"The Pacific" Band of Brothers for the Pacific War

[giconceptsjw]

I agree the actor portraying Snafu stole the show in much the same way Val Kilmer’s Doc Holiday overshadowed the other bigger stars of Tombstone. You can’t write things like that. It comes from really good acting and nothing else.

 

When Lena visited the Basilone family home, she took her hat off when she went inside. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the women’s uniform regulations indicated females did not remove their hats whether they were indoors or out. Men of course had to remove their caps, hats and covers when indoors unless they were performing some kind of duty. Today the sexes have been homogenized and everyone removes their cover indoors.

[kjones5452]

Possibly she might have felt that she was visiting her inlaws and on those terms

she felt that she could just be a daughter-in-law and therefore not so formal.

[fortworthgal]

When Lena visited the Basilone family home, she took her hat off when she went inside. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the women’s uniform regulations indicated females did not remove their hats whether they were indoors or out. Men of course had to remove their caps, hats and covers when indoors unless they were performing some kind of duty. Today the sexes have been homogenized and everyone removes their cover indoors.

 

That's correct, during WWII uniformed women were not required to remove their hats.

[gpw_42]

That's correct, during WWII uniformed women were not required to remove their hats.

 

 

How true, how true.

 

Has anybody seen a woman in a period uniform with her headgear off? Not so attractive, due to all the hair pins (even with a woman who's attractive in the first place!). Plus, at the time, ladies wearing hats were much more common than today. Different time, different standards/expectations, I guess.

 

Thanks for the link about Mr. Garabedian...VERY interesting read!

 

Steve

[Terry K.]

fortworthgal,

I have a WW2 WM's uniform that came with a mans hat just like that and has the WM's name in it.

Terry

[willysmb44]

Their was one other very subtle inaccuracy. Leckie tells his editor at The Bergen Evening Record, that he is going to cover the Bergen Catholic vs. Don Bosco Prep game at 3 o' clock. Bergen Catholic did not exist as a high school until 1955. Other than that I enjoyed Episode 10 and the series in general.

I didn’t know that, but then again, hardly anyone would unless they know the area. How about Sledge’s brother from the 2nd Armored? What was up with the presidential unit citation atop the normal ribbon rack? It should be over the opposite pocket. Any decent insignia book would have shown someone that. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the USMC PUC is worn with the normal ribbon rack, right? The costume people must have only been using the USMC regs at the time.

I was disappointed (but not surprised) to see my playing card boxes only appeared in last night’s “The Pacific” episode, in the hospital scene, you can see it’s a red box and that’s that. All that work for nothing. Oh well, at least I got paid!

[kammo-man]

Just see the last segment last night and kinda enjoyed it .

It was really sappy though , I was waiting for Bambi to skip through the forest and BAMB a bullet between the eyes followed by Sledgehammer jumping up and cutting the still beating heart out and eat it saying to his father "this is what we done to the Japs"

Oh well one can only hope .

 

Best line "We fought the war for TV "

 

Now what is weird is the character intro bit at the end .

If they had have shown us that in the start instead of insult us with a recap maybe we would have KNOWN the characters instead of WHO WHAT WHERE WHY ?

 

6 out of 10 for me .

 

Now I am gonna get all my scores together and give a final # , but first for this morning I will give SANFU the last word

 

"what are we gonna do now "

 

 

 

owen

[6armyAS]

The scene in episode 10 where Sledge goes and sign up for classes and the the little blonde asks him what training he had in the Marines. She looked shocked at his answers. I'd like to know what she thought why Americans joined the military for during the war? Was that in the book? It might just be me but I thought that was a bit odd...

[fortworthgal]

fortworthgal,

I have a WW2 WM's uniform that came with a mans hat just like that and has the WM's name in it.

Terry

 

Interesting! As far as I know that was never authorized and I have not seen photos of it being done with the service greens. I have seen a few photos of WRs in work clothing wearing men's shirts, men's HBT pants, and men's overseas caps (not the WR HBT overseas caps). I guess just because it wasn't authorized doesn't mean it never happened (just like tons of other oddities we run across!) I would be interested to know who advised on the female uniforms for this series.

 

How true, how true.

