Just finished watching the series again. There is much ado about the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan... it does not hold a candle to about 9 hours of the Pacific..

If it reflected just a small percentage of what those Marines and soldiers really went through it is simply amazing that any of them came back and lived a normal life.

I am now going to have to go read Sledge's and Leckies books.

Rabid Cougar said:

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There is much ado about the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan... it does not hold a candle to about 9 hours of the Pacific..

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What a strange post.

Apparently in other discussions here on TA (night have been another board though) I am in the small minority who liked The Pacific more than BoB. Read "With the Old Breed" and "Helmet for my Pillow". Also check out RV Burgins book "Islands of the Damned". I'm all about reading on the Pacific War now. I feel it's similar to warfare on the Eastern Front because its basically a war of extermination between us and the Japanese, similar to the Nazis/Russians.

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I am in the small minority who liked The Pacific more than BoB

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This seems to be a very exclusive club. I share your sentiment regarding The Pacific vs Band of Brothers. It just connected more for me than did BoB, despite its rather disjointed narrative.

OP, when The Pacific first aired, I did exactly what you said, I went out and read both Sledge and Leckie's books. I never was able to get the book about Basilone. Those books were easy reads and shed more light on the events depicted in the series.

fyi, I've read the first two books of a trilogy by an author named Ian Toll - Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific 1941-1942, and The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands 1942-1944. The third book, Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific 1944-1945 will be published in July. These first two were easy to read, high level looks with some deep dives into events.

I really liked Band of Brothers. The camaraderie aspect just stuck with me and the sacrifice those men made.

I really liked The Pacific. The fighting those guys endured seemed like hell on Earth. I got that some in BoB with the Bulge episodes but it was non-stop in The Pacific.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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Rabid Cougar said:

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There is much ado about the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan... it does not hold a candle to about 9 hours of the Pacific..

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What a strange post.

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Not really. There was discussion on here about the intensity of the first 30 minutes of SPR several months ago and several other films in regards to authenticity. I guess I could have worded it differently.