The Pacific Epi. 7 is so hard to watch 

Snafu made up the lie about Japanese soldiers carrying germs just so Sledge would retain/hold onto his humanity, which was slowly waning due to the intense stress of combat.

Gunny Haney took the loss of Lt Eddie so hard because it is normal in the Marines to pair Seasoned gunnery sergeants with new young officers to watch out for them and to support them, Gunny Haney felt keeping the Lt alive was his job, he respected him because he was an enlisted man raised to officer as well.

My uncle fought on Saipan and Iwo Jima. In 1975, we were watching a baseball game in the basement. I was 12. I asked him why his legs were scarred. He proceeded to tell me about Iwo Jima. Among other things, he said none of the Japanese surrendered. They had to burn most of them. You never went near the flamethrower. He had great respect for the Japanese soldier. He got a battlefield commission on Iwo because nobody was left on the battlefield above his rank. Years later, I told his son, my cousin, who was a marine in Vietnam what his dad told me. He was shocked. Apparently, my uncle never spoke a word of his time in the Pacific. I guess, that day, he felt it was ok to tell me about it. I'll never forget.

The importance of Captain Haldane cannot be overstated. Sledges book was dedicated to him. He said he was the finest marine he ever knew

The moment that they stop in front of Sledge with Ack Ack, people miss the fact that they cover his body with a green blanket, the same blankets that his father’s factory makes and keeps them warm at night. I tear up every time

The actual battle described in the book was actually much worse than the show depicts it, but this is all word for word from Sledge's book. The only difference is in the book he didn't name names so it didn't shame the people he served with. It was "His buddy" that pried gold teeth out of the living Japanese soldier, and "His buddy" that threw the stones into the guy's skull. It was over a hundred degrees on the island with 100% humidity and no shade, the coral rock was so hot you couldn't sit and grenades would instantly cook off when they touched the ground from the heat, there was no water, there were corpses and human waste everywhere because the ground was solid rock so it all just got left where it is, there were swarms of millions of big fat corpse flies covering everything and everyone, they'd land on a body and then on your food and get you sick, you couldn't sleep because the Japanese would sneak into foxholes at night and stab you to death, you couldn't smoke because snipers would see the cherry from your cigarette. It was about as close to hell as one can imagine on this Earth.

That scene of a mortarman throwing pebbles into the dead Japanese gunner's open skull wasn't made up. It's quite accurate to what's in Sledge's war memoir.

Ack Acks death is the one that really gets me in this series, such a kind gentle man taking care of those under him..

One of the most heart breaking things to watch was that After Captain Haldane told Eugene that his dad was a foreman in a textile mill and it was a comforting thought to think about them sleeping under blankets his dad help Make. Then when Haldane was killed and was being carried out someone covered his body/ face with one of those blankets.

At about 5:00 the airplanes bombing the coral hills had their wheels down. The bomb run was so short it was pointless, take off bomb land rinse and repeat. Very nice attention to detail.

I love that moment where Snafu tells him not to take his teeth out. I saw it as Snafu knowing that Eugene was still pure and didn't want him to become brutal like himself.

Eugene's war memoir With The Old Breed is one of the best of its kind.

There was a common saying among the Infantry in WW2 "I'm a fugitive from the Law of Averages." Audie Murphy wrote "Hardly anyone ever got it...but someone ALWAYS got it."

SNAFU > Situation Normal, All F****d Up!

"If a guy like that breaks ... "

These boys were never the same. This is why, they never forgot the friends who didn't make it back home, leaving empty chairs at dinner tables in homes across America and allied nations. The dynamic between Sledge and SNAFU , whether dramatized or not, stole this entire episode. Every Marine and solier should have a friend like SNAFU or Sledgehammer! Again, you show us the kindness and empathy of your wonderful soul. Thank you for sharing it with us❤

