Yes, the people depicted in this series are real people. Eugene Sledge wrote a memoir that was used to make this series. Robert Leckie wrote another memoir that was used to make these shows. Eugene Sledge also wrote China Marine, and Chuck Tatum wrote Red Blood Black Sand.
The naval battles around Guadalcanal were terrible. More sailors died on ships than guys who were killed on land. Here is a little background on the Guadalcanal campaign. It is called a campaign because it is more than a single battle. There were at least four sea battles around Guadalcanal, and the fighting on land went from August 7, 1942, to late February 1943. The Marines fought until December 1942, and the Army took over sometime in December 1942 and fought until the Japanese picked up the last of their surviving troops. The Guadalcanal campaign was called Operation Shoestring because the United States wasn't ready to go to war on December 7, 1941. President Roosevelt knew we had to take the fight to the Japanese quickly, so he ordered the Navy to round up ships and supplies for the Marines and take them to war. Guadalcanal was chosen because if the Japanese kept it, they could have made it impossible for our ships to get to Australia - and we needed Australia badly. The climate on Guadalcanal was hot and humid, and the Marines and Army had to fight through jungle and tall grass with leaves that could cut your skin. Some marines lost 40 pounds between August 7, 1942 and December 1942 when they were taken off Guadalcanal.
Thanks for the more info and yea seem like USA was focused on revenge too the way the ground troops acted towards japan soldiers after pearl harbor and other horrific things japan did to China the president probably thought it was best to handle it now than later no matter if the was unprepared or not
The Pacific is a whole nother level of crazy. There were war crimes on both sides in the fighting in Europe... but in the Pacific.. the Japanese set the precedent early on that they would fight to the death, so both sides fought to kill every last man. The casualty rate for a US soldier were five times higher in the Pacific than in Europe. Five times... More men died in Europe because we had so many over there, but the battles in the pacific were just much more brutal.
Yea kinda hard fighting someone who wants to still take u out when u send your medic to help them some wars people don’t care about death as long as they can take a few men out their satisfied been build into some armies since the beginning of time and when u have people thinking like that things will get violent and bloody
It's great that you're doing this series - not too sure how far along you are in the viewing/editing by the time this was posted, but you should really, really be watching the version with the introductions by Tom Hanks and some of the vets - the background is absolutely invaluable - I'd say necessary, to get the most out of the series.
I like the fact this was written based on true events and experiences of hardcore Marines that faced ridiculous conditions. Semper Fi my forefathers!!! 🇺🇸
