God Bless GySgt John Basilone and the U.S. Marine Corps
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Pacific
dannieboy20906 — 11 years ago(August 24, 2014 12:31 PM)
I'm a retired U.S. Air Force officer. Too many people in the Air Force have forgotten or never learned our history. I try not too.
Starting in late 1944 our predecessor, the Army Air Forces began bombing mainland Japan from bases on the Marianas Islands, Saipan and Tinian. The B-29's flew over 1,400 miles each way to their targets on Honshu and back. We were losing bombers at a high rate, mostly due to mechanical failures on the long trip. The planners recognized that many airplanes, and even more lives, could be saved if their was someplace to land a crippled bomber in between Japan and the Marianas. Also, a closer base would allow fighters to go along and escort the bombers. An island lay directly on the bombers route between the Marianas and Japan, about halfway between the two. It was heavily garrisoned by the Japanese because it was of their key possessions, but it had been slated to be by-passed. The Navy agreed to put it back on the invasion list, assigned to the Marines. This island was Iwo Jima.
The first B-29 landed on the island while the battle was still in progress. It is estimated that More than 20,000 airmen were saved by diverting to Iwo Jima in their crippled airplanes. The numbers are disputed now because it is more popular to question American strategy during the war. But I will stick with being grateful to the Marine Corps for taking the island. -
coldnaps — 10 years ago(September 08, 2015 03:08 PM)
Honest comment, bit over a year late. Yes, the Marines had SERIOUS guts and perseverance to take Iwo. Those guys, almost to a man, were truly part of the Greatest Generation. They deserve our thanks. Basilone, at least to me, maybe not as much. The guy was a hero. There was absolutely no disputing his courage and accomplishments. He saved lives and received the country's top honor for it. He had absolutely nothing to prove to anyone. He's sent back home to help with the war effort, and ends up training new soldiers, which will very likely result in him saving perhaps thousands of lives through his experience. He also meets the love of his life. But all this apparently wasn't enough. He had to go back to combat, and we know what happened. Again, not trying to be disrepectfull of him in any way, but don't you think his actions were a tad selfish?
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dannieboy20906 — 10 years ago(September 08, 2015 04:26 PM)
That's an interesting philosophical question about what society defines as heroism and what we should define as heroism. I see your side of the argument that he had the option and chose to leave his new wife behind to answer a personal call to serve. Society generally honors the choice that Gy Sgt Basilone made as heroism. I don't know what decision that I would make in his place. I am grateful to whatever power there is in the universe that I never needed to make such a decision.
I don't feel qualified to judge Gy Sgt Basilone on his choice. I will say that when I decided to stay in the military and make it a career I knew that it would impose a cost on my family. So, I sat down and discussed it with my then wife. She was fully in favor of it even after I made it clear that the needs of the air force would come before hers. I also remember that Gy Sgt Basilone's wife was a member of the marine corps when they married. Maybe they had a similar conversation.
The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank. -
coldnaps — 10 years ago(September 08, 2015 07:09 PM)
Don't know if judging is the right wordmore of an opinion. Perhaps the difference with yourself is when you decided, there wasn't an excellent chance of your being killed, unlike Basilone. But you're right' perhaps they had a similar conversation.