Right before the part of Sledge and his guys having the 1st Marines pass by them, if you notice, the planes all have their landing gear down. That's because they were coming from the airfield and the distance was so close that there was no point in raising the gear because by the time they would've got up, they'd need to be put down again. So pilots would just leave their gear down. It's the little details like that that make shows like this great. That "ash" you were talking about is the coral as it gets blown into tiny pieces. Places like Pavuvu were the backbone of the drive through the Pacific. Areas that were secured and then turned into supply depots and rest areas that units being rotated off the line could head back to and give the men something of a place to rest, relax, and try to get their heads back on straight before moving onto wherever they needed to go next without having to go as far as Australia or the US. Without them, we would've lost a lot more men to fatigue and such. Speaking of R&R... Fun fact: Ice Cream became popular due to the hole left by the banning of alcohol, ice cream parlors becoming the go to place for socialization that bars once served. Obviously, ice cream is very tasty so even when alcohol was unbanned, they retained much of their popularity. Large ships like carriers and battleships often carried their own facilities for making ice cream, with carriers often offering extra rations of ice cream as a reward for the return of pilots that destroyers and cruisers, who didn't have the facilities to make their own, had picked up after being downed. The US even went so far as to make large specially designed barges whose only job was to make ice cream. The recipe for WW2 military ice cream can still be found online and you can make it yourself at home, though you do need to downsize the ingredient list since the proportions are meant for huge batches meant for dozens of people.

I’m an 0311 Sangin vet, I found my peace when I got out with good music and good laughter. A lot of vets struggle with returning home from seeing horrible things but so many of them come home and do amazing things.

Limited strategic value. 2000 dead Americans. 12,000 dead Japanese. Only 360 prisoners surrendered. It was battles like Peleliu that colored US thinking in using nuclear weapons versus the cost of taking the entire island of Japan.

After reading the book I appreciate Joseph Mazzello's performance so much more. Alot of what is described with words in the book is right there on his face in scenes like the fighting at the pillbox. Sometimes things that take up a page in the book goes by in the series with just a look or a facial expression. Amazing acting across the board in this.

There have been arguments about Pelilieu since it happened. MacArthur was worried about his flank for the invasion of the Phillipines so he ordered Pelilieu taken, but the danger to his flank was from the airfield there. Once all aircraft were destroyed it was no longer a danger, but the plans were already too far in motion so they went anyway. It might not be that simple why they went anyway but a lot of men paid the ultimate price. Pelilieu was probably the least known major battle of the Pacific before Sledges book came out.

I don't know what battle the old sarge had been through but if he was in WW1 then he probably saw action at Bella Woods, which was extremely bloody. The cumulative effects of all the battles and watching young men die finally led to his mind snapping.

There were Japanese still hiding in those caves after the war ended. Some of them came out and starting fighting again in 1947.

Dude, this was a brutal series, BoB has such rewatch value, the viewings of this show will be few and far between, just Brutal

Captain Haldane was highly respected by the whole company. In his book, Eugene said it was the lowest part of the war. Captain Haldane was their emotional protector

Great reaction! Maybe the most intense episode of the series. For me, the single most brutal scene in the entire series is when they attack the Japanese bunker and the Japanese are streaming out on fire and yelling and the Marines are cutting them down and Snafu is shouting "just fucking die!" as he unloads his Tommy Gun on them. This is easily one of the most brutal depictions of combat ever in a film or TV show. Powerful stuff!

One thing this show does well is showing how savage the fighting in the Pacific truly got as the war progressed. And how much hatred the Japanese and American Marines had for one another.

Even the people fighting in it didnt like any of it either. Greatest generation for a reason.

Capt Andrew Haldane was killed 3 days before his unit came off the line to depart the island. He is interred in eternal glory at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 12, grave 5367.

My mind can’t fathom the hell those boys/men they faced in the pacific. Fighting in a small, foreign island most likely never to be seen again compared to the guys who fought in Europe. They had to fight in a place that was hot, humid, gross, and just overall an enemy who legit hated each other compared Germans fighting the Americans in the western front. The Japanese fighting till the last man while the Germans at least surrendered in mass like in that one episode that follows Webster in band of brothers. The same blanket that Haldane talked about his father made back at home is the same blanket that they covered up his dead body when after eugene looks at him. It’s nice to think about his father had something to due with the blanket they used.

