Tonight is First Airing of Ken Burns War Documentary on PBS

[one...two...tree 2,762]

THE WAR, a seven-part series directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four quintessentially American towns. The series explores the most intimate human dimensions of the greatest cataclysm in history — a worldwide catastrophe that touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America — and demonstrates that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.

Throughout the series, the indelible experience of combat is brought vividly to life as veterans describe what it was like to fight

and kill and see men die at places like Monte Cassino and Anzio and Omaha Beach; the Hürtgen Forest and the Vosges Mountains and the Ardennes; and on the other side of the world at Guadalcanal and Tarawa and Saipan; Peleliu and the Philippine Sea and Okinawa. In all of the battle scenes, dramatic historical footage and photographs are combined with extraordinarily realistic sound effects to give the film a terrifying, visceral immediacy.

http://www.pbs.org/thewar/

[William33 110]

I have it set up to record on the DVR.

[sara535 15]

We are watching it for sure.

[peejay 327]

My dad was a WW2 US Naval combat vet. He got drafted at 18 years old right out of high school and served until 1946. His ship participated in the Aleutian campaign and the invasions of Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. His ship was at the signing of surrender in Tokyo Bay and he was briefly occupation troops in Japan before being sent home after the end of the war. He is buried at the Houston National Cemetery for veterans in Houston, TX.

My dad and a lot of guys like him weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were citizen soldiers that were called to duty and did what they were asked to do for their country. We owe them a lot.

[Scott & Lai 12]

My dad and a lot of guys like him weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were citizen soldiers that were called to duty and did what they were asked to do for their country. We owe them a lot.

[JODO 2]

I am really ticked because of this I did not see Eastenders on PBS

[peejay 327]

My dad and a lot of guys like him weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were citizen soldiers that were called to duty and did what they were asked to do for their country. We owe them a lot.

One of the old guys in the neighborhood I grew up in lived across the street from my parents. He was just a regular guy that was an appliance salesman at Sears and Roebuck. A lot of these guys didn't get any recognition for what they did in the war until years later. My dad told me he got medals in the 1970's for being in team that took out a machine gun nest in France during the invasion. His team was the third attempt. It takes a lot of guts to do stuff like that after seeing your buddies getting killed.

My dad introduced me to a friend of his in the small town he grew up in northern Oklahoma. The guy jumped out of an airplane over Belgium and woke up in a US Army hospital back in the USA with steel plates in his head. He was shot before he even hit the ground.

My dad's old high school yearbook is filled with his handwritten notations of K.I.A. and M.I.A. below the photos of his classmates.

Like I said...these guys weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were just regular guys that got thrust into these situations and did what they had to do and what their country asked them to do.

Many of the kids I grew up with also had dads that served in WW2 and the Korean War. I'm glad this documentary and others like it has been done to give these guys the recognition they deserve.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I watched - and thought it was great. Last night took it from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal (with an overview of the war prior to US involvement).

The most striking thing for me was the guy who was a survivor of the Bataan Death March, a healthy looking old man, stating that if he had known what was going to happen he would have chosen death - and recalling the events without emotion.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

My dad and a lot of guys like him weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were citizen soldiers that were called to duty and did what they were asked to do for their country. We owe them a lot.

One of the old guys in the neighborhood I grew up in lived across the street from my parents. He was just a regular guy that was an appliance salesman at Sears and Roebuck. A lot of these guys didn't get any recognition for what they did in the war until years later. My dad told me he got medals in the 1970's for being in team that took out a machine gun nest in France during the invasion. His team was the third attempt. It takes a lot of guts to do stuff like that after seeing your buddies getting killed.

My dad introduced me to a friend of his in the small town he grew up in northern Oklahoma. The guy jumped out of an airplane over Belgium and woke up in a US Army hospital back in the USA with steel plates in his head. He was shot before he even hit the ground.

My dad's old high school yearbook is filled with his handwritten notations of K.I.A. and M.I.A. below the photos of his classmates.

Like I said...these guys weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were just regular guys that got thrust into these situations and did what they had to do and what their country asked them to do.

