Brutal warfare as usual. This is a lot tougher than Band of Brothers, the miniseries about the European theater in WWII. Just some gory stuff. I've attached a synopsis. Okinawa may have been the most difficult battleground of all of the islands in the Pacific, at least according to this episode. I admire the Marines greatly for what they did, but the show is tough and is like watching people executed before your eyes. Nothing uplifting about it.
Next week should be more civilized as the was comes to an end and guys like Sledge and Leckey try to make it in civilian life. There were many difficult scenes in this episode including a mother and child being blown up, kids and families on Okinawa desperate and wounded or killed. A Marine killing an innocent Okinawan kid and Marines being killed themselves. This theater was not the glamorous theater of war that a lot of historians made it out to be. It was no different than Viet Nam; probably worse. The men are worn down from the constant pain of seeing their friends killed and the killing of innocent civilians. It's hard to fathom their cause–the fight for freedom–amidst all of the blood, gore and brutality in this battle. It's just a rough depiction of the Pacific theater in WWII. It's not what I'd call an optimistic portrayal of the war. I guess that's what Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks wanted to portray this war as. It was not this glamorous American drive for freedom. It was more about surviving the most difficult elements that one could imagine. And more about survival mentally and physically. Hanks and Spielberg talked to the men in the war, so they got the picture of what it was like. Was it as bad as these liberal guys depicted it to be? Who knows? But it was not pleasant.
The Pacific Part 9-Okinawa
in General