 

Has anybody seen a woman in a period uniform with her headgear off? Not so attractive, due to all the hair pins (even with a woman who's attractive in the first place!). Plus, at the time, ladies wearing hats were much more common than today. Different time, different standards/expectations, I guess.

 

That's precisely why the regulations indicated women needn't remove their hats. They were made to fit over the hairstyles and were quite often (especially with overseas caps) pinned in place. Removing it would be a major ordeal!

[fortworthgal]

I was waiting for Bambi to skip through the forest and BAMB a bullet between the eyes followed by Sledgehammer jumping up and cutting the still beating heart out and eat it saying to his father "this is what we done to the Japs"

Oh well one can only hope .

 

Really? I didn't get that vibe at all from that scene. I read that Sledge, who was an avid hunter before the war, never hunted again after he returned home because he could not stand any more suffering, and he knew the fear the hunted animals felt. That was in the back of my mind during that scene.

[Jeff V.]

The scene in episode 10 where Sledge goes and sign up for classes and the the little blonde asks him what training he had in the Marines. She looked shocked at his answers. I'd like to know what she thought why Americans joined the military for during the war? Was that in the book? It might just be me but I thought that was a bit odd...

The scene is in the book, however I have given my book to a friend so I cannot check what it says exactly. I do remember the wording is different than what was used in ths show.

best wishes,

jeff

[giconceptsjw]

The scene in episode 10 where Sledge goes and sign up for classes and the the little blonde asks him what training he had in the Marines. She looked shocked at his answers. I'd like to know what she thought why Americans joined the military for during the war? Was that in the book? It might just be me but I thought that was a bit odd...

 

I don’t doubt a similar conversation took place in real life. You have to figure 9 guys out of 10 never saw any combat in WWII. There were millions of ex-GI’s going to college after the war on the GI Bill so a girl like that would have talked to mostly truck drivers, cooks, mechanics, supply people, etc. It would be a little shocking to hear a guy say the only thing he learned during the war was how to kill.

[scottplen]

It was OK for me ! I would of liked it more if they just played it in a few nites ! Also does anyone know what happened to JP in did not see him again after Austrialia ? Did he survive the war?

[Got da Penny]

I'd say the series was worth watching once (and only once); Now to cancel HBO

 

It never came together for me, each week i was expecting better episodes. (Never Happened) GRADE ---> D+

 

 

CS

[DutchInfid3l]

How about Sledge’s brother from the 2nd Armored? What was up with the presidential unit citation atop the normal ribbon rack? It should be over the opposite pocket. Any decent insignia book would have shown someone that.

 

THANK YOU! That was driving me nuts!

I really enjoyed the last episode, I thought it was the best out all of it. There aren't too many movies/miniseries that show the aftermath of war and the emotional toll it has on the people involved.

It was hard for me at the end only because when they were showing the actors and the men they portrayed I had a hard time remembering who they were, everything was just so lumped together and quick, I wish they would've mentioned some sort of time line, even a year date on the bottom of the screen to help you out a bit.

 

I enjoyed the entire series overall, it was entertaining... as it should be, but my expectations were dashed. I had been hoping for better.

 

 

 

-Sarah

[RonB]

I read most of the post in this section and could not find any dealing with this specifically. But if it has, please pardon this post.

In episode 3, during the Medal of Honor ceremony, LtCol Puller is shown wearing, among other ribbons, the Silver Star. Although LtCol Puller did earn this award, it wasnt until the Inchon landing in SEP 1950.

Also, MGen Vandegrift is seen wearing, next to his NC, the Navy DSM. Gen Vandegrift did not earn this award until the end of his term as CMC in 1947.

Finally, the MOH draped around P/Sgt Balione's neck is the type that was not in use until long after the Korean War. The star-studded cravat is the give-a-way. It should have been the narrow type.

I also noted at least one post had the view that Dale Dye failed somewhat as the senior military advisor on this series. I am not attempting to defend or criticize Dye on this issue but to simply point out the following:

I attempted to e-mail Dye regarding this MOH award ceremony listed above and managed to e-mail his wife instead. She was extremely understanding regarding the points I brought out. In fact, she mentioned in her reply e-mail that Dye had brought out these same points during the filming and was told by the film maker (no name(s) were mentioned) that, "no one will noticed that".

She thanked me for proving them wrong and ended by saying that Dye, in his position as senior military advisor could only "ADVISE". As we all know, "advise" is just that and can be either taken or rejected.

