My favorite scene of this show is Gibson speaking to Leckie telling the story on Guadalcanal and how he could envy someone dying shows how insane war can get I remember growing up listening to my brother in law talk about fallujah during operation phantom fury and the way as a young kid I could see this brave man deal with it before his next deployment to Ramadi.

One of the big problems with fighting in the rain forrest was disease. At any given time our troops suffered 20% of the men out because of dysentery, malaria, or some other tropical disease.

It took the US military over a century to come to terms with PTSD. "Nostalgia", "Shell Shock", "Battle Fatigue" were a few of the names used to deny the disorder or dismiss it as a character defect. That made it even harder for some of the soldiers suffering from it to work their way through it and it still does. Older war films touch on it in various ways, but only a few deal with it directly as it is a painful subject. It's a credit to the filmmakers here that they included it in the series. But it also serves as foreshadowing of worse to come.

When I was in my late teens a friend of mine, who later did 2 tours of duty in Vietnam with the Marines, mail ordered a Japanese Nambu pistol (yes before 1968 you could mail order all sorts of military WW2 weapons with ammo). We went out to shoot it and discovered it was a piece of crap. Quality of construction was just not up to what we expected and once while my friend was handling it, the damn thing just went off. He eventually sold it to a WW2 collector and ordered a German Walther P-38 pistol. I purchased a Japanese Arisaka rifle, which I loved. It was sturdy, well built, and accurate. I got into reloading and worked up some maximum loads which the rifle digested with ease. I killed a couple of wid pigs with it ( one shot kills). Great rifle with a kind of funky safety.

Aria, if you want a classic take on World War 2 in the Pacific theater, definitely check out "The Bridge on the River Kwai." It's one of a few epic, award-winning David Lean directed films (along with giant screen titles like "Lawrence of Arabia" and "A Passage to India"). Though the story is fictional, it is inspired by actual make-work projects forced upon Allied prisoners of war captured by the Japanese military. It also shows some of the insanity of war on both sides. Sir Alec Guinness is one of the main stars. You may know him as Obi Wan Kenobi from the original Star Wars trilogy.

Aria, I really appreciate the way you emphasize with the soldiers. You do not get overly emotional but I can tell you really feel what the men are going through. Love your deep felt reactions real experiences people go through. You understand that a movie or program based on real events is quite different than a work of fiction.😊❤

You're awesome. I can't wait to see the next one...

Hey thanks for the reaction. I appreciate how thoughtful you are. It's a descent into hell from here on out , I don't understand how any of the combat men of the pacific came back home after all they went through and still became functional members of the society.

Indeed -The thunder and lightning make it very, very frightening.

I love how this series deals with the mental and emotional toil compared to BoB

The guy in the cell isn't going home. If I recall he tried to steal an airplane to get out of there. Don't even think he was a pilot.

Good reaction. This is a tough watch. You're doing great.

Did you know what the largest volunteer army in the world was? The Indian (India) army of WW2 was 2.5 million strong. The participated in almost every theater of the war suffer nearly 200,000 casualties. British Field Marshall Claude Auchinlech said that Great Britain would not have been able to get through WW1 & WW2 without them. Winston Churchill praised their courage and dedication on the Battlefield.

Nice video

One of the reasons the Japanese attacked at night is that it made the superior firepower of the Americans less of an advantage. There was also a psychological aspect with the surprise attack. It deprived the Marines and soldiers of much needed rest. The suicidal nature of the Banzai reflects a Japanese military mindset that could see only two outcomes to a campaign: victory or death. Perhaps the gravest miscalculation Japan made was that the Japanese "fighting spirit" was strong enough to overcome the material advantage of its enemies.

This is based on real people. The show pulls heavily from Robert Leckie's and Eugene Sledge's memoirs

Thanks!

Next episode is where shit starts to get real