Posted on 09/23/2007 8:54:51 AM PDT by submarinerswife
Edited on 09/23/2007 9:01:27 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Premeires tonight at 8pm on PBS. 7 part series
It looks like an excellent series, so far. Of course it’s only the beginning, but I thoroughly enjoyed “The Civil War” series. Ken Burns is doing another wonderful job on this one. He truly has a way of bringing the personal into the story without making it maudlin.
I would not have had a problem if he made it clear that he was speaking for himself but he never said “I”, he said “we” and “you”, thus making the statement that it was a common emotion.
I said that the “vast majority” joined for patriotic reasons, not everyone.
LOL is ok ...I get it.
Many of that day at least in my experience did not tell the tales nor would talk about what they had experienced. They focused on the victory and what it meant for the world and were proud of the fact they played in their terms ...a small part in making it happen.
Those were MEN. Our job is to make them live on.
I learned alot tonight..things I never knew. I am looking forward to the next installment.
True, but his was the only interview stating why people joined up. This implies, at least in my book, that this was a mainstream point of view. When in reality, it was very most definitely not the norm., according to most people who were there at the time.
If this was the only show you saw about WW2, as it might be in the future, in say ,a high school, you'd come away with a vastly different view of why people joined.
Why, you might think they just joined because they didn't have any other opportunities, which is often the reason the left gives as the reason young men join the service today.
What a striking co-inkydink that is !
“I rather enjoyed the part where Hollywood was shown as a bastion of patriotism.”
As I say, who needs fiction?
Truth about past history is often MUCH MORE FANTASTIC than we can imagine!
Such as the concept of modestly-Pro-America Hollywood!!!
My daughter is homeschooling her stepdaughter and the just covered The Boston Tea Party.all about angry Americans that threw tea over board as they were mad at The King(no mention of taxes). and then everybody just got along...My blood pressure is still over the top!!!
“One interviewee just said our men joined the service not out of patriotism but because they were bored and needed excitement”
I would say that for some that was probably true and probably still is. It may not be what we want to hear, but it is reality. I know one young man who joined up a year ago after his girlfriend, with whom he’d had a child, left him. Some amount of fatalistic thinking probably was a reason he signed up. But whatever the reason, I think he will become stronger and a better man as a result of serving his country.
That liberal P-BSer can say whatever the hell he wants to say. He earned that right years ago.
Many guys did join to “see the world” . Happened during WWI and the Civil War and every other war too.
Friend of mine’s father joined cause he was dirt poor from Alabama & never had a pair shoes till he got in the army.
Many young men & women join today for the experiences.
You deny that?
“That which we gain too easily, we value too lightly — it is dearness alone that gives a thing its value.” — Thomas Paine
Not infrequently, it is the convert who is the most fervent believer, and the immigrant who is the most ardent patriot. Because what they fight for is something they had to gain, not a birthright. They do not have the luxury of taking it for granted.
No specific comments on the show — I’ve DVRed it, and will watch tomorrow, when I can give it undivided attention. I’m near bed and distracted right now.
Actually the Us Air Force was a division under the Army at the time.
The National Security Act of 1947 became law on July 26, 1947. It created the Department of the Air Force, headed by a Secretary of the Air Force.
More obfuscation by the hunjjmaster?
THAT would have been political, and would not have been appropriate for the series. What Burns did include were a couple of Hispanic soldiers, who I believe were American citizens, who were part of Carlson’s Raiders in the Pacific.
are we really squabbling over one line in a whole installment? I saw so much more than that. Hopefully others will be intelligent enough to do as well. I am glad to see that there are others that saw the whole picture.
The father of one of my first grade friends was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. He suffered nightmares the remainder of his life.
“Those were MEN.”
I knew one. But really didn’t know ALL about him.
Jack McNeice, a member of an elite fraternity: walked out of
four combat jumps over WWII Europe.
He was a postal carrier and I attended church with him and his kids
(my age) when I was growing up.
Maybe when I was about 16, someone tried to tell me that “Mr. McNeice”
had been a romping, stomping paratrooper in WWII. I simply refused to
believe it...until I saw his name and address in one of the Cornelius Ryan
books (”A Bridge Too Far”?) and his home city, as an interviewee.
Mr. McNeice only made any sort of public comment about his past to
Guard members that were on their way to Iraq for Gulf War I.
His story in in this book:
FILTHY THIRTEEN: From the Dustbowl to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest -
The True Story of the101st Airborne’s Most Legendary Squad of Combat Paratroopers
by Richard Killblane
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