This is probably my favorite episode of this series alongside episode 5, especially that last scene in the beach of Pavuvu, so peaceful, yet, it shows us such a different contrast with the last time a naive Eugene was there, asking his best friend Sydney Phillip what the war was like

Generation war German band of brothers is definitely worth the watch

Years later, even into old age, the men said Ack Ack’s death still wrecked them.

Eugene didn’t accidentally kill his own guy

I remember reading Eugene's memoir and him talking with Gunney Haney, with Gunny saying that Peleliu was one of the worst battles he had ever been through. This just shows how terrible of a battle Peleliu was as Haney was a WWI veteran and had seen the horrors of The Great War.

I very much like watching your reactions to The Pacific. We can see and feel that you have a big heart. ❤

Your watching/review of military movies is amazing. Another must watch is "We Were Soldiers" 2002.

Tuff watch, I couldn’t imagine what are American troops went through, in any form of combat😢thanks for sharing 😊👍✌️🇺🇸

Gunnery Sergeant Haney, was 53 going into Peleliu. He had been a Marine Corps riflemen with the 5th Marine Regiment since the First World War, and had been apart of battles like Belleau Wood. After Peleliu, Sledge had asked Haney how Peleliu compared to other battles, and Haney told him it was the worst battle he had ever seen, and that he was going to go home. A man with that kind of service and that age could've left long before if he wanted. So I guess there's some small vindication for Sledge that his first taste of combat really was as horrible as he felt it was.

In the Sledge's book "With The Old Breed," which most of the accounts that make up Eugene's scenes are based on, it was not Snafu that was throwing the pebbles, or that told Eugene to not take the teeth, but it makes sense for the story telling to combine different people into one character. It was actually one of the corpsman/medics that stopped Eugene from taking the teeth, and just like in the show it was because he did not want to see him lose any more of his humanity. Another point- the island was made up of coral rock with very little soil, so it was impossible to bury the bodies - in the book Sledge said the flies got so fat that they could barely fly. They had a similar yet opposite problem when the got to Okinawa (spolier alert,) where they could bury the bodies, but it rained so hard and so much that it would wash away the soil and expose the dead.

Eugene Sledge's book "With the Old Breed" was very brutal with the detail he described. The show only went into a fraction of how bad it really was. It was written that way, because Eugene didn't intend to publish it, he wrote it for his family to read and understand why he was the way he was. It was also a form of therapy for him to write it, by confronting his memories and coming to terms with them. He ended up publishing it, after some persuasion from his family.

The Things Our Fathers Saw…

I was shot in the side by accident. Granted it was only a .22LR so not very big at all but it was still awful. At first it was like someone lightly punched my in the side and then I felt it burn all the way in. Punctured my large intestine. The internal pain was worse than anything. Not fun, would not recommend.

I think it’s really interesting that they bookended Sledge’s experience on Peleliu with time spent on that beach. From discussing the experience of war with his friend Sidney and the Marine insignia to sitting on the beach with the insignia Sid gave him, now knowing the experience of war. This series is definitely difficult, but there are days where I need the emotional release of episodes 4-7. Keep up the great work!

I hope you noticed that the plane that flew over at 5.20 had the undercarriage (Wheels) down. This was because they were either based on an offshore carrier or on that airfiled. The target they were bombing were so close that raising the wheels was essentially pointles, and they'd return to their base to rearm within 5 to 7 minutes. On Peleliu this was "normal" as the Carriers were only abou 1-3 miles offshore with their escorts, and the Airfield was literally within 1-2 miles of the hills...

Ack Ack was their version of Winters. Imagine that happening and that's how they felt. The Pacific Theater was not a blessed place.

