<p>PBS is also airing an excellent documentary on WWII vet, Ben Kuroki, who served as a gunner on B-24s and B-29s in both the European/North African and Pacific theatres.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.pbs.org/mosthonorableson/links.html[/url]”>http://www.pbs.org/mosthonorableson/links.html</a></p>
<p>Bumping this post back to the top.</p>
<p>I have watched the first 4 episodes and am remarkebly captivated by them. One would think that hour after hour of people talking over photographs and movie footage of battle scenes that it would become very boring, but it is not. Ken Burns is very good at what he does. I wish my father and uncle were alive to see this.</p>
<p>My dad was an officer in the Pacific during the war and received a bunch of medals. He passed away this spring after a very long illness, so we were somewhat relieved. But I absolutely lost it when I received the flag and the words “on behalf of a grateful nation.” He was, thankfully, a life-long diarist, so his experience hasn’t been lost to our family. I am loving “The War” controversy or not.</p>
<p>We are enjoying it too, missed one episode.</p>
<p>I hope more people will preserve the memories of this great generation. The words and memories of these men and women are so powerful, and with the films and still photos we have from this period, there is an opportunity to preserve this experience in a way that other history has not been preserved.</p>
<p>For us, it is also fascinating to see the photos of our city, and the way it has changed. When we first moved here, we house hunted in the downtown historic area. I remember noticing the number of house that had tacked on second entrances, or had otherwise been divided, then reunited into a single house. The real estate agent said it was all left over from the war, when half the older houses downtown were turned into boarding houses and apartments, almost overnight.</p>
<p>My father was a bomb disposal expert, which seems ironic because he was nororiously un-handy at home, and had trouble even changing the oil in our car. He made it through unscathed, though his partner was killed. Wish he’d lived long enough for our kids to know him (he died in '82). We were not close, but I think he would have enjoyed the grandchildren. I know my oldest would LOVE to hear his stories. He’s been watching the PBS show in his dorm each night (while studying, of course!).</p>
<p>My father took part in the Battle of Montgomery Wards.</p>
<p>No, don’t laugh, it’s real. The Chairman of Montgomery Wards refused to go along with wartime wage and price controls, so the army padlocked all the stores and carried him out of his office in his leather office chair.</p>
<p>I am sitting here, jaw on the desk, an hour after getting a PM from QuantMech, another reader of this forum, mentioning that both our dads were B-17 pilots in WW II.</p>
<p>The fact that they are both still surviving pilots is a big thing in the first place, but the PM went on to mention which Bomb Group and field he flew from. Which you will notice I did <em>not</em> mention above in reference to my dad.</p>
<p>Well, perhaps you’ve guessed it by now. Our fathers were in the same Bomb Group, flying out of the same airfield in England at roughly the same time. QuantMech mentioned one story of a crew member which my dad had told me before, and QuantMech has visited [the</a> website](<a href=“http://www.457thbombgroup.org%5Dthe”>www.457thbombgroup.org) my dad built and maintains for his Group. </p>
<p>I’d say it’s a small world, but this is… utterly astounding to me.</p>
<p>Wow Mootmom! That’s just amazing. I’m so glad that you told us.</p>
<p>I was equally surprised that mootmom’s father and mine were in the same bomb group! There were quite a few of them. The web site that mootmom’s father built is truly excellent.</p>
<p>When the movie Pearl Harbor was being filmed, I happened to be at the airport in Honolulu on a beautiful sunny afternoon when six Japanese Zeros flew by in close formation. For a moment, it scared the daylights out of me.</p>
<p>As for the Ken Burns series, I was also struck by the fact that they started in 1941. In 1941 my father had been in London for two years, covering the war in Europe for the United Press. He worked in a three-man office; the other two men were Harrison Salisbury and Walter Cronkite.</p>
<p>I’ve only watched the first episode (we have Tivo), but already find myself hoping that at least part of one episode will focus on the photographers and journalists who worked so hard to report the story and take the photos.</p>
<p>H and I have been watching each episode and really are captivated by the job that Burns has done. My Dad was a mechanic on B-17’s during the war and just last year, went to the reunion of his company in DC and got to finally tour the WWII Memorial. He just turned 83 and was the youngest Staff Sergeant from Massachusetts, enlisting at age 17. He rarely talks about his time over there, but when I scanned and put hundreds of his photos on CD’s and in an album for him to take to his reunion, he finally told me some of his stories. He spent most of his time in England/Scotland, but went to France for the liberation of Paris and many of his photos were taken there. He spent last week in the hospital, but each night faithfully watched the series, switching back and forth between The War and his beloved Boston Red Sox!</p>