Passing of a True Patriot

[Grimpuppy]

Semper Fi Woody.

[Jonathon]

GWG8541 Losing the last of the WW2 vets posing an interesting problem, losing that from the culture will leave a hole. What movies/documentaries or books do you guys think people should consume?

[Tex_77]

Jonathon Without a doubt Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Saving Private Ryan, Midway, The Longest Day, Patton, Memphis Belle, From Here to Eternity.

On another note the Library of Congress has a great project through the American Folk Life Center called the The Veteran’s History Project that documents the first hand experiences of soldiers going clear back to World War I. Their archives contain audio/video interviews, letters, postcards, diaries, photos, drawings and scrapbooks. It truly contains a wealth of unfiltered first hand accounts of each of the soldiers own experiences. The only reason I even know about this project is when I was in DC several years ago we were exploring the LOC and happened to stumble into the American Folk Life Center room and got an outstanding explanation of what they do from a nice worker there. The bottom line of the whole project is document history so that is not lost to the annuals of time.

[Bob Stehlik]

GWG8541 Semper Fi Woody! RIP and thank you for all that you’ve done. " If the Army and the Navy ever look on heaven’s scenes, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines."

[ND Mike]

GWG8541 I remember when I saw a documentary where they told Woody’s story. A true representation of why this was the Greatest Generation. It saddens me that there are very few of these brave men and women left.

[bocephus]

Jonathon My Dad served in the Navy, entered as a seventeen year old. Didn’t talk much about it, mostly about a kid being homesick. After he passed we went through his things and looked at papers, letters and pictures of the time he served. Letters always tried to tell his Mother he was doing fine but what these people went through is something we could all learn from.

[Jonathon]

bocephus Yup, I honestly dont know if we have the stomach for that now. I mean, maybe that changes when you have such clear bad guys in the nazis but the loss of human life in WW1 and 2 would shock our modern society to a ridiculous level.
Tex_77 If Band of Brothers were considered a movie it would be my #1 of all time. Patton has the best score of any military movie ever! Memphis belle, hadn’t thought of that movie in a long long time, good one though…does it hold up?

For anyone wanting WW1 stuff, I know I have talked about it in the past but Dan Carlin’s Hadrcore History https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-55-blueprint-for-armageddon-series/

[Tex_77]

Jonathon The History Underground Channel on YouTube also has some great WWII content, as well as bunch of other great American stuff as well.

[ND Mike]

Jonathon I think the story of the Memphis Belle holds up. The movie took some liberties but what the boys of the Army Air Corps did is truly amazing especially in 1943 when the Luftwaffe was a force to be reckoned with. I couldn’t imagine flying through flak so thick you could walk on to complete your bomb run and not being able to deviate from your course. Then, once bombs away, you had to deal with the fighters again. The boys that flew in B17s and B24s have my utmost respect.

Band of Brothers is my absolute favorite hands down. I enjoyed The Pacific. The guys in the Pacific Theater really had it rough. Tom Hanks and Spielberg are in the process of making another series like Band of Brothers and The Pacific. This one is about the Eighth Air Force and the fight for the skies above Europe. I think it is called Master’s of the Air.
https://www.whattowatch.com/features/masters-of-the-air-on-apple-tv-plus-release-date-cast-trailer-and-all-you-need-to-know

[Grimpuppy]

If you are looking for a good book, Fields of Fire is pretty dang good. Vietnam era. Read the whole book on a plane to Somalia.

[calldoctoday]

Semper Fi Woody, Thank you for passing our way. Auld lang syne, we’ll see you on the other side.

[GWG8541]

Jonathon wow, there are some great books and movies out there. Being a Marine I am a tad biased. Having said that, Hal Moore was IMHO one of the best military leaders the U.S. Army had in a long time. Some of my favorites (not just WW2) besides many that have already been mentioned:
Books (no movie):
With the Old Breed/ E. Sledge
Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills/ C. Henderson
Anything on the Bataan Death March (Surviving that was nothing short of a miracle)

Book and Movie (I recommend both)
Flags of Our Fathers/ J. Bradley and R. Powers
We Were Soldiers Once… and Young H. Moore and J. Galloway
American Sniper J. DeFelice, S. McEwen, C. Kyle

Movie (not book)
Fury

As you can see, I prefer the biographies and documentary side of the military history. “Fury” was one exception and it was another Army movie. I love the line “Best job I ever had”. If you have ever been in a crappy situation and can keep that attitude, it goes a long way to surviving it mentally and physically.

[Tex_77]

GWG8541 I’ll second “With the Old Breed” i listened to it and it was great! Another I’d add is “Helmet for My Pillow” by Robert Leckie.

[calldoctoday]

Here was an article about Woody this morning by David Martin, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/remembering-wwii-medal-of-honor-recipient-hershel-woody-williams/ar-AAZ96mn?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=5741999dbe694cf39a48665ebdbb3c3f, it is amazing how one good farm boy from West By God, could do so much for his fellow countrymen.

[Jonathon]

ND Mike Yeah, I didnt care for the story telling as much in the pacific BUT what they went through…honestly I think I would have rather be in Europe, having to fight the enemy from island to island with crocodiles, snakes and that much sickness just made it that much tougher. Dan Carlin has a good hardcore history on that as well.

GWG8541 thanks for the list, I will check out the old breed. We were young and we were soldiers, that was a good but emotionally draining book and the Mel Gibson movie was bad ass.

Does anyone remember the Charlie Mike series? Leonard B Scott, my dad had them all and I eventually read them. Really fast reads, very engaging but probably an unrealistic view of war.

[Tex_77]

Jonathon if you, and everyone else for that matter hasn’t listened to the new companion Podcast to Band of Brother’s you are truly missing out!

[Jonathon]

Tex_77 I did listen, really good my main issue was the 1st episode…I hate tom hanks, always have since he stopped doing movies like splash and money pit. I don’t buy him as a serious actor at all! But all the other episodes were great. Nix was my favorite one.

[bocephus]

Jonathon I had an uncle that was at Pearl Harbor and survived the attack. Drove around in a Toyota with a front plate that said: I Survived Pearl Harbor.

[calldoctoday]

bocephus That is pretty amazing as I have known a few, most that have passed, that would not touch anything made in Japan or Japan sounding after that experience. Others, that had no issue at all. I think we have come a long way.

[ND Mike]

Tex_77 both of these are great reads!