Pat Dollard | Young Americans

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5 Responses

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1. Kerry
   

   Within a couple of weeks of this film’s release, one of my sisters and I took our mother to see it at a local theatre. About five minutes into that opening scene, two women sitting in front of us got up to leave, and my sister, my mother and I were all sobbing. The three of us watched the entire film, riveted. When we got out to the car, we couldn’t stop talking about it. I made the point then, and stand by it, that what made that entire opening sequence so absolutely powerful and mind-blowing was the fact that in the reality of that beach landing, and indeed the entire war, American boys and very young men who could have been doing ANYTHING else, like just working a job, hanging out with their friends, playing a sport, going to school, writing a book, starting a family, being a ladies man, whatever, were instead being slaughtered, maimed and suffering the consequences of seeing humanity at its worst because some jack-booted, degenerate group of thugs believed they could take on the whole world, and weak, incompetent “diplomats” couldn’t find the resolve to stop them before the cannons started firing. Beautiful, strong, funny, smart, loving, decent young guys, thousands of miles from their homes and the people who loved them, were torn to pieces all because of somebody else’s diseased thinking and fucked up beliefs. My mother, who died this past November at the age of 83, recalled the names of a few guys she knew from her hometown who were killed at Normandy, a couple who died in the Pacific theatre, others who served but lived to tell. She really cried at that movie. There was one guy in particular she remembered. I know his name, but since I’m not sure of the spelling of his last name, I’ll forego printing it here. Anyway, they were in the same high school class, she said he was extremely handsome, and a bit of a rogue, smart, too, lots going for him, everything going for him. He was killed at Normandy. 20 years old. His parents had come to the U.S. from Germany. He was their only child.

   I just don’t know if there can ever be enough gratitude or thanks for the hundreds of thousands of young men who did what was illustrated in that film, particularly from the people who fell so easily for the lies and beliefs that were handed to them, people everywhere whose eyes seem to be forever cast down on the path of least resistance. Really, does thank you even begin to cover it?

   January 1st, 2008 at 6:04 am
2. John Cunningham
   

   I hated the soundtrack.

   January 1st, 2008 at 10:47 am
3. LftBhndAgn
   

   Kerry:

   Great post. I have often times struggled with just saying Thank you to the men of that war. In my heart I don’t feel there are any words to describe to them just how grateful I am for them saving this country and the entire world.
   My husband and I attended a Marine Corps ball a few years ago. At the hotel it was being held at, there was also a WWII reunion party the same week. The WWII vets through out the days we were there, would buy my husband and others drinks, thank them for their service and fighting for America. Every time a WWII vet would grant us the honor of this, I would reach out my hand and tell them that the Marines of today wouldn’t be who they are without the Marines of days past and honestly they wouldn’t be at all if it wasn’t for the men that saved the world back then.
   In every case of thanking them, I would get a half smile and blank stare back. I don’t feel it was lack of gratitude, I feel its just a basic understanding between 2 generations that share a very common bond.

   January 1st, 2008 at 11:10 am
4. Kerry
   

   LftBhndAgn, thanks for that response. You know, I’ll bet those blank stares you got were because those guys really didn’t even think twice about what they had done! For so many of them, I’ll bet it wasn’t even a big decision, draft or not, it was just like, “Well, yeah, of course we enlisted, somebody had to stop those bastards.” Amazing, isn’t it? I mean, it really takes my breath away what those men did, and the men who served in the Korean war, and the Vietnam war, every war we’ve been involved in. Attending that Marine Corps function must have given you so much to reflect upon, just looking at all those faces, wondering what they’d seen and heard during their years of service.

   I don’t know, it was just one of those movies that really brought an experience home in a way that most other war-related movies haven’t. And, honestly, I don’t think it’s entirely possible to capture the full essence of such experiences in a movie, and there’s no question in my mind that Stephen Spielberg had more than one point to make in Saving Private Ryan. A documentary might do it, and Mr. Dollard is doing his level best to bring the reality of our present conflict right into American homes, and I think this is a great thing, no matter how graphic, no matter how disturbing that might be. When I first checked into this site nearly a year ago (I think?!) and watched some of those early clips, I was struck by the same thought processes: here, again, we have beautiful, smart, funny young men, thousands of miles from their homes and all whom they love, doing this very dirty work because of some truly hideous ideologies that have come around to their logical, disgusting conclusions. And these guys just do it! They showed up, they made a commitment, leaving behind the easiest living humanity has ever known, right here in the USA! And they didn’t have to, that’s the thing that just makes my heart go to pieces. They took a stand.

   Right now we’re seeing some huge changes, very positive, and let’s say it really all does come out very well for Iraqi’s and Afghan’s, even if it takes years. Let’s say they get to know a way of life better than anything they’ve ever known? Where do you even start with the thank yous?

   I recommend to anyone remotely interested the dvd series “World At War”. In the early seventies, when I was a little kid, my Dad insisted on watching this program, Sunday evenings on Channel 9 (NYC metro area for any of my neighbors!). They ran one episode each week for what seemed like forever when I was a little kid and wanted to see something else on the one tv we had! Some episodes I wasn’t allowed to watch because it was pretty heavy duty stuff. Well, now that whole series can be bought on dvd. It really doesn’t get into the Pacifc part of WWII like it does with Europe, but it does a pretty good job of laying out that whole era within the context of the war. They interview survivors of the war, not just men who were in uniform, and people of a variety of backgrounds, and these interviews were done in the early seventies. Fascinating stuff. Some of the Brits and Americans they talked to, guys who were at the time of the interviews middle-aged, really didn’t think of themselves as heroic or courageous. Amazing! I’m sitting in my livingroom watching this, thinking, “Holy shit, are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what you and your mates accomplished?!”

   Well, anyway, I’ve rambled on here probably too long. It’s just a simple fact that there are men among us whose efforts and sacrifices are simply sublime. Because of that, I am glad every day of my nearly 41 years that I was born a female in the United States of America. Grateful? You better believe it.

   January 1st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
5. Paul Ron
   

   Kerry

   The World at War series is good. Especially Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

   As far as SVR check out a review of the movie and Band of Brothers by a fellow named Michael A Hoffman.

   January 2nd, 2008 at 6:57 am

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