Thread: "The War"
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Old 09-25-2007, 12:17 AM   #5
Frank Ryan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 8ballrollin View Post
Thread for "The War" Documentary.

Night one...

I'm glad they spent so much time on Guadalcanal. It has never gotten as much attention as other major Pacific battles - Midway, Philippines, IJ, much less any European battles.

On the downside, if you are somewhat moderately read on WWII, there was not much new. But I guess that’s not the point. It seems to want to capture the American experience of the world-changing event. Which is fine.

Did my hometeaching tonight. One brother graduated from HS in ’43 and joined to the Navy right after graduation. His wife was full of stories tonight – about the war. It was fun to listen to.
I enjoyed the first part of "the War"

my Grandpa fought in Guadalcanal. He died a long time ago and I don't remember him talking a lot about it. He almost died from malaria . He did see hand to hand combat with bayonets and such.
He did share some interesting things
He said Aussie units were tougher and heartier than the American ones. He also fought alongside British Gurkha troops. He said they were ferocious and relentless. According to one story he always told, the Gurkhas slipped into the camp of sleeping Japanese soldiers and cut the throat of every other soldier and did it without waking anyone up
He didn't care for Macarthur much.
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