OT- Anyone Else Watching "The War" on PBS?

Started watching the Ken Burn, PBS special about WWII, and so far found it interesting as it is mainly told through the eyes,letters and memories of those who lived though the time. Was not yet on the scene so to speak, so rather nice hear about the war from those who lived through the duration.

Am struck by how Americans by and large, from large cities to small rural towns all pulled together for the war effort. Also struck by how small towns and such suffered on a whole when a military man or woman was killed. Guess in small towns everyone knew everyone else so it was like taking a loss in your own family. Heart kind of goes out for those poor mothers who had several sons in the service and lost most or all.

Had always thought (sadly mainly from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons and other television programs) that rationing and such caused hardship, but it does not seem that many American families wanted for much, well besides petrol. Otherwise people simply made do with what they had. Guess it also helped if one lived in the country or had access to a plot of land to grow veggies and such.

Candide

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Candide
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I lived in a small town, and my father was a doctor so he got extra gasoline rations -- those were the days when doctors came to your home. We had a Victory garden in the backyard, and my mother canned everything she could get her hands on. We were also lucky that my father was often paid in produce or even in chickens.

I do remember blackouts and the sirens. Also the propaganda movies shown with the regular show at Saturday matinees - which included a serial, a newsreel, a cartoon, and the main feature. For 25 cents.

I also remember standing in line at the A & P to buy one roll of toilet paper. It was one roll per customer. The mantra that accompanied TP was "one sheet, sometimes two, but never, never three."

Shoes were impossible to get. Leather went to the soldiers. Sugar the same, so home canning made heavy use of honey and Karo syrup.

The curtains in my bedroom were made of old sheets on which my mother had ironed pictures from a coloring book. She used crayons to color, and the hot iron to transfer the wax to the sheets. I loved them.

There were signs in house windows - flags and many, many gold stars. Families with husbands and sons in service showed their service this way, and, of course, the gold star mothers had lost one or more sons.

It reached everyone, and everyone pulled together against the common enemies. Sacrifices were made but spirits were generally good.

I hope that this country never has to go through such an effort again. Ever.

Reply to
Pogonip

I missed the first episode and trying to find if it is being shown again this week. My dad was a WWII vet and purple heart recipient. He was involved in a good deal of the fighting - Normandy, Battle of the Buldge, battle for Berlin, etc. We've got some amazing letters and pictures, and other information he kept. It's pretty amazing.

-Irene

Reply to
IMS

i have been watching as well, my dad is a disabled Navy vet from WW2. he tells terrific stories about crossing the country from Baltimore to Port Huynemi (sp?) in California on a navy troop train. He was in the SeaBees. He tells stories about my Grandparents in W Va. they owned a farm and never were without food, granny would can everything and the jellies and jams, meats and chickens, etc. i can still remember old Beula the cow, and the gooseberry patch. the second part of the show was on last night. i hope it gets an emmy. it was a terrific show. i wish i would have taped or TiVo'd it. amy (new to this thread, but usually on the quilting thread, just came over to peek!)

Reply to
amy

through

I missed the first episode and trying to find if it is being shown again this week. My dad was a WWII vet and purple heart recipient. He was involved in a good deal of the fighting - Normandy, Battle of the Buldge, battle for Berlin, etc. We've got some amazing letters and pictures, and other information he kept. It's pretty amazing.

-Irene

PBS always repeats programs, at least the big ones like this, so go over to:

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Find your local PBS station and look up the programming, am sure it will be on, but probably late over night or perhaps on the weekend.

Did you know PBS stations/Ken Burns put out requests for WWII veterans, their families and others with period media (letters, home movies, etc) to be included with the program or any of the local "talks" with WWII vets?

Candide

Reply to
Candide

Got to

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and you can check for broadcast times in your area. In Texas, I believe it will be rebroadcasted starting Sunday.

I have been watching it and realized how much I forgot what I learned about WWII in school.(nearly all!) Isn't it just appalling all the lives lost because 3 meglomaniacs decide they wanted to take over the world? And yet, today wars still go on...

Reply to
Nick and Judy

I remember ration books, scraping the foil off chewing gum wrappers, and Victory gardens. I still have my dad's Kerr home canning booklet published in 1942. On the cover is a shield held by an eagle's talons, with the words "National Nutrition Issue: Food for Victory." The print inside is very small, as if to save paper.

My clearest memory is the day the war ended, although I'm not sure if it was cessation of fighting in Europe or the Pacific. In our small town, all the church bells rang for a long time and people gathered in the streets, crying tears of joy and hugging each other.

Doreen in Alabama

Reply to
Doreen

Irene, I saw the schedule of the different times the series will be shown this fall in the newspaper and will post it later today, if nobody objects. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

I programmed seven DVD recording sessions Sunday, so I would not miss *any* of it. If you missed any of it, you can probably find the schedule for your area here:

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worth having an archive copy, IMHO. Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

It was all the talk at the grocery this morning--- of all places. 9-11 was the last thing I recall being so heavily discussed at the grocery. My sense of the tidbits I heard this morning is that people are literally amazed that everyone pulled together so well and they wish the country was like that again. People yearn for that kind of community and values. Intelligent leadership always helps.

As with The Civil War, this series is done very well also. Good music too. I found Nora Jones' Anthem quite touching. I wasn't around for WWII either but I am familiar with the clothing and sewing regulations. Hemlines went way up. There were strict limits on the amount of cloth patterns could call for. And there were lots of instructions published for recycling clothes, making women's suits out of old men's suits, etc. We've discussed that here before but I haven't seen any mention of that so far in The War.

