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Has anyone here seen the movie "Hacksaw Ridge"?? Mavis and went to see this WW2 Pacific Theater based movie this afternoon. I'll hold my observations and comments until I see some feedback from others on this BBS-RWTF

I saw the movie and liked it a lot. Pretty much an unbelievable story but it actually happened.I really can't put my head around whatever it was inside this man that allowed him to do what he did. Bravery just doesn't describe it.

I had just finished O'Reilly's "Killing the Rising Sun" when the movie came out - he has a chapter in there that talks about that remarkable hero

i hope the movie does his story justice

I would say it does. Lots of psychological trauma in Desmond Doss's family and growing up played into his heroism, I think. His father, a WW1 Army Veteran, a Cpl. and highly decorated for action in France, had signs of PTSD, lost his three best friends in action at Belleu Wood in 1918- and returned an angry alcoholic, whose guilt at surviving that hell-hole in France made him a wife-beater, and in the movie, during the Depression in Lynchburg VA, had no signs of a job, although they had a house, meals, a car, and he had money to buy booze, apparently. Back then, the wives didn't work outside the home, pre WW2 and the "Rosie The Riveter" scenario didn't exist, at least in the Appalachian area of Eastern USA--

His boyhood skills at mountain climbing, using ropes and other items related to that activity, played out well when he was a Medic and saw hard combat and all its terror in Okinawa 1945-

The horrors of brutal CQC, well portrayed by director Steven Spielberg in "Saving Private Ryan", especially the opening scenes at Omaha Beach 6 June 1944- are magnified in the combat scenes in this epic movie. You will need a strong stomach to watch the combat scenes with the fanatical Japanese troops who want to die in heroic glory for their Emperor, and believe that surrender is an act of cowardice.

My father had a cousin who was a CO in WWII and served as a medic. It was a religious conviction of his and he served as a front line combat medic all across North Africa and up the Boot with Clark. You better not say anything about that type of CO's not doing their jobs and serving their country around my father. And medics are worth their weight in gold, many times over, when the S--- hits the fan. I could not do it. To serve under fire, with out a gun, work to save lives while in the thick of things takes a special kind of courage.

As to the Japanese "commitment" to death before surrender my father told me he never saw more than a short platoon of Japanese prisoners of war come off any of the islands they captured in WWII. 99+% KIA. Most who were captured had been knocked out and captured before they regain consciousness. Then again most did not fare well after they started using blasting compound, dynamite and flame throwers to get them out of their dug in emplacements. Very high mortality rates under those situations.

I saw it and liked it as an overall package. It tells the story well. Drilling down there are some glaring military errors in uniforms, customs and courtesy and terminology. You would think Mel would have enlisted the help of a good military consultant in making the film. Otherwise spot on. I also could have done without the SDAs handing out their religious literature in the theater.

There are three things that movies can never really recreate. The first thing is the sound. War is considerably louder than it is in movies, an armored engagement especially, with multiple tank and Bradley rounds being fired, vehicles blowing up, strike aircraft coming in, several radio nets crackling in your ears constantly, it's really spectacular, especially at night.

The second is the smell. Diesel, explosives, smoke from burning vehicles, all at the same time, forever etched in your mind.

The last is what corpses look and smell like, waxey putrefaction, not even human like. Seeing three bodies laying just outside their burned out tank that look like human shaped roast pigs is indelible.

I sometimes talk to younger folks about war, as many seem to think its like a video game. I tell them their games would be much more realistic if they had electrodes attached to their testicles, so every time they got hit it would give them a severe shock. They'd appreciate it better.

I've always said: "War is real loud and smells pretty bad".

I wondered if anyone reading my thread noticed the following details- bearing in mind I enlisted in the USMC in 1960 and served until 1972 active duty- (1) Haircuts- both in Basic and in Combat- facial or head hair is "verbotten"-- (2) training Company on Parade ground in prone position with Garand rifles and closed bolts- NOT on the rifle range- why so? (3) The 20 mile forced march with full pack and rifle- But the Sgt. 3 stripes, and the Cpl. 2 stripes- were in their Class A uniforms with dress shoes. When our DI's and the Platoon Cmdr- Gunnery Sgt. Dunning- hiked our asses around Diego MCRD, we are were wearing utilities and bookdockers- no exceptions (4) Reference to the Garand rifle at Ft. Jackson by either senior NCO's or junior grade Offcers as "gun" or "firearm" Nonsense- it is a rifle. The Drill Sgt. did recite the "by the book" field manual nomenclature of the US Rifle Cal. .30 M-1, gas operated, clip fed shoulder weapon- damn fine rifle then and now, IMO.

In the combat theater in the Pacific- Okinawa- ?? how did the rigging get set into position on the sheer wall cliff- and why weren't the Jap snipers locked into that only access to the Ridge. Why the variation in issue weapons in the CO. BAR, M-1 Garands yes, maybe a 1928 A-1 Thompson SMG- but the big tough Drill Sgt. carried a tanker unit issue weapon- M-2 grease gun in .45ACP, and a 1911 .45ACP pistol (as I did for my TO weapon as an armorer)--

I seldom saw a reload scenario- not the expended enbloc clip leaving the open breech of a Garand- and the box magazine for the BAR holds 20 rounds max- I counted way more rounds expended than 20 in the battle scenes- Removing the front Bipod was correct, as also with the BAR shown in "Saving Pvt. Ryan- extra weight and for CQC in an Infantry Co. the extra weight saved could mean a few extra full magazines in the ammo pouch- In a Heavy Weapons Co., along with the 1919 .30 Cal. Browning MG--, then the front bipod might be worthwhile for suppressive fire. Did I also see the MG being fired in a single round mode? Not sure on that-- tricky--

Anyway, just my observations- still a very accurate and moving saga of the brutal war the Japs started against the USA in 1941-and I firmly believe what happened on Okinawa, Tarawa and Iwo Jima would have been repeated if we had tried to invade mainland Japan in 1945, to get them to surrender. Not their Bushido code.

By late in the war the grease gun was regularly being issued in place of the Thompson. It was much cheaper to produce, (since it was stamped) and still used the .45 ACP round.

Yes- like as shown in the movie "The Dirty Dozen" The Thompson, and BAR and to some extent, the M-1 Garand were not cheap to mfg. and all forged parts- but a Sten or a M-2 can kill you just as dead--