Band of Brothers
- Thread starter Papi Chulo
- Start date
I totally agree that Canadians and others are left out (for the most part) of American movies etc.... but Band of Brothers follows the some of the FIRST paratroopers (101st) and easy company from their training days all the way to the end of the war... This is non-fiction and "NOT" taken from different stories all stuck together..... This is the actual story of easy company, with the soldiers correct names, dates etc... watch the dvd behind the scenes etc... Quite a story... easy company were highly trained and took some of the highest American casualty rates of the war.
Anyone who took part in the allied forces Canadian, American or other, should be thanked... my father was in WW2, he never spoke of it. Until recently I had no idea of his service record and neither did my mother... we found out he was sent home 3 times for wounds he suffered .. And 3 times he refused... always wanting to stay and help... this is the courage and dedication that won the war... and I’m proud of him and anyone else who served...
http://www.junobeach.org/
Anyone who took part in the allied forces Canadian, American or other, should be thanked... my father was in WW2, he never spoke of it. Until recently I had no idea of his service record and neither did my mother... we found out he was sent home 3 times for wounds he suffered .. And 3 times he refused... always wanting to stay and help... this is the courage and dedication that won the war... and I’m proud of him and anyone else who served...
http://www.junobeach.org/
That is something I guess I will never understand and it is portrayed over and over in films, series and movies: that almost always a wounded soldier is more concerned about leaving his buddies behind and failing to do his job than getting out with the injury.BigStarCasinoS said:
I don't know where that kind of dedication comes from but in my mind, these guys are remarkable people and should always be looked upon with admiration, respect and the deepest gratitude.
I have read the book many times and saw the series many more times and i've always wondered. Were soldiers back then made of better stuff than the soldiers of today? Watching the interviews and reading about it, these guys would follow their commanding officers to hell and back without even a second thought. Now a days, i hear soldiers cracking more easily. One soldier from the famed 101st tossed a grenade into a barracks of his own men. WTF!!!
That happened back then too. Agreed that it's probably more prevalent in today's world, but killing one's own commanding officer happened in WWII too.incognito said:
Those who liked Band of Brothers will probably be glad to hear that the same team is producing a similar series called The Pacific War. Filming started in 2005 and it's expected out in 2007, IIRC. It won't have any of the characters from the first series.
Unlike Band of Brothers, the new series will follow a group of entertainers (which allows the series to jump all over the Pacific; something not possible by following any single unit) and will cover all of the major battles from Pearl Harbour to Guadalcanal to Midway to Okinawa. There will be 10 episodes and 9 of them involve major battles (so probably more combat than in the first series).
Unlike Band of Brothers, the new series will follow a group of entertainers (which allows the series to jump all over the Pacific; something not possible by following any single unit) and will cover all of the major battles from Pearl Harbour to Guadalcanal to Midway to Okinawa. There will be 10 episodes and 9 of them involve major battles (so probably more combat than in the first series).
I don't have enough experience to answer but from what I've read, and seen the way they are portrayed in films the officers of today seem to be appointees as opposed to seasoned experienced officers. How can a sargent with previous experience in 2 wars take orders from a college age officer with NO experience?incognito said:
Again, I was never there but one of the things that is different from combat today and those in the past is that today, often there is no clear enemey wearing a uniform that can be readily identified. Now you have the combatants dressed and looking identical to the civilians and in addition, you have 10 yr olds touting AK's and grenades.
I think in previous wars there it was somehow simpler: the enemy held this ground, we hold this ground. To defeat them we have to remove them from where they are. Now, the enemy doesn't hold any ground and is totally fluid (meaning they strike and move constantly) and never enter into a stand up fight. Plus now they have so many rules of engagement that it's a wonder anything ever gets done. ie: you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't bomb or even ENTER mosques (even if the enemy runs into it after killing your CO), you can't damage any buidlings, you can't shoot if x persons are there, the enemy has to shoot first, blah blah blah. In WWII if the enemy benefitted from a city? The allies flattened it.....
Another prime example (as to what's happening in Iraq) is that according to the rules, the Iraqi people have the right to own 1 ak47. So not only can't the military disarm everyone so that only the enemy will have arms (henceforth only those with automatic weapons are easily identified) but in every house the soldiers have to face someone with an automatic weapon.
BTW: I think everyone should commemorate tomorrow. I was just reminded myself that tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. I know we have rememberance day but I think we should all take a moment to remember all those that lost their lives in defence of our freedom.
tboy it is the 62nd anniversary . They mentioned it in the IKE movie with Tom Selleck that was just on but a lot of people don't realize the original date was slated for June 5th. It was delayed the day because of bad weather. With that in mind the men who were part of the initial landng were loaded and taken out into the channel June 4th, they spent that whole extra day bobbing around in the channel ( couldn't be good for the nerves).
Dad never wanted to go back to any of the reunions they had over the years, he just felt he was there once, lost friends and didn't feel like going back. He liked to tell humourous stories of what they did to pass the time before going in. He said he was so seasick that the Germans firing on them was secondary to getting onto any dry land again.
I wish more people could understand what those young men went thru. I know a lot of people care but there are just so many that take all we have for granted. After the landing the British Army had to twice increase their highest loss rate calculation models using the phrase double extreme to rank combat losses. Average life of a rifleman was 8 to 10 days. When you think how worldly and travelled we are today, talking about SP's in Bangkok, Prague etc it seems almost obscene when you think that for most of those young men it was their first journey outside of the UK, and they were being sent to die.