Many of the kids I grew up with also had dads that served in WW2 and the Korean War. I'm glad this documentary and others like it has been done to give these guys the recognition they deserve.

amen to that. i doubt we could do anything similar again though.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I watched - and thought it was great. Last night took it from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal (with an overview of the war prior to US involvement).

The most striking thing for me was the guy who was a survivor of the Bataan Death March, a healthy looking old man, stating that if he had known what was going to happen he would have chosen death - and recalling the events without emotion.

Him and the Marine who was stationed on Guadalcanal - hearing the guy only 3 soldiers away moan through the night after being shot and wishing he would just hurry up and die. The next morning he found out it was his best friend - someone's rifle accidentally discharged and he finally died by the early morning.

[almaty 19]

My dad was a WW2 US Naval combat vet. He got drafted at 18 years old right out of high school and served until 1946. His ship participated in the Aleutian campaign and the invasions of Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. His ship was at the signing of surrender in Tokyo Bay and he was briefly occupation troops in Japan before being sent home after the end of the war. He is buried at the Houston National Cemetery for veterans in Houston, TX.

My dad and a lot of guys like him weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were citizen soldiers that were called to duty and did what they were asked to do for their country. We owe them a lot.

my dad was in the same area...he was on the battleship new mexico...your dad?

[peejay 327]

My dad was a WW2 US Naval combat vet. He got drafted at 18 years old right out of high school and served until 1946. His ship participated in the Aleutian campaign and the invasions of Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. His ship was at the signing of surrender in Tokyo Bay and he was briefly occupation troops in Japan before being sent home after the end of the war. He is buried at the Houston National Cemetery for veterans in Houston, TX.

My dad and a lot of guys like him weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were citizen soldiers that were called to duty and did what they were asked to do for their country. We owe them a lot.

my dad was in the same area...he was on the battleship new mexico...your dad?

He was on the USS Mellette (APA-156). I remember my dad telling me that one of the officers on board was David Suskind. Do you remember "The David Suskind Show" on TV in the 1960's and 1970's? Anyway...my dad had some old photos of David Suskind he took while they both served on the USS Mellette.

My dad stayed in the US Navy Reserve while going to school at Oklahoma A&M after the war. I remember my dad telling me that he was almost reactivated and sent to Korea for the Inchon invasion, but he ended up not having to go.

A lot of this stuff he told me is fading in my memory because he died 21 years ago. I have his old photo album from his time in the military and it has lots of interesting photos of his travels in the navy.

[no name 1]

I tried but it was too boring to watch. And who on earth was that Alabama woman & why was she talking like she was fighting over there?

[almaty 19]

My dad was a WW2 US Naval combat vet. He got drafted at 18 years old right out of high school and served until 1946. His ship participated in the Aleutian campaign and the invasions of Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. His ship was at the signing of surrender in Tokyo Bay and he was briefly occupation troops in Japan before being sent home after the end of the war. He is buried at the Houston National Cemetery for veterans in Houston, TX.

My dad and a lot of guys like him weren't professional soldiers or career military men. They were citizen soldiers that were called to duty and did what they were asked to do for their country. We owe them a lot.

my dad was in the same area...he was on the battleship new mexico...your dad?

He was on the USS Mellette (APA-156). I remember my dad telling me that one of the officers on board was David Suskind. Do you remember "The David Suskind Show" on TV in the 1960's and 1970's? Anyway...my dad had some old photos of David Suskind he took while they both served on the USS Mellette.

My dad stayed in the US Navy Reserve while going to school at Oklahoma A&M after the war. I remember my dad telling me that he was almost reactivated and sent to Korea for the Inchon invasion, but he ended up not having to go.

A lot of this stuff he told me is fading in my memory because he died 21 years ago. I have his old photo album from his time in the military and it has lots of interesting photos of his travels in the navy.

God bless men/women like your father, brother peejay, my dad went to his ship reunion last week..said there were 138 members left out of 2000.........sad

[Addie_Goodvibes 0]

We watched that last night, great documentary, the Bataan Death march was a horrible event.

It is sad to see how many lives were lost on both sides of the war