The Pacific

I don't think Leckie appears at all the rest of the miniseries (or Hoosier or Runner or any of the other guys from that squad), except for maybe a wrap-up/whatever-happened-to scene or two at the end.

It's Sledge's show from here on out.

 

From what I was reading around the time of the premier, they said this one was going to deal a lot more with the homefront and the emotions the soldiers had to cope with when they returned home. In relation to BoB that is. So I wouldn't be surpised if Part 9 will deal heavily with the battlefront, and then the last episode will be on how the soldiers fit in at home. I wouldn't be surprised if we see the return of Leckie in Part 10.

 

No. The Basilone story is among the most heartbreaking imaginable. That was an incredibly moving hour of TV. I knew he was going back to Iwo, but I did not know he was killed there. Basilone was set aside because he went home for the War Bond tour and there was only so much to show of that. They dealt with it enough. He comes back into the show because he's going back to Iwo -- and the story of how he came to be there and what happened along the way was probably the most moving hour of this series yet.
I had no idea what a hero Basilone was.
I'm glad The Pacific showed us all.

 

I agree. It was the best of a stretch of four incredibly outstanding episodes.

I wonder if the splitting up of characters and stories and what not is done in part because that's how the Pacific was. It certainly wasn't a linear front.

 

Twoback, I completely agree about Basilone's story. I guess since I did do a lot of digging into his story after the episode in which he was presented with the Medal of Honor, I didn't expect them to cover all of it in one hour, so that's why I reacted the way I did.

I was riveted to the television and touched by his romance with his wife, and when I glanced down at the clock after the wedding scene, knowing how much of his real story had yet to be told, I assumed that it was going to bleed over into Part 9.

That battle scene was so quick, and I thought maybe the next part was going to take us along at sea with him and his young group of Marines on their way to Iwo Jima, showing more of their relationship that would help bring home even more their shocked reaction when they saw him gunned down. In reality, what this proves is that even a 10-part series isn't nearly enough to tell all of the worthy stories about The Pacific or anything else about WWII.

 

Good point.
I guess they felt they'd already covered the trip in to storm the beach at the Canal, and of course nobody's ever going to convey the horror of such a trip better than Spielberg did in SPR.
When you think about it, the battle scene was quick -- but Basilone went down on day 1 in the Iwo Jima siege. There's some symmetry there.

 

I've been watching the episodes while reading Wiki. I knew Basilone was going to return to battle and die on the first day of Iwo Jima. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor. He was the only enlisted Marine in World War II to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.

 

After reading that I had to find out who else during World War II was more decorated and came across Audie Murphy. But something about Basilone's story just resonates with me.

 

I absolutely love this series. I haven't seen BoB yet, but I will now that I've been so moved by this series.

I agree that Basilone's heroism was inspiring ... after watching this last episode, I told my girlfriend that this is the closest I've come to seeing a modern-day Achilles. What an incredibly heroic, brave man. God bless him.

 

I'd love to hear from those young Marines that were with Basilone that fateful day to learn more about how his death impacted them going forward.

Again, this series is outstanding.

 

I raise a glass to John Basilone.

As a Navy vet, I never paid too much attention to Marine history. After watching the episode, I did some reading up on him. Basilone did everything asked of him and more at the Canal, had a chance to call it a day but chose to go back in harm's way and died in combat. Semper Fi, Marine. Well done. He was/is the embodiment of the Marine Corps.

We had a local Marine that was killed on Iwo Jima and won the CMH ... posthumously. He has a major park, bridge and street named after him.

 

Also, the horror of Iwo Jima was told pretty well in two recent Hollywood epics: "Flags of Our Fathers" and (especially) "Letters From Iwo Jima."