[17:09] Not only were they losing so many men, they were losing the men that were the glue of their chain of command, the ones the men looked up to for wisdom and motivation. Gunnery Sergeant Haney out on "Combat Stress", 1st Lieutenant Eddie Jones, then finally the Company Commander, Captain Andrew "Ack-Ack" Haldane. That level of loss can be catastrophic to morale and the combat effectiveness of the unit.

12:08 acutely that is the best question in my opinion. Dealing with it day to day and being okay with it when its over. Or shutting all the dwelling and emotions away while in combat and dealing with it later in life. Very good question. And thanks for recognizing that.

Great Reaction Ames, I am genuinely surprised you didn't make a comment about the skippers' death. When they pulled a blanket over top of him. It may have been a blanket his father made. Also, Gunny handed Eugene the lighter, symbolizing the passing of the torch. ✌️❤️

The guy that played Gunney Haney did such a awesome job seeing a man like that just defeated is so heart breaking

Sledge kept notes of what happened in his bible and its those notes that would become his memoir With the Old Breed which is part of what formed The Pacific miniseries.

People your age need to see this! It''ll give you appreciation for the sacrifices that were made by the "greatest generation". We live in the easiest time in American history right now. We have it so good here in the US that we make up stupid BS to complain about.

The Navy often names amphibious assault ships after famous battles. My dad's first ship was the Saipan. I served on the Belleau Wood and the Tarawa.

You see we were so foreign to the land that the Islands and people seemed way more Alien than it did in Europe where things were somewhat relatable but the culture difference in The Pacific was a lot harder for our guys that had come from Kansas farms and NYC apartments into the Jungle

The gist of the Battle of Peleliu is that it was a large, elaborate coral formation with an airfield on it. The Marines had to clear out every crack and crevice, the Japanese fought ferociously over every inch of ground

Reactions like this are stark reminders of why it’s men who fight wars.

One thing you learn from watching the Pacific(which still pales in comparison to what wasn’t shown in a 10 episode series) was that this show isn’t like another war movie. You feel that eventually things will get better upon your first watch, that certain marines will make it. Reality check was that it didn’t get better, it just kept getting worse & worse as the show went on…just a small slice to show us of what they went through. Literal hell.

I'm sure others have said so, but we didn't take every Japanese held island. Those too tough to take, which could be bypassed were bombed and shelled into impotence, and cut off from reinforcements and supplies, and left to rot.

The whole idea behind Island Hopping was to leapfrog over the islands on the way to Japan, bypassing the ones which were heavily fortified. Peleliu was an unnecessary risk. It was chosen as a target island under the idea that the airfields were needed to hit Japan and support operations on Okinawa, but other island bases were either already established or would soon be (at Ulithi Atoll, for example) at much less cost.

I hope I don't pass of old age before your reactions to the last 3 episodes drop on RU-vid 🥺 Love your reactions 💜

With the old breed at Peleliu and Okinawa is such a good book. I’ve listened to it many times. Can’t find the full helmet for my pillow though

Hang in there, it still gets harder yet.

So, what do you say? Why was Sledge angry about the nurses being there at the end? I say he was enraged that the purity that those women represented to him, being brought right to the edge of hell with all its filth, degradation, etc. was more than Sledge could bear. His expression says to me: "How dare you bring these women to this filthy cesspool!!!" What do you think?

Eugene Sledge was from Alabama 🇺🇸 .

You have really great grasp of the mental struggles of warriors, from your comments on John stuck on the bond drive to Eugene’s struggles. War brings out the very worst of humanity, while at the same time brings out the very best of us, but ultimately leaves no one without a wound. As one Canadian Great War veteran put it “no one would recognize them when they got home, they were forever strangers unto themselves”. No soul can truly survive war, we are left forever casualties, to varying degrees.

YESSS! Been waiting for this for soo long it seems like 😩

15:44 this event did happen in real life. Jay De’Leau was trying to relieve himself when a Japanese soldier charged at him. Unfortunately, the firing pin in Jay’s M1 Carbine was broken, so the gun couldn’t fire anymore. However, while this event is played out more as a comedic moment in the series, they left out a dark fact. In reality, an unnamed Marine with a Browning Automatic Rifle (B.A.R.) shot the Japanese soldier, not Snafu with a Thompson. When asked why he waited so long, the BAR gunner said he wanted to see if he could cut down the Japanese soldier in half, and he did succeed.

