aTmAg said:

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Ragoo said:

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Rami Malek as Snafu was probably the best "character". I enjoyed both miniseries a lot.

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I understand that they basically slandered they guy. He didn't do much of the deplorable stuff that they showed/implied he did.

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that may be true. But if everyone else's story is true and you need a character to watch for entertainment he is the one.

Ragoo said:

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The story?

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Did you read the article?

I suppose it could pick up at the Treaty of Versailles but odds are it'll pick up with the beginning of WW2.

Ragoo said:

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aTmAg said:

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Ragoo said:

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Rami Malek as Snafu was probably the best "character". I enjoyed both miniseries a lot.

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I understand that they basically slandered they guy. He didn't do much of the deplorable stuff that they showed/implied he did.

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that may be true. But if everyone else's story is true and you need a character to watch for entertainment he is the one.

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I read the book "With The Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge prior to watching The Pacific. FWIW, the show was based on 3 books - Sledge's, a memoir by Robert Leckie called "Helmet For My Pillow", and I believe a biography of John Basilone called "I'm Staying With My Boys".

Snafu was only in Sledge's book, and my impression was that in order to condense the story for the mini series, certain things Sledge saw other Marine's do were attributed to Snafu in TP. Not necessarily fair to him, but I do remember basically everything that happened in the segments surrounding Sledge being mentioned in his book, as opposed to being made-up Hollywood stuff. As an example, the scene where Snafu was dropping pebbles into the dead Japanese soldier's open head is straight from the book, but it wasn't Snafu who did it as I recall.

P.C. Principal said:

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Nice. But where will it pick up? Post war?

I think I'm one of the few that enjoyed TP more than BOB. TP was so much more intense.

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It's a follow-up in the sense that it's telling another part of the military's involvement in WWII, not a follow up on those characters from BoB and TP.

PatAg said:

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P.C. Principal said:

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Nice. But where will it pick up? Post war?

I think I'm one of the few that enjoyed TP more than BOB. TP was so much more intense.

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It's a follow-up in the sense that it's telling another part of the military's involvement in WWII, not a follow up on those characters from BoB and TP.

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That would be pretty interesting. Like a series on the North Africa campaign or other parts of Europe that aren't talked about as much

I believe I read that it's going to focus on the air war in WWII, the 8th AF. If done right, should be amazing.

rbtexan said:

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I believe I read that it's going to focus on the air war in WWII, the 8th AF. If done right, should be amazing.

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From the book Masters of the Air.

It will largely focus on the bomber squadrons - with a focus on obvious things like flak and enemy fighters, but also not-so-obvious stuff like the high altitudes resulting in oxygen tubes freezing, having to war wool flight suits or risking loss of fingers, or being trapped in a ball turret ...

I fully expect a standard criticism of films like this - fake CGI, but I won't pay that any mind. I cannot wait to see their depiction of all these massive numbers of heavy bombers in formation over Europe, with the flak bursts, with all the devastation that these guys went through, and a very non-glamorized view of what life was like for a typical bomber crew in the skies of Europe.

I saw a documentary a few years ago that included an interview with Andy Rooney, who served with the 8th. He told a story about a bomber that had been shot up really badly, all the hydraulics were gone. The couldn't get the landing gear down, and the ball turret gunner (underneath) was stuck in his turret. The plane circled as long as it could, with the pilot on the radio with the tower trying to figure out what to do. Finally he had to just do a belly landing with the gunner still in the turret...he was on the radio with them up to the end.

I can't imagine what it must have been like, both for the gunner knowing he was about to be crushed to death, and for the poor pilot who knew he had to kill him to save the rest of the crew. Even more amazing when you consider the ages of these brave men were probably between 19-23.

*edit to post* I found a direct quote from Rooney about the story.
Rooney recalled, "I was there when they came back from a raid deep in Germany, and one of the pilots radioed in that he was going to have to make an emergency landing. He had only two engines left and his hydraulic system was gone. He couldn't lower the wheels and there was something even worse. The ball turret gunner was trapped in the plastic bubble beneath the belly of the bomber.

Later I talked with the crewmen who survived that landing. Their friend in the ball turret had been calm, they said. They had talked to him. He knew what they had to do. He understood. The B-17 slammed down on its belly and onto the ball turret with their comrade trapped inside."

Ragoo said:

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aTmAg said:

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Ragoo said:

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Rami Malek as Snafu was probably the best "character". I enjoyed both miniseries a lot.

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I understand that they basically slandered they guy. He didn't do much of the deplorable stuff that they showed/implied he did.

