The Pacific Part 2 - Full Reaction

When you made the comment about the Marines on Guadalcanal having to focus on getting through one day at a time, it instantly made me think of a parallel situation in the Korean War. The First Marine Division was surrounded, fighting their way through mountains in Arctic-like conditions and outnumbered ten to one by North Korean and Chinese troops, many of the Marines walking wounded, hungry and cold. A journalist - now we would say he was embedded - interviewed one Marine and asked him, "What would you want if you could have any wish?” The Marine thought for a minute, then said, "Give me tomorrow." The photo the journalist took of him became one of the most famous images from the Korean War.

Jim Finley

I have the same problem with the HBO series but not with long movies. I'm using a big 4K display, kind of picture in picture setup, and I resync the videos about once a minute by pausing one of them. A bit annoying, but I can live with that since it's only with HBO.

The bombardment depicted in this episode took place on the night of October 13-14, 1942. Remembered by those who survived it as "The Night," it was the most devastating Japanese naval bombardment of the war. For an hour and a half, two Japanese battleships, the Kongo and Haruna, plastered Henderson Field and its environs with approximately 900 14-inch high explosive shells from ten miles away. 41 men were killed and 40 aircraft destroyed, but the psychological effect on the survivors would last the rest of their lives.

Quacksalver Extraordinaire

for me it's her reaction is like 3-4 seconds behind of what is in her blurry image. i just put my stream 3-4 seconds behind of this video and you are good :)

Gregory Martin

I haven't been watching the serials, just the stand-alone movies, but this would be a correct description if Cassie is watching in Canada/US (which can show film at 60 Hz with speed almost locked*) and you are in Europe/Australia (which will show film at 50 Hz with a 4% speed increase.) * 59.97 Hz is the rate used in actual TVs, but that is very hard to spot.

Kade (Sydney, AU)

I’m reading the same trilogy! I was appalled by the brutality of Japanese training. Beaten with baseball bats, punched, slapped... they really had no appreciation for human rights. Tojo deserved hanging. They refused to believe in PTSD, and how fighting men need r&r from combat after a period of time. I haven’t read the last book yet, but it’s on my list. Need to finish up what I’m reading now.

Catherine LW

Very good point! It was a huge oversight for sure. I actually just got finished reading the book "Pacific Crucible" where it details the training of early Japanese naval aviators. The training was so extreme that only a small percentage ever made it through, so it wasn't sustainable from the beginning. What's sad is that a large percentage were simply never rescued at sea after crashing, unlike their American counterparts. To top it off, their aircraft were very agile, but sacrificed armor and pilot protection to achieve it. Just an impossible situation for those pilots.

Josh Phillips

I haven’t noticed any problems when I sync, and I’m viewing it from HBO Max too. I wonder if it’s a streaming thing, due to slow internet intermittently?

Catherine LW

It must be slowed down or something, because i can put it a few seconds behind the reaction, and within 5 seconds, my video is infront of the reaction video, every time.

Christian Zwisler

Am i the only one who cant get my own HBO and this movie to sync right? Its like they are not the same exact speed, which is killing me :(

Christian Zwisler

Another movie you may like, especially since it stars Tom Hanks as the main character, is Greyhound, focusing on an Atlantic supply convoy to Britain during World War II. Very well done, and doesn't have as much gore as most war movies, so it'll give you a bit of a break there.

