THE PACIFIC 1X10 | Home | Reaction 

3 years, 8 months. That was it for the USA. WWII for the USA started on December 7th, 1941 and September 2nd, 1945. Not quite one Presidential term. And the entire country re-tooled for war (no cars produced, all families gathered scrap metal and rubber, etc. food rationing), and in that time we split the atom and turned it into a deliverable weapon, mass produced hemispheric air defense weapons like the B-29, were building a ship a day, built and deployed 60 aircraft carriers. And tens of millions of men and women were in uniform, fighting battles in the air, on the sea, below the sea and on land, from the Arctic to the South Pacific to the Equator, to Africa, to Italy, to China. And civil rights? A midwestern 18 year old, say, a guy Johnny Smith who was drafted, trained, sent to fight in the Pacific. He was captured by the Japanese, survived the Bataan Death March, survived 115 degrees in the cargo hold of a Japanese ship on his way to Japan, and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp that was located in Hiroshima. And Truman knew that that camp had both American and Dutch POWs but authorized the bombing anyway. Johnny Smith was vaporized. And at the same time a San Francisco boy named Johnny Nakumura and his family were relocated to Utah along with 70,000 other Japanese Americans, and 40,000 Japanese citizens who were living in the USA (20,000 German-Americans also cooled their heels in camps during the war). He taught school to the children there for the duration of the war and privately studied optometry. After the war, his family business was gone and they returned to San Francisco to rebuild from scratch. But Johnny got his degree in optometry and had 4 children and 12 grand children. So, whose civil rights were violated during that war? EVERYONE'S! P.S. Not ALL Japanese-Americans were interned during the war. Many were soldiers: Japanese American units were highly decorated. Among the more famous American Soldiers: Senator Daniel Inouye (D) Hawaii.

@ Arianna , myself and my wife just got done watching your reaction to “The Last Samurai “. You had the best reaction , the most real reaction that I’ve in all the years watching RU-vid! We’ll adopt you anytime! We’ve been through so much loss in our lives, it’s nice to see someone who’s cheering on those who deserve it and celebrate when evil people get what’s coming them!! Take care stay and may God bless your life greatly!.’

And now girls you should continue with the movie Thin Red Line which is a great movie about Quadalcanal battles and realities.

Next you should do"thin red line"

If you think Johnny Walker is bad straight out of the bottle try Seagram's once.

I might be mistaken, but I recall reading about Eugene Sledge. After that incident in the woods (not portrayed as accurately, but as close as it gets), Eugene's father suggested he took up birdwatching, a hobby where he wouldn't have to harm any living thing, seeing as doing harm in any way caused him extreme distress. Despite all the horrible things he had to do during the war, Sledge was a good soul and continued to be after the war.

Yeah, and also the scene where the father is just standing outside Sledge’s door as his son has nightmares. I just feel his father’s pain in that scene.

@@pabloc8808 True. But Sledge later said his father took him on that hunting trip to shock him into facing his demons. it was the beginning of his healing process.

@@johnmagill7714 20th century psychology/psychiatry was something else huh

I literally cannot watch that episode without crying at that part..

Per what Lucky Leckie went through with his family, it was a good thing he ended up with Vera.

I’ve watched that scene a dozen times by now and never thought of that.

That makes a lot of sense! Even if it that wasn't the intention, I will forever think of it this way.

That was awful how the woman phrased the question!

I think he just didn’t want to say good bye. In that moment as he thought of waking him, he realized it and walked away.

What Eugene actually said at the college would've been a better scene IMO. "Lady, there was a killing war going on, and I was one of the ones who had to do some of the killing." When she started apologizing, he said "That's alright, I know you don't understand."

In episode 1, Dr. Sledge says “The boy is disappointed, Mary Frank.” They don’t make a big deal about Dr. Sledge showing his son the respect he was due, because I think the filmmakers knew that the people it would be important to would notice.

Fr when I seen the scene where his mother said he’s acting like a boy for trying to deal with the horrors of war pissed me off. Like how you look at your own son come back from literal *war* see he’s suffering and then say he’s acting like a boy🤦🏽‍♂️

It's pretty acurate. Sledgr said that his dad essentially saved him when he returned.

Great suggestion.

It's in my top 10 movie list. Anyone that doesn't cry at the end isn't human.

Excellent choice. Every one should take the time to look it up and view it. The actors movingly portray the loss, sadness, tenderness and ultimately redemption of WWII vets.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Your great-grandmother was a wise woman.

Thank you for your service.

What you did, you did in our name. Thank you and your comrades for the sacrifices you made.@@dogawful

Honestly as someone who spends almost all his free time reading and watching about war. As someone who's never experienced it I can't imagine even a percent of what you or these men saw

My grandfather served aboard the USS Indianapolis, she took part in many of the island campaigns. He refused to allow my grandmother to plant gardenias because he said they smelled like burning bodies.

I don't think so. I think its just showing Eugene gaining an interests in studying living things.

Nope. Not the same woman. The actress' name is Betty Buckley.

Thank you for this comment.

God I hope so, reasonably spot on story of Iraq that I really relate to. It's a pretty good representation of early 2000's servicemembers in my opinion.

My Grandfather spent 2 1/2 years fighting on The Western Front in WWI. He spent the next seventy years waking up ever night screaming.

@@daveenberg9075 My Father did two tours in Vietnam. He also waked up every night screaming and sweating. Before he passed away from pancreatic cancer (agent orange related), with Alzheimer's, it doubled and triple his PTSD and his nightmares. Also, from this Cold War and Desert Storm US Navy Veteran, I want to thank your grandfather and your family for their service.

So maybe as a society we should start accepting that military does more harm than good to a human psyche in that they make them trapped in their own violent memories. And the way i see it goes both ways for tali ragh**ds or any fanatic warmongering factions too, not just you marines.

Appa rules!

Kennedy's PT boat did get rammed by a Japanese destroyer. He was lucky to survive.

@@prollins6443 Thanks for the reminder. I had read the story and that slipped my mind.

True. I had them for two years for something completely separate but still horrible 😣 eventually through lots of therapy and support they went away though that is not the case for eveyone

@@MapleDivine Mine arent from combat either and so incredibly sorry to hear you had them. I still live with mine yrs later.