I'll stop now before I bore everyone to death but this is something I feel strongly about and would like to suggest that people do what I do on the 6th, raise a toast to the veterans and stop by any cenotaph. It is humbling.
Dad never wanted to go back to any of the reunions they had over the years, he just felt he was there once, lost friends and didn't feel like going back. He liked to tell humourous stories of what they did to pass the time before going in. He said he was so seasick that the Germans firing on them was secondary to getting onto any dry land again.
I wish more people could understand what those young men went thru. I know a lot of people care but there are just so many that take all we have for granted. After the landing the British Army had to twice increase their highest loss rate calculation models using the phrase double extreme to rank combat losses. Average life of a rifleman was 8 to 10 days. When you think how worldly and travelled we are today, talking about SP's in Bangkok, Prague etc it seems almost obscene when you think that for most of those young men it was their first journey outside of the UK, and they were being sent to die.
I'll stop now before I bore everyone to death but this is something I feel strongly about and would like to suggest that people do what I do on the 6th, raise a toast to the veterans and stop by any cenotaph. It is humbling.
LancsLad said:
or make a small donation to the juno beach center www.junobeach.org
...most importantly member the sacrifice that they made.
BigStarCasinoS said:
Already have a brick in memory of my Dad, I'm going over this summer to check it out. You don't need to have served with just the Cdn military to get a brick in the veterans section, any allied force counts.
I am looking forward to seeing the centre. Dad was at Gold which I of course will visit as well.
the CBC should trash some of their low rated crap shows and use the budgets to produce a good miniseries about canadian forces in WW2
Band of Brothers is brilliant TV.
The characters, the acting, the scenery, everything was first rate.
As far as Can Con goes, there was a movie called "The Devil's Brigade" about a joint Canadian US Airborne squadron based on a true story. As usual, Hollywood had to spice up the rivalry between the Canadians and the Americans and portray the Americans as louts and the Canadians as spit and polish goodie goodies.
The truth of the matter was that both were crack troops and they got along well and still have reunions to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil's_Brigade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Brigade
The characters, the acting, the scenery, everything was first rate.
As far as Can Con goes, there was a movie called "The Devil's Brigade" about a joint Canadian US Airborne squadron based on a true story. As usual, Hollywood had to spice up the rivalry between the Canadians and the Americans and portray the Americans as louts and the Canadians as spit and polish goodie goodies.
The truth of the matter was that both were crack troops and they got along well and still have reunions to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil's_Brigade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Brigade
Here here. I totally agree. Maybe about vimmy ridge. I know it was WW1 but it's still a good story. There are tons of good and almost unkonwn actors who would sign up no prob. They might even be competing for the roles.freshbreath said:
yeah!incognito said:
there are so many things they could base a mini-series on
everything from vimy ridge, to ortona, to bosnia, to rwanda (I've read thought that a movie based on Romeo Dalaire is being made)
Speaking of Ortona,
The CBC did one of the most amazing documentaries ever on Ortona and the vets who returned there.
I believe this is the link:
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-636-3477/conflict_war/halton/clip11
The CBC did one of the most amazing documentaries ever on Ortona and the vets who returned there.
I believe this is the link:
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-636-3477/conflict_war/halton/clip11
I often ponder things like that myself. Like if Hitler was killed in the first world war, would there have been a second?Spiker said:
If Kennedy hadn't been assinated what would have happened between the US and the USSR?
Whenever Star Trek get into the old time travel paradox one wonders if you could in fact go back in time and change major events what the effect would be? Would it be a positive result or would someone worse (like Hitler) come along?
In the case of Hitler, Germany was already ripe for upheaval due to the restrictions put on them due to the versalles treaty so would have someone much worse come to power? (there were a lot of sickos in the Nazi party that argumentatively were worse than Hitler).
It is all about Honor for the men that was fighting and who is still alive today. I can understand why they didn't want to talk about it for years. It takes a really strong man to bottle up those things he has seen and gone through in the war, come home and start a new life. I'm baffled about it. I respect all the old veterans all the time. I love to sit down with them and hear the good stories, then when the not so great stories come, you cannot keep from getting chills through you're body. Sit with these guys for a few hours you anyone would form respect for them no matter what they have gone through.Cute In A Kilt said:
I have a close family friend that was in the Italian army. To this day he talks very little about it. He has shown me his medals and daggers, and a hand gun he used. Oh he still have shrapnel in his leg when a mortar went off close to where he was standing, it killed three of his fellow brothers. When he told me about that, he started to cry. I ended it there because you can still see the pain in his eyes. These kind of things you cannot forget, even though you try too it is still there. Allot of them have taken it to their graves, and some do talk about it. Again I come to understand why they don't want to talk about it sometimes.
Imagine if you were in their shoes, you're fighting side by side one moment you're friend is by you, and the next he drops to the ground, caused by a bullet to his head, you look at him you see lots of blood.. What would you do ? You have seconds to think, you move on and keep on fighting. The only time you have a chance to think about it is when there is no bombs going off and no gunfire, then reality hits you're seen so much death. Again it takes so my courage and mental stability to come home and try to start a new life.
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