I know the premier week is almost over, but History channel will no doubt run this continually for the next few weeks.
This is a vital piece of History as seen through the eyes of 12 young men and women. Narrated by Gary Sinise.
World War 2 in High Definition - History.com
I thought it was a terrific series.
I do find many of these series tend to look at the war from the perspective of the Americans so as a Canadian, I sometimes find it does not give enough attention to the other allied efforts, but then I appreciate who made it and it was intended to provide the American perspective.
For me though I wish I could find more documentaries that also show what Canada, the British, the Australians, New Zealanders, etc., did.
This series was very moving. Excellent job.
My father served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War Two and I had an Uncle serve in the U.S. armed forces and a third cousin serve as a psychiatrist in the U.S. Army in WW2 and half my family came from the Jewish community of Shanghai, China, and so I know much of what happened in the Pacific theatre and in particular how Japan dealt with the British and Canadians in Hong Kong, Shanghai, as well as Chinese nationals.
My mother went to Japan to get over her fear of Japanese before she died. I understand why soldiers who fought in the Pacific (mostly the Americans but Canadians and British and Australians and New Zealanders, Indians, etc.)
can't speak of certain things.
Then again the other half of my family had to deal with the holocaust so either way I look at this war it has an immediate connection and when I look at these soldiers, I can't imagine what would happen if they didn't do what they did.
I think these series are important to remind us of their contribution so we can live the way we do today.
For me what gets me is when you see how young some of those guys were or when I did research to find out just how bad the pow camps were in the Pacific, etc., or the extent of the hand to hand combat, etc., like someone mentioned in battles such as the one on Saipan.