So glad I found this channel! It's like watching movies with a best friend! 😊

The tally marks in his bible was the amount of time he was there, while hanny wasnt his name the gunny he was based off was real and to put in perspective he fought in all the campaigns of ww1 for the marines, the interwar period of conflicts in the Caribbeans and South America, and finally Guadalcanal, cape Gloucestershire. And didnt even flinch but at pelilieu he broke, in his book sledge wrote that when he talked to the gunny he said “wow that was some battle” expecting the old marine to say “oh that was nothing” instead he got “yeah it was…i think im done” after returning to pavvu he put in some paperwork and retired home. But it kinda of made sledge realize how bad they had it on the island plus how lucky he was For the teeth it was a corpman not SNAFU about the germs but i believe they did this build character development. The nurse scene played out just like that but in his words he hated seeing them, because he was confused why a bit of home was in hell and so close to the front

I think Eugene was tallying the days. I don't think there'd be any way to accurately keep track of how many men were lost.

It hasn't even started on my screen yet but damn girl, just gotta say "Thanks for fighting through it!" I know, judging by how slowly THESE ones came out, this was a tough watch for you. I *salute* appreciate your dedication to your craft.

I am grateful to you for your empathy. I usually watch these shows and read books about the Pacific Theater of Operations without feeling much empathy myself.

You are such a SWEETHEART! When you watch Band of Brothers, and this, your reactions just melt me. I just wanna hug ya!

The terrain on Peleliu was Coral predominantly with hills filled with caves. Iwo Jima was very similar to Peleliu, but even worse. The Marine casualties exceeded Japanese losses for the first time in the war there. The Marine losses were KIA and Wounded, with most being wounded. The Japanese losses on the other hand were almost 100% dead. They didn't say these men were from the "Greatest Generation" for nothing. They lived through the Great Depression, WW2. Tough, tough people. The worst part of Peleliu is that they didn't even use that airfield. It turned out that they didn't even need the place.

My father was a Seabee attached to the 2nd Marines at Saipan. He never talked about it.

10:44 My grandfather had 3 swords two were war time mass produced, one was from the 1600's my uncle has it. I got a couple Arisaka rifles my grandfather brought back.

great review as always!

"I feel that journaling would be so, so helpful." And it would be so, so outlawed. Everything you wrote down would be potential intelligence for the Japanese who looted it from you, so anything like that would be forbidden for the sake of operational security.

When Gunny breaks, one must think youre done. When the captain dies, how can there be any fight left? All you have left is the guy on either side of you. No one comes back from that right. No human should be put through that.

Eugene’s company landed on Pelelui w 235 men they took 64% casualties if I remember correctly only 2 or 3 officers lived and of the 235 something like 84 came off. My grandfathers company who was with 7th Marines went on with 244 I think and 63 came off including my grandfather and great father who was his platoon sergeant.

bless you. This is tough. Too tough for me to go through again

The Sea Bee wants a sword. Would pay good money for it. The incidents at the bunker and in the cave show what it would take to get one.

My late Father had served at Tarawa and survived but was later wounded on Okinawa. He very rarely spoke about the war and he loathed war movies and John Wayne.

E.B. Sledge’s book goes in detail. Snafu told him “no” because he wanted him to keep himself and not lose himself

One of the things I don't think US citizens of the time realized is that before the Japanese defeat in WW2, most Japanese citizens and soldiers alike thought the Emperor was the direct descendant of one of their gods (IIRC, during the US occupation, Hirohito was paraded on a tour to show that he was just a man). Imagine what a recent war against one of these Mid-Eastern fundamentalist groups would be like if their nations had the industry to build modern weapons, tanks, aircraft, and ships. From the US Pacific Theatre vets I got to talk to before they passed away, I (EDIT: should have said "got", hard to believe they're gone) get the impression that's what it must have been like for them. I don't know how they did it.

