Ken Burns' "The War" starts 9/23

[Steve Carlton]

Looking forward to watching this. Starts tomorrow night.
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/

[porsche911girl]

Oh yeah! I've been looking forward to seeing this too. I remember his Jazz documentary series and I really loved that.

[Joeaksa]

Cannot wait either! Excellent work by Ken Burns.

[Tim Hancock]

I just informed the wife that for the next few evenings, I will be watching this regardless of what else may be going on. This should be good. I enjoyed the civil war show he did.

I grew up having WWII guys all around me, it is odd to realize they are all going to be gone in a short time. Truly amazing how the country fully got behind the war effort back then. In today's society, I am not sure we could muster such an effort again due to the media and the Cindy Sheehan types.

[porsche911girl]

Stupid question, but does anyone know what time it's on? I want to tape it but couldn't find it listed anywhere when I looked on my digital cable schedule...

Nevermind, I found it. Sorry!

[Joeaksa]

Here in Arizona it starts at 7 PM tonight. Just programmed my Tivo to record it.

Look in the internet for the PBS station in your area for the listing of "The War" and it should be there.

[Don Plumley]

Setting DVR now...

[Joeaksa]

Loved the comment from the guy in Georgia who was ready to enlist with his buddy.

A Marine Sarge met them as they were ready to go inside and enlist into the Navy. After talking with them for a bit he said "You cannot go in the Navy because your parents are married. You need to enlist in the Marines".... so they did!

Times change but the recruiters and their stories never do!

[trekkor]

I saw part of the first episode- sad.


KT

[The Gaijin]

It could be twice or ten times as long. The torpedo planes at Midway and Destroyers at Guatalcanal were mere footnotes..

[widebody911]

Did anyone hear about the brouhaha from the 'latino lobby'? They sued PBS because they felt they were slighted because they weren't included in the documentary.

[Joeaksa]

Burns added more information about the Latino's because of their crap before the show aired.

Well dammit, they did not say a thing so far about some of my relatives yet, Danish and Scottish, so I am going to get mad and call the ACLU and force him to change the documentary...

Really get tired at times of these special interest groups. Its his film, let him make it the way he wants it made. If you are not happy with it, then do not watch...

[s_wilwerding]

You can tell the Latino part was just tacked onto the end, and didn't really go with the rest of the film. It's too bad that PBS/Ken Burns caved.

[JCF]

Saw it - pretty good .

Anyone remember the documentary "The World at War" with Sir Laurence Olivier .
Makes me want to see that again.
Not sure why.

[porsche911girl]

My family, including my 88 year old grandma, have enjoyed watching the first 2 episodes so far. I called her tonight to remind her to watch it if she wanted to. My late grandpa (her husband) was in North Africa and Italy during WWII. Not many of them left now, it's sad. (He was also in Korea and Vietnam). Both my parents were military brats, my mom's dad was in the Air Force, and my dad's dad was in the 82nd Airborne paratrooper division.

[pwd72s]

Revisionist history, 101...but that's probably just grumpy old me...with relatives from the generation before mine, who I had many conversations with. Me born in '43...

Keep in mind...with any "documentary", the subject matter is carefully selected and edited. True history, it isn't.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I'm interested to see what (if anything) is said about Tinian Island. It is where the Atomic bomb took off from. My Dad was a plane mechanic stationed on the island at the time and he had some interesting stories to tell.

[89911]

I'm taping it and I'll get to it when we have a big snow storm or something that keeps me contained. I love all shows about WWII. Call me a impatient but I feel he could pick up the pace in some parts. I know where he's trying to go, but it drags at times.

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

I'm interested to see what (if anything) is said about Tinian Island. It is where the Atomic bomb took off from. My Dad was a plane mechanic stationed on the island at the time and he had some interesting stories to tell.

Episode I had a profile of a Japanese American from the heartland who did two full tours in bombers. His B-29 was parked next to the Enola Gay in '45.

So far, so good. But a few hours of WWII every night is not good for one's dreams. What must have been like back then??

[Rich76_911s]

I only caught the tail end of the show last night. Looks awesome. If anyone can make me a copy of it I would appreciate it. If not no big deal, maybe PBS sells them.

My grandfather was in the Navy during WWII. His parents were married. He did the calculations for the trajectory on the guns, as I understand it. I found this picture this weekend of his boat the USS Marblehead (the one with the 4 smoke stacks). It was in port in New York during this time in April 1945. It was during this time in Port that he married my Grandmother on April 15, 1945.

He told me once all about his time in the Navy where he went, who was on the boat with him, etc. I was too young to appreciate all the information he was giving me, and although I listened intently I recall little to none of it today. I'd give a lot to be able to go back in time and hear the story again.

Rich