Iwo Jima: over three times as many Americans lost their lives on this island that were lost on Normandy on D-Day. Did you know that? I didn't, and was shocked to hear that. The amount of casualties on this island, along with a handful of other Pacifiic Islands in World War II, is just staggering. It's not something we often hear about. Hollywood seems to concentrate it's efforts on the Nazis so this History Channel series is a real eye-opener regarding the carnage in the Pacific. It's overwhelming.
At Iowa Jima we lost 24,000 men. The Japanese lost 22,000 of their 23,000 they had on the island.
Meanwhile, in Europe the soldiers are slowly making their way and we get a first-hand account of a man from Boston, who gives us a short, very memorable story of the first time he was in battle and how he killed a man. The memory of that kill haunts him to this day. He said was just a musician back home and not someone who would ever hurt anyone.....but there he was slitting a German man's throat. Fifty years later, you can see how it still disturbs him.....and who of us can't sympathize with him and his nightmares over that act, despite it being against an enemy soldier? It's just another example of the brutality of war, which must have been particularly shocking to men who considered themselves "peaceful" mean, like the man in this episode.
All the men interviewed for this series are fascinating people. I assume most them are about 90 years old. Unfortunately, one of them - a writer named Bert Stiles - is shot down and killed. He had written earlier that that he wouldn't mind dying doing something he liked to do, like be a fighter pilot. He was just 24, I think.
At Iowa Jima we lost 24,000 men. The Japanese lost 22,000 of their 23,000 they had on the island.
Meanwhile, in Europe the soldiers are slowly making their way and we get a first-hand account of a man from Boston, who gives us a short, very memorable story of the first time he was in battle and how he killed a man. The memory of that kill haunts him to this day. He said was just a musician back home and not someone who would ever hurt anyone.....but there he was slitting a German man's throat. Fifty years later, you can see how it still disturbs him.....and who of us can't sympathize with him and his nightmares over that act, despite it being against an enemy soldier? It's just another example of the brutality of war, which must have been particularly shocking to men who considered themselves "peaceful" mean, like the man in this episode.
All the men interviewed for this series are fascinating people. I assume most them are about 90 years old. Unfortunately, one of them - a writer named Bert Stiles - is shot down and killed. He had written earlier that that he wouldn't mind dying doing something he liked to do, like be a fighter pilot. He was just 24, I think.
