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Posted on 05/03/2025 4:15:57 PM PDT by Rummyfan
John "Paddy" Hemingway, the last surviving pilot who flew in the Battle of Britain, died in March of this year. He was 105. Hemingway was forced to bail out of his aircraft four times – three times in England and a fourth over enemy territory in Italy, where locals helped him get back to Allied lines. He said that his "biggest regret was the loss of friends, in particular that of Richard 'Dickie' Lee in August 1940.“
The last living witnesses to World War Two are leaving us and taking a shared memory of its history with them. If you believe this millennial representative, young people should know as little about the conflict as possible as it's harmful to their mental health. And like all history beyond the visible horizon of the present day, what most people will know about that war by the time its centenary rolls around will come almost entirely from movies and television.
(There are books, of course, but I'm not imagining the world will be less post-literate in fifteen years.)
The best recent depictions of the war – my subjective list includes Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk, Das Boot, Greyhound and Letters from Iwo Jima – were mostly made with veterans advising on historical accuracy and mostly being heard. This wasn't always the case: for at least two decades following the war, when veterans were still thick on the ground, historical accuracy was frequently sacrificed in the interest of adventure, drama, comedy or romance.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
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Thank you very much and God bless you.
“Repeat, please!”
Merkel was smarter than Hitler. She invaded Britain with “Asians”.
Merkel is Adolph’s niece, you know.
LOL
Have disagree with the author abput the films. Take aeay the incredible firsy 32 minutes and Private Ryan does not match up with A Walk in the Dun and The Story of GI Joe. And I would add the contemporary to Pvt, Ryan. The Thin Red Line.
:)
This film is a treasure.
Spain also produced HE-111 clones.
That line was one of the Poles. Was it when they were instructed to disengage?
Maybe. My uncle didnt think so. He spent his war as a NYC Italian in the 36th Texas. Won the DSC.
Indeed, Had the U.S. suffered one tenth of the sacrifice and destruction suffered by the Brits it still wouldn’t have made a difference to them today.
It’s history and didn’t happen to them.
I fear that history may soon repeat itself.
“The Pacific” was very, very good.
L
Agree. It’s not the greatest movie ever made but I saw it in theatre when it was released as a 12 year old and was a WWII buff at the time. I had read all the press on it and loved it from the get go. The most moving scenes for me are the RAF fighters taking off from the airfields heading into battle.
I have to disagree with your choices- the movies you picked are very unrealistic and it’s hard for me to believe that veterans of combat could watch those things. The Walk in the Sun in particular was crazy lame with hand grenades used to take out half tracks (US M-3s with German markings).
Today’s war movies aren’t wonderful but at least they seem to try harder.
I used to spend hours when I was a kid listening to WWII veterans talk and I’d love to see a movie that accurately portrayed their experiences.
I am a combat veteran of Vietnam - and no, I haven’t seen a war movie about my war told well either.
War movies for the most part have been like Westerns, exciting, full of action, but not that accurate. John Ford even had the advantage of having an elderly Wyatt Earp on the set to advise and still didn’t get his Westerns right. Tombstone was the first Western I ever saw that came close to the actual clothes, guns, holsters, dialect, etc. that was actually used in the Old West.
My late Dad, a bombardier on a B-24 in WWII and I watched a few war films together about the Pacific Theater he was in and he said “no, not quite right.”
The bought all the German type aircraft from the Spanish air force and hired civilian pilots to fly them.they spent a ton of money doing that but what a fantastic movie.
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