Over the last few months, I’ve taken some time to watch the trio of shows put together by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, all which relate to World War II. It’s been an eye-opening experience.
The first show that duo put out was the award-winning Band of Brothers, way back in 2001. The show won multiple Emmys and a Golden Globe as well as many other accolades, rightly so. It details the journey of Easy Company during World War II, starting with their training as paratroopers and continuing as they fought on the Western Front of the war.
Shown in various episodes are the D-Day landing at Normandy, the Siege of Bastogne, liberating a concentration camp, and the invasion of Germany. Some of the men in that group fought in so many of the crucial battles in Europe during that conflict, and it was amazing to watch the portrayal of the bravery of men who had been beaten down in every way at every turn.
The second show that was produced was The Pacific, released in 2010, showing a side of the war we don’t usually think about as much, the battles against the Japanese on remote islands in the Asian Theater. Though not winning quite as many awards, it still garnered plenty of Emmys, along with various other recognitions.
This show followed a group of Marines who were sent to many islands we might never have heard of, if not for World War II, such as Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Three different regiments were shown as they trekked through jungles and fought their way across beaches, trying to gain airfields that would give the Allies a better shot at invading Japan and taking out the Japanese soldiers that were so unwilling to surrender.
This past year, Spielberg and Hanks released the latest look at the war fought by the Greatest Generation. Found on Apple TV+, Masters of the Air is a revealing look at the Air Force and the many bombing runs they took to loosen up the ability of the Axis to produce and use war machinery.
The show focuses mainly on the 100th Bomb Group, but also highlights the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-Black group of pilots, and their heroic exploits in the war. The show is new enough that it hasn’t been recognized (yet) for awards, but the response has been largely positive.
Here was my biggest takeaway from watching these shows: War is hell. There is no lack of graphic violence, watching soldiers get shot, blown up, started on fire, etc. The producers and directors did not shy away from showing someone losing an arm or leg, and the blood loss is copious. These scenes are meant to shock, but they’re also meant to show the reality of what happened on those battlefields.
Sometimes, it was hard to watch. Not just because of the gore, but because the realization seeps in that these things really happened. While you would term these shows historical fiction, they are based on real people and real events. There is some literary license, as is to be expected, but overall, this is what it looked like to be on the front lines and in the air during the war.
Watching a soldier kill an opponent for the first time is a great example of a scene that humanizes what was happening. Remember, so many of these soldiers, on both sides, were people who were not military folks to start. They volunteered to fight for their country. They stepped up to defend freedom. They came off their farms and out of the factories and schools to become soldiers and risk their lives for others.
It was also hard to watch the racism that was involved, both among Americans and also the hatred aimed at German and Japanese people. This is horrifically shown in the battles of the Pacific when civilians were sometimes killed and sometimes even targeted. If you were Japanese, you were an enemy. We saw that in our own country with the internment camps on the West Coast.
I get it, I think. I remember the anger after 9/11 and how anyone from a Middle Eastern country was looked at with suspicion. But it’s unfortunate that people who have nothing to do with terrorism and war are still lumped in with the people who are actually evil.
And then I look at all the war still happening in our world. War between Ukraine and Russia. The conflict with Israel and Gaza and everything going on there. And why? For power? For land? For religion?
Won’t the human race ever learn? Or are we destined to always have someone who seeks more power or more land or to show why their religion is the best one? Because that’s what wars have been about for millenia. All that’s changed is the efficiency with which we can kill people.
I’m not anti-war. If there is evil in the world that truly threatens the good of many, that evil must be stopped. But I watched these shows and thought, “Some of these scenes are being replayed somewhere in real life right now.” Sure, it might be drones dropping bombs instead of human-piloted planes, but there is still death and dismemberment. Civilians are still casualties.
As we approach Memorial Day, I pray for peace, though that prayer seems forlorn. After watching all those shows, I have an even greater appreciation for the men and women who served in World War II and all the subsequent conflicts in the decades afterward. Take a moment during this long weekend to think about all the sacrifices. As it says on many veteran memorials, “All gave some, some gave all.”
And maybe say a prayer for peace. Perhaps if we all do, it will happen.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is sartorial, which means related to tailored clothes, as in, “The military personnel were not as worried about having sartorial uniforms, just pants that wouldn’t fall down or be too tight.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!