I like your reactions because you are inciteful and can empathize with the responsibilities of only men are asked to do. Thank you!

When asked about how he came up with the idea of Orcs for The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien mentioned in an interview that everyone turns into Orcs during their time in combat. Referring to his time in WW1, he said (paraphrased): "Men who were once pleasant and sophisticated became heartless, ravenous beasts, concerned only with their own survival." Episodes 7 and 9 are a good representation of that, IMO. Good news is you've made it through 1 of the 2 most graphic episodes. Episode 8 is a brief respite and then Episode 9 returns to the brutality. In regards to Eugene's journaling, those little entries he made are what became his book "With The Old Breed", from which these episodes are based. It's actually kinda touching how the book came about: Eugene had horrible nightmares every night after the war. His wife eventually became aware that he had kept his notes from the war. She suggested, as a form of therapy, that he write a compendium in the form of a memoir. Eugene was very reluctant, but eventually gave it a try. He found that writing the memories down helped soothe his soul and come to terms with things. He finished the memoir. His family then wanted him to make copies for other family members. Eugene was again reluctant, but went along with it. Then, his eldest son, who was nearing his 40s by the time this all happened, told Eugene, "Dad, you have a very rare glimpse of history that no one else has never published. You should publish this, because you so accurately describe the horrors of combat and the human psyche in a way that's never been recorded. People need to see how terrible war can really be so we can hopefully avoid it unless absolutely necessary." Again, Eugene was very reluctant, and took some time considering it. But he eventually went with it, and to his surprise, it became a bestseller AND an official part of the Commandant's Reading List for the United States Marine Corps. General "Mad Dog" Mattis made it required reading for young Marines during his time as USMC Commander so they could understand the true horrors of what lay in store in combat. Literally half this miniseries is possible thanks to Eugene's book. Sorry for the novel, but I thought you might like to know that.

Eugene said in an interview that peleliu was like taking a scorpion and a spider and sticking them in a bottle and shaking it up. The 2 best troops from each country on a little tiny island was a perfect storm for the slaughter it was. Also eugene didn't kill any American. It was another soldier who committed the friendly fire

When snafu said “diseases that will make you sick” he’s alluding that if he does it he will become mentally sick and will never be the same again

Love the war reactions, after this series you should watch dunkirk

Yes! Another Pacific react. I was starting to worry that you'd abandoned the series

The next episodes don't get any easier.....

2:28 I think he’s counting all the days he and his unit have been on the island. Either that or he’s counting all the days he’s been in the war and is still alive

I’ve been binge watching this channel all day today. Loved the Band of Brothers reactions. I would love to see a reaction video to The Lone Survivor if you haven’t seen it.

My grandfather was a Marine who fought on Okinawa, so I'm looking forward to you watching episode 9.

Eugene was keeping track of the amount of days he was in active combat on Peleliu. @2:28

Part 8 is gonna hit her like a freight train 😂😂

The Japanese didn't fully have to build the 500+ caves on Peleliu. The Germans had used the mountains on the island to mine limestone and phosphate and left behind small caves and gunnels from their mining operations. After, the Japanese had occupied the island since the early 30's as a very small naval outpost, but began working on the airfield around 1939. The caves were further worked on by a the 214th Japanese construction battalion, and they either fortfied the mining caves, or modified natural caves and rock fissures and connected them by tunnel. Particularly in the northernmost part of the island, the Japanese Navy had entirely new caves cut into the nnorthern ridges, while the southernost ridges had more naturally occuring caves that the Japanese Army utilized. The last Japanese troops did not surrender from these caves until the spring of 1947 when 33 Japanese soldiers were convinced to give up and a surrender ceremony was held, two years after the war's end. In some circles, this is considered the last formal surrender of WW2.

Just came across your channel I really enjoyed your reaction

He was probably writing a journal just as my great uncle in world war 1 did then he write a book later on in life called With the Old Breed.