Ron

[fortworthgal]

I also noted at least one post had the view that Dale Dye failed somewhat as the senior military advisor on this series. I am not attempting to defend or criticize Dye on this issue but to simply point out the following:

 

I attempted to e-mail Dye regarding this MOH award ceremony listed above and managed to e-mail his wife instead. She was extremely understanding regarding the points I brought out. In fact, she mentioned in her reply e-mail that Dye had brought out these same points during the filming and was told by the film maker (no name(s) were mentioned) that, "no one will noticed that".

 

She thanked me for proving them wrong and ended by saying that Dye, in his position as senior military advisor could only "ADVISE". As we all know, "advise" is just that and can be either taken or rejected.

 

I am really glad you posted this. I do not believe that every failure to get something 100% accurate falls solely on Dale Dye (or any other military advisor for film or TV). That's the equivalent of blaming the President for every problem in the country while failing to consider Congress, the Senate, and everyone else who plays a role. "Military Advisor" is just that - Advisor, and probably not the final say on every aspect of the series.

 

Just my .02.

[VeeVee]

Now that it's over, what The Pacific is to me...

 

I've had my share of criticism of the show. It's not perfect, but it's terrific in many ways. In the end I salute everyone involved in the effort.

 

It's DVR'ed on my TV, there for me to turn on and watch at anytime... maybe after a bad day at work. Maybe on weak moments after snapping at my kids, or choosing between right and wrong, and having chosen the easy but wrong path. In the end it's there to remind myself to "earn it." Just like what Capt. Miller said to Pvt. Ryan... "earn this." That in the end is what I take from it.

[kammo-man]

All ,

So the series is over and the dust has settled and here are MY grades for each show.

 

I graded a simple 1 to 10 and kept all the scores or grades depending on how you look at things.

I then added them up and that number is the grade the show will get from me in the end .

So out of a possible 100 the show rated 60.

 

Here are the grades by week .

 

1=6

2=7

3=3

4=4

5=6

6=5

7=9

8=5

9=9

10=6

 

I think the show was just in the middle with a possible room for slight improvement.

But that my stats on how it panned out for me.

 

owen

[giconceptsjw]

It is true that it’s almost impossible to make a production like this one perfect. We don’t have a time machine so there will always be technical or authenticity errors. However, some projects like Band of Brothers come about as close as you can get to technical perfection, while The Pacific fell considerably short of that. I think that’s the point being made with this thread. The irony comes from the fact that both projects were produced by the same people.

 

Speaking from personal experience as a professional military technical advisor, it is true that you can’t always do your job. Most of those frustrating circumstances come when the director needs to get a shot that calls for the actors to do something they would never do in actual combat. Sometimes they need people to bunch up or fire & move in such a way that suits the camera, not reality. On the other hand, the technical advisor (TA) is God when it comes to uniform & equipment details. His/her word is absolute and final on that. They are relying on your knowledge & experience to get all the details correct. That IS your job. No one, not even the director will ever contradict or override a TA on uniform or equipment details. Another thing every TA learns very quickly is, people notice everything. A show like The Pacific with literally millions of viewers comes under the scrutiny of thousands of knowledgeable people. Everyone knows viewers will pause a scene to count the eyelets on a pair of shoes. Every uniform detail mistake will be caught, every time. There is no TA anywhere in the business who would seriously say “no one will ever notice that.” That is ridiculous.

 

Anyone who has ever dealt with DD knows that he is like a politician. You will never get a straight answer about anything from him or his entourage. The Pacific had a budget in excess of $100 million. With that kind of money it would have been easy to obtain a correct Medal of Honor or just reproduce one that was accurate. The problem is, the TA didn’t know the difference so it was filmed that way. When that or any other mistake is pointed out, the typical response is the same; “Oh I knew about that but they wouldn’t let me get it right.” Sure, tell me another fairytale. If I were working on the series I could have obtained a correct MOH. In fact I showed a correct WWII Navy MOH in one of my books. If I can do that on my own out of pocket budget, DD should be able to do the same thing on a $100 million budget, don’t cha think??

 

It’s just like the 03-A3 rifles, and all the other bizarre mistakes in the series. Their TA’s simply didn’t do their job because they don’t know how and they were hired based on hype & BS, not their knowledge. There you have it.