Ethan May

The Army and Marine Corps have a massive rivalry. We act like we hate each other, but ultimately we know we're on the same side and we respect each other. The scene we saw with Marines stealing Army supplies - not sure if that's true but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was. The Marines had a much, much smaller budget than the Army. As a result, not only did they get less gear, they got older and lower quality gear. The Marines basically got Army hand-me-downs, like a younger child in a family that didn't have money. The Army had M1919 machine guns, the Marines had old World War 1 M1917 guns. That says a lot. The scene where American Marines were being bombed - those would be Japanese mortars. Mortars are basically bombs fired from tubes aimed at the sky and they come down onto their target due to gravity. Mortars are the smallest form of artillery. They are man-portable and do not require vehicles to transport. The scene of the morning after the Japanese mortar attack - that is a very realistic depiction of what bodies look like that have been struck by artillery. The scary thing about artillery is that in close proximity, the shockwave of the blast alone can kill you even if you're not struck by metal shrapnel. It literally dismembers and mangles bodies. Ugly stuff. A "runner" can be good or bad in terms of survivability. It totally depends. Runners relay commands between units in the event that radio is not an option. Back then, a good batallion commander would send commands via radio AND runner - to ensure that the command was received to whom it was sent. Runners in wartime would typically have brass balls and were in very good shape. If you were given the task of a runner in wartime, that meant someone thought you weren't a pussy. The crackers the Marines were eating - the rations issued to Soldiers and Marines (K and C-Rations) typically had some sort of jam with them with crackers. This has continued to today, I can't tell you how many times I've eaten "Vegetable crackers" combined with Strawberry or Raspberry jam, which was contained in a separate packet within an issued ration. The scene where Sgt. Basilone picked up the hot machine gun - the part that burned his arm was the water tank which was connected to the barrel of the .30 caliber M1917 machine gun. This part gets extremely hot with sustained automatic fire. The reason why a water tank is there, is to cool down the barrel during intense sustained automatic fire. Sgt. Basilone picked it up without gloves, which is pretty much unthinkable. But he did what was necessary at the time, which is what a good leader does. Remember the scene where he ran up into the field of fire and pushed over Japanese bodies that had piled up and his guys were like what the hell are you doing you crazy fuck? This was so the machine gun had a clear line of fire and so Japanese soldiers couldn't so easily hide behind their dead comrades in a future attack. Completely, insanely selfless. A true fighter and leader, Sgt. Basilone. You also asked what do they do with the dead Japanese bodies. Typically, nothing. The only real consideration is to keep your Marines away from them, as a sanitary precaution once they actually start rotting and putrefying in the sun. In the hours after the fight, there would be war trophy and souvenir taking. I have one from my great uncle Billy who was at Iwo Jima. In extreme conditions, there are accounts of American Marines/Soldiers using enemy bodies as sandbags. For cover from fire. This is also documented during the Korean war. I hope this answers your questions, as unpleasant as they may be.

Brennan Shippert

Damn straight!

Catherine LW

I appreciate unblurring the beginning for me and any other loser not using HBO Max! :D

applefresh

That ending gets me every time. Leckie wrote that when the cook told them they were heroes back home, they couldn’t look at each other for they were embarrassed by the tears that filled their eyes. They thought they were forgotten and expendable back home. What they didn’t convey here is the fact that Basilone and his 2 machine gun sections fought nonstop for two days. By the second day, only Basilone and 2 other marines were left standing, with pistols and machetes after running out of machine gun and rifle ammo. One wounded marine described him when he visited the aid station to check on them: “... He was barefoot and his eyes were red as fire. His face was dirty black from gunfire and lack of sleep. He had a .45 tucked into the waistband of his trousers...” After their victory at Guadalcanal, the First Marine Division needed rest and refitting. Out of 16,000 men, 2 thousand were killed or wounded, and another 8,500 contracted malaria, hepatitis or dysentery. So next is rest in Melbourne, Australia.

Catherine LW

ok i never knew that! sounds australian haha! Thank you for clarifying!

Cassie

Thank you that is helpful! And yes, that quote, we owe SO SO much to our veterans dont we. :(

Cassie

“The men I treated from the Great War. It’s not that they had their flesh torn. It was that they had their soul torn out.” The line that hit me when I first watched this series. It’s like a gut punch. Also. Something that may come up again. Nip is short for Niponese. This is a term used by allied forces, along with Japs, for the Japanese. Both are slurs, but posting about it just to help you understand what is going on.

Jacob Mai

True, the Japanese Air Force suffered a major blow at Midway. Their policy of making their most experienced pilots continue to fly missions until they’re killed or maimed also contributed to their demise. Unlike the US, who set limits and retired their pilots to teach new pilots.

Catherine LW

There is a (1990) movie about a WW2 bomber crew called "MEMPHIS BELLE", I'm sure you will enjoy. Great film!

Mr. Writhms

To answer one of your questions from the episode. 'Dungaree's' just refers to the specific types of pants and the button up shirts that you see the marines wearing. So when you hear someone say "change dungaree's" or "grab new dungaree's" they're just telling them to change clothes.

Don Imhauser

It’s insane to think about the conditions the Marines were living in, let alone fighting in. It’s incredibly chaotic and hard to tell what’s happening, but here is a little bit of the overall picture. 😁 Guadalcanal is a significant moment, because it was the last time the Japanese took the offensive in WWII. The Japanese Navy was dealt a huge blow at the battle of Midway earlier that year. They lost four of their front line aircraft carriers and between Midway and Guadalcanal also lost the cream of their naval aviators. So now it’s a defensive mindset for the Japanese, who will employ a brutal strategy of bloodletting. Their goal is to make the cost of invasion so high that the Americans will sue for peace, while the U.S. goal is total victory. The end of 1943 into 1944 is when all this starts to come to a head. Glad you are enjoying The Pacific! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Josh Phillips