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PBS Ken Burn's "WAR"


C5 Golfer

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It has been a wonderful story – not the war of killing people but the stories the veterans tell 60 years later. My dad served during that time and was a WWII buff. He died a couple of years ago but it seemed he was there watching it with me – weird. I also served with the US Army 22 years after the war and was stationed for a while in Germany and Italy so it was of high interest to me when seeing some the film strips from the war.

Some stories worth mentioning - the Native American from Montana who was brought up in the older warrior ways by his grandfather Chief and how he met the 4 requirements while fighting in Italy to be a chief himself. This guy even painted red war paint on his body under his uniform. Another story - The guy who returned from the Pacific Theater and called his mom and dad to tell them he was safely home and how his mom fainted, then his aunt and sister fainted while on the phone with him. To the best of all – Dan Inouye Senator from Hawaii and his stories of all his conquests and subsequent Medal of Honor. To the story of the way we treated African Americans during the war was/is beyond belief to the enlistment of Japanese Americans and sending them to fight in Italy while we interned their mom and dads.

Some facts I did not know, USA asked Japan to surrender before they dropped the 1st bomb and they said no way, then they still wouldn’t surrender so USA dropped a 2nd bomb, Japan surrendered knowing they could not take a 3rd bomb but unbeknown to them USA did not have anymore. In the Pacific theater Ken Burns showed how the USA was surrounded in the Philippines and I they say it was the largest surrender of US troops ever. Approx 60 million people died during that war.

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Some facts I did not know, USA asked Japan to surrender before they dropped the 1st bomb and they said no way, then they still wouldn’t surrender so USA dropped a 2nd bomb, Japan surrendered knowing they could not take a 3rd bomb but unbeknown to them USA did not have anymore.

I've heard and read a completely different account.

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http://www.pbs.org/itvs/thegoodwar/

The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It

016 WGBX

2002 | TV14 | 60 mins | [Dolby Stereo] [Closed Captioned]

Fri, Oct 5, 3:00a - 4:00a

Conscientious objectors to combat in World War II perform alternative services as medical-research subjects, as fire-jumpers, and in civil/public work camps.

Fri, Oct 5 @ 9:01p, 209 WGBXDT2

Sat, Oct 6 @ 2:01a, 209 WGBXDT2

Sun, Oct 7 @ 1:00a, 016 WGBX

Sun, Oct 7 @ 4:00a, 002 WGBH

Sun, Oct 7 @ 11:00a, 209 WGBXDT2

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/gwar.html

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Pretty amazing series, I was able to catch most of them over the past couple of weeks. The sacrifices made by that generation were awe inspiring as were the ideologies, numbers of people and losses involved. Lots of pretty brutal footage though, ( and great soundtrack ) seems as though most who survived have a part of them that is still there. Makes it hard to listen to people complain about sitting in traffic or not enough whipped cream on their latte. I spoke with a gentleman this past week who fought in the S. Pacific during the war and I found it interesting that he did not like the series because he felt that it glorified the event. He simply stated that it was something that he did because it was his duty and it was awful and it should be left at that.

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This was the biggest shock to me. Hitler had an academy set up to train Administrators to rule the cities of the US. No accents, perfect command of the English (American) language and knowledge of the cities they were to take over.

The GI that had captured the German soldier that was to be the Administrator of his hometown. Why haven't we heard about this before.

Best series to date on the ramifications and costs of war.

I wonder how many Americans would have ended up in mass graves?

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