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that may be true. But if everyone else's story is true and you need a character to watch for entertainment he is the one.

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Then make up a new character. Not one based on a real guy with a real family.

Quote:

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I saw a documentary a few years ago that included an interview with Andy Rooney, who served with the 8th.

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I am sure you know this, but Andy Rooney was a war correspondent, not a member of the military. He and several other writers (including Walter Cronkite) volunteered to go on bombing missions at various times in the war, and they received the Air Medal if they went on five. He got his medal.

They certainly did not have to fly on those missions, and at least one I can think of was killed when the bomber he was on was shot down.

Quote:

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I do remember basically everything that happened in the segments surrounding Sledge being mentioned in his book, as opposed to being made-up Hollywood stuff. As an example, the scene where Snafu was dropping pebbles into the dead Japanese soldier's open head is straight from the book, but it wasn't Snafu who did it as I recall.

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I also read Sledge's book and this is my memory as well. I remember remarking about the inaccuracy at the time the series first came out. I understand the need to compress events and characters, but they were using a real person to represent horrific (though understandable) actions. I'm surprised SNAFU's family didn't make a bigger stink about it.

OldArmy71 said:

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Quote:

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I saw a documentary a few years ago that included an interview with Andy Rooney, who served with the 8th.

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I am sure you know this, but Andy Rooney was a war correspondent, not a member of the military. He and several other writers (including Walter Cronkite) volunteered to go on bombing missions at various times in the war, and they received some sort of "medal" or patch if they went on five. He got his medal.

They certainly did not have to fly on those missions, and at least one I can think of was killed when the bomber he was on was shot down.

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Absolutely correct, "served" was probably the wrong word to use.

rbtexan said:

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I believe I read that it's going to focus on the air war in WWII, the 8th AF. If done right, should be amazing.

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My Great Uncle (first Aggie in our family) flew in the 8th AF with the 479th Fighter Group, P-38's and P-51's.

I was fortunate enough to recently receive some of his memoirs (he talked generally about being a pilot in WWII but never about the missions he flew). Reading his description of what they were expecting on D-Day, which they basically thought was going to be a reverse of the Battle of Britain against the full force of the Luftwaffe, was incredible. His group flew low-altitude cover over the invasion force for Sword, and they were specifically ordered to shoot on sight any plane that wasn't a P-38 (these were the planes they painted with black and white stripes to prevent friendly fire from the invasion force). He also escorted bombers over Germany, and saw first-hand the carnage of what they faced.

Fascinating stuff.

Not sure they'll get into the specific involvement of the 479th (never read Masters of the Air), but it will be great to see the perspective of the airmen and get a greater sense of what they went through.

Making up a character would be worse, imo. No sane person is watching the Pacific and judging these guys on their actions anyways.

aTmAg said:

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Ragoo said:

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aTmAg said:

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Ragoo said:

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Rami Malek as Snafu was probably the best "character". I enjoyed both miniseries a lot.

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I understand that they basically slandered they guy. He didn't do much of the deplorable stuff that they showed/implied he did.

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that may be true. But if everyone else's story is true and you need a character to watch for entertainment he is the one.

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Then make up a new character. Not one based on a real guy with a real family.

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not arguing otherwise. Someone commented that the series didn't have any characters.

In

Hey Nav said:

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The Pacific told a story about a war that was not as romantic, hospitable, or glamorous as the European campaign.

Places like Guadalcanal... and on and on. It was a crappy crappy place to fight.

Hopefully, the Mighty Eight series will open some eyes to how horrific and personal and alone the casualties were for the aviators of the AAF. The numbers are staggering. The odds for those guys in 1943 are hard to grasp - getting up and going to brief, and preflight, and then launching off for their missions. Truly brave men.

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Well said.

The Pacific theater was a far different experience for the soldiers than was the European theater. Seriously, anyone interested in watching this series (whenever it finally airs) really should read Masters of the Air.

My dad went to work for Shell Oil back in the late 60s, where he was assigned a mentor who, coincidentally, had been a waist gunner on B-17s. When I was a kid, that guy (Grabo was his nickname) was my hero (I loved (still do) WWII airplanes, even at that young an age). I only wish I could have had any conversations with the man. I do know that from conversations with my dad, he was aboard one particular Flying Fortress that had been shot to hell but was still, barely, flying when they crossed over the Channel, but they never made it to England. Crew was able to bail out before the -17 crashed into the water. Grabo passed in 1992 or thereabouts.

It'll be interesting to watch the cast frequently rotate due to attrition.