[willysmb44]

I am really glad you posted this. I do not believe that every failure to get something 100% accurate falls solely on Dale Dye (or any other military advisor for film or TV). That's the equivalent of blaming the President for every problem in the country while failing to consider Congress, the Senate, and everyone else who plays a role. "Military Advisor" is just that - Advisor, and probably not the final say on every aspect of the series.

I agree. I’ve been a “consultant” on a few projects I won’t go into here, and I’ve never had someone go with 100% of my advice, citing that something else, “Looks better” so they’d go with that instead.

[kammo-man]

six out of ten .............................

[Blake_E]

This series really started off well but I feel it lost it's way as it progressed. Seems they spent more time trying to make it just 'epic' and action packed (which they went overboard with imo) instead of focusing on the story. VERY choppy changey. Parts where they are walking up hills etc, I just sat there thinking 'what exactly are they doing, give us some insight? They definitely seemed set on displaying the horror and brutality of war too, which I think they again went overboard with. Worth watching, but I won't go buy it. I really enjoyed Leckie's acting but felt the character was quite hard to understand. Sledge is great too. I'm eager to see the finale which is on here this coming week.

[RonB]

It is true that it’s almost impossible to make a production like this one perfect. We don’t have a time machine so there will always be technical or authenticity errors. However, some projects like Band of Brothers come about as close as you can get to technical perfection, while The Pacific fell considerably short of that. I think that’s the point being made with this thread. The irony comes from the fact that both projects were produced by the same people.

 

Speaking from personal experience as a professional military technical advisor, it is true that you can’t always do your job. Most of those frustrating circumstances come when the director needs to get a shot that calls for the actors to do something they would never do in actual combat. Sometimes they need people to bunch up or fire & move in such a way that suits the camera, not reality. On the other hand, the technical advisor (TA) is God when it comes to uniform & equipment details. His/her word is absolute and final on that. They are relying on your knowledge & experience to get all the details correct. That IS your job. No one, not even the director will ever contradict or override a TA on uniform or equipment details. Another thing every TA learns very quickly is, people notice everything. A show like The Pacific with literally millions of viewers comes under the scrutiny of thousands of knowledgeable people. Everyone knows viewers will pause a scene to count the eyelets on a pair of shoes. Every uniform detail mistake will be caught, every time. There is no TA anywhere in the business who would seriously say “no one will ever notice that.” That is ridiculous.

 

Anyone who has ever dealt with DD knows that he is like a politician. You will never get a straight answer about anything from him or his entourage. The Pacific had a budget in excess of $100 million. With that kind of money it would have been easy to obtain a correct Medal of Honor or just reproduce one that was accurate. The problem is, the TA didn’t know the difference so it was filmed that way. When that or any other mistake is pointed out, the typical response is the same; “Oh I knew about that but they wouldn’t let me get it right.” Sure, tell me another fairytale. If I were working on the series I could have obtained a correct MOH. In fact I showed a correct WWII Navy MOH in one of my books. If I can do that on my own out of pocket budget, DD should be able to do the same thing on a $100 million budget, don’t cha think??

 

It’s just like the 03-A3 rifles, and all the other bizarre mistakes in the series. Their TA’s simply didn’t do their job because they don’t know how and they were hired based on hype & BS, not their knowledge. There you have it.

 

 

Interesting...I was not aware that a Technical Advisor had the absolutely last word and could override the director.

 

As long as we are on this subject, take a look and this picture of DD in his USMC uniform with his medals and ribbons. See anything wrong? If you missed it, most of the ribbons on his right aside are backwards.

 

When full size medals are worn (on the wearer's left side) any ribbons for which there is no corresponding medal are worn on the wearers right side. When those ribbons are worn they shall be worn in the same order that they would appear if they were on the wearer's right side. In other words, as you look at this picture, the Navy PUC should be on the left side and the Navy MUC should be on the right side of the first complete row. The Vietnam Civil Action Unit Citation sould be on the right side and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon should be on the left side of the second complete row.

 

They were mounted incorrectly.

 

Ron

[DaveS44]

As for my Sunday nights.. I'll quote SNAFU. "What do I do now"

 

I guess I'll go buy Band of Brothers, as I have not seen this yet. - Dave