Reply to
Phaedrine

I missed the first one but will be watching No. 2 tonight which, I believe, is about the invasion of Italy. This will be of particular interest to me as I served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Italy from 1943-45. And, just to think, I'm still sewing! Chris

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Reply to
Christine Silvernail

To those living through both times, 9/11/01 must have seemed exactly the same a Pearl Harbour. You hear during the program from those who can remember even today where they were and what they were doing when news came the Japanese had attacked PH. Then as now people had husbands,BF's, and others they knew stationed over there, but unlike today there wasn't worldwide instant "live" media coverage with pictures. All one had was the radio. No cell phone or even telephones for the most part to reach anyone over there/ hear their last good-byes.

Yes, the United States has lost something in terms of community and values since the time of WWII. Can you imagine someone like Mrs. Sheehan trying to picket the president during the War? She'd probably be attacked by a mob, then tar and feathered. *LOL*

What is touched upon in the Ken Burns series, but was much discussed then and now; was the role of American women during the war. Popular thought at the time in Europe and elsewhere held that American women, especially white middle class and above women were pampered and lazy. Well the girls certainly proved the Nazis and everyone else dead wrong!!!!! Just get out of their way and watch them go!!!!!

Candide

Reply to
Candide

It was not so simple. *All* Japanese immigrants and their families were interned in concentration camps. German and Italian immigrants were also picked up and held, though not in the numbers that Japanese were.

Not all Americans agreed. Many were sympathetic with Hitler. Henry Ford, George Herbert Walker, Charles Lindbergh, Prescott Bush were wealthy and well-known, but there were many families of German extraction who felt the U.S. should enter the war on the German side.

There were also conscientious objectors, who refused service for reasons of conscience.

The women who responded to the needs of war were sent home when the G.I.s returned and jobs were needed for them. The government promoted the family ideal that women should stay home with the children, cooking, cleaning and doing housework, making a refuge for their husbands. Government publications of the era are funny from our vantage, but were serious propaganda when issued.

Housing needs for the returning servicemen led to the creation new building methods and of "housing tracts" in the suburbs, mortgages (especially VA insured), a car in every garage simply because the street cars didn't go out to the new areas. This was a boon for the auto industry which was switching from war-time production.

Much of what our lives have become was shaped by the war and post-war era.

Reply to
Pogonip

Yes, I was one of those girls. I was 17 and just out of High school (1940) when the Japs bombed P H I had just arrived from church when the announcement came over the radio. My Dad was with Combustion E ngineering Co. which made boilers for Navy ships. The boys who worked in the boiler shops keeping time on the various jobs were being drafted. I was the first girl timekeeper to be hired for that job and trained over 50 girls during the almost 4 years I was there. They would just get trained and then get married to their GI and move " on base" then the whole darn thing to do over again. Met lots of nice guys from all over the country though as we lived near Ft. Oglethorpe which was an Army Base and we entertained at the USO. Sure wish the state of mind could be the same today. ALAS

Reply to
Scare Crowe

That would be great - thanks, Emily!

-Irene

Reply to
IMS

You are so right. And not to be forgotten was the difficult time Roosevelt had trying to help Britain before the US was attacked. The country was SO isolationist. The country didn't coalesce until we were attacked. In a sense I think the 9/11 attack was more devastating to the psyche of the country since it happened on US soil while Pearl Harbor was 'far away'.

I lived through both and it seemed that way to me.

Alice

Reply to
Alice

Thank you for serving!

I really appreciate hearing what it was like from those who lived through it. You can read things in books written by historians but that cannot compare to first-hand experience. My high school Latin teacher was a cargo pilot in that group of women pilots (I forget their name). Occasionally, we'd get her to tell us stories and what a thrill that was. My dad was in the Air Corps in England for the duration of the US involvement. His brother was in the Pacific while my aunts did factory work.

The Signal Corps mainly handled communications & related technology, right? That must have been interesting, especially with then-new radar. If you don't mind me asking, what were your tasks and were you ever in forward areas?

Reply to
Phaedrine

Yes, I sure can. Not being a king or other royalty, the US President is just as accountable and worthy of criticism as anyone else. There were plenty of war protests attendant to WWII and no one got tarred & feathered. The same kind of activity was also prevalent during WWI and the Civil War as well. Despite that he got us through the War quite successfully, lots of people hated Franklin Roosevelt and still do as evidenced by hate speech still prevalent on rightwing websites like Drudge, WorldNetDaily, etc. But free speech, thank the Light, is still one of the cornerstones of our democracy.

I heard recently that, relatively speaking, women's wages are lower than they were 20 years ago. That isn't because women are stupid and unskilled. Sad to say, we still have major gender issues in the US.

Reply to
Phaedrine

Reply to
Nick and Judy

Methinks much of that had to do with Pearl Harbour. There was also the fact that persons of German and Italian decent had been in the United States for many, many years, though immigration did pick up during the great wave of the late 1800's/early 1900's. Would have been very difficult to round up every single person of either decent as for one thing as you say, they were white and looked like the majority ruling class. Many occupied positions of status and some power within their local communities and even state and nationwide as well.

Also believe much had to do with the fact many Japanese living in the United States, tended to live in California, a state with vital and busy ports. Maybe someone thought they posed a "security threat".

Candide

Reply to
Candide

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