't.
Which of course is great.