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I got to thinking about a passage I read in Fussell’s Wartime (I keep going back to that, I know, but it’s a great read) about public discourse (or what people could/would actually say in the 1940s regarding the actualities of conflict). Much of F’s argument has to do with light v. heavy duty, his metaphor for addressing how Americans conceived the war at the start v. what they discovered along the way (those many hard lessons).
The passage from the chapter Accentuate the Positive I’m thinking of connects to Ocean of Fear (Shark Week!)and has to do with morale. Fussell writes:
Another way for those in charge to raise service morale is by outright lies, as in the US Navy’s assuring its personnel that danger from sharks has been greatly exaggerated. Indeed, the Navy said, “Sharks are amazingly overrated, there being only three cases of shark bites in all records” (emphasis is mine).
Fussell’s footnote leads to a source called Service Newspapers of the Second World War by M. Anglo, page 130. So this quote appeared in a news rag consumed by the service masses. It’s interesting that this kind of idea was “out there” as a way helping/persuading sailors to do their job and have one less thing to worry about. After all, if you knew differently, that there was a chance you’d be ripped to shreds after surviving the sinking of your ship, would you ever go near the ocean again?
I know many would, since that sense of duty (”this has to be done”) was firmly built into the culture then. But perhaps a less than forthright message in many circumstances helped to do this.
Okay, so I watched all two hours of Ocean of Fear and thought it was a pretty decent show. I bet my wife a dollar that there would be at least two actors from Band of Brothers in the cast, since those guys seem to show up everywhere. I thought maybe Matthew Leitch (Talbert), Peter Hills (Shifty), or Rick Gomez (Luz) might be cast. But I lost that bet, and now I’m down a buck heading into the week. Damn it.
That said, the show itself followed the form I expected: decent recreations, a tight narrative line, and interviews from a core of survivors. Actually, I wish they would have focused more on the vets, but this is a minor complaint. I did like how they chose to tell the story from two angles: the omniscient narrator (Dreyfuss) and the first person recreations told in that office by close up. I expected a straight narration and this was a nice twist. This allowed filmmakers to jump to the various spots, tell a story, and then provide needed context. Then repeat.
And was it me, or was that ending a little weird? “Only 4 people per die per year from shark attacks. Humans kill over 40 million sharks a year.” I think I got that right. I know it’s Shark Week and all, but given the subject matter, this bit of statistical data fell flat. The teacher in me says A- before the end sentence…B+ afterwards.
In light of the Shark Week and the documentary Ocean of Fear (premiering today, July 29), I found myself over at the USS Indianapolis Survivors web site reading about Woody James. His day by day chronology of events is most engaging. From Day 3 of his ordeal:
The day wore on and the sharks were around, hundreds of them. You’d hear guys scream, especially late in the afternoon. Seemed like the sharks were the worst late in the afternoon than they were during the day. Then they fed at night too. Everything would be quiet and then you’d hear somebody scream and you knew a shark had got him.
It didn’t ever get any cooler in the daytime. In fact, Newhall asked me, he said, “James, do you think it’s’ any hotter in hell than it is here?” I said, “I don’t know, Jim, but if it is, I ain’t goin.”
Read the whole thing, if you have the time. James’ keen sense of irony is present throughout.
This comment came from Peter Chen over at ww2db.com It’s too good to sit in the comment area.
As naval warfare transitioned from the swashbuckling age of exploration to the age of long-range guns and steel platings, a lot of people say naval warfare had gone impersonal. Sailors deep in metal-covered beasts fired shells, hitting ships miles away attempting to do the same thing in return, killing men without ever setting sight on them.
But as aircraft gained more importance in naval warfare during WW2, I wonder that, if only for a brief period, naval combat was personal again. In this YouTube clip, US Navy carrier planes strafed the deck of the Yamato, causing blood and gore. The American pilots must have taken notice of that even in their high-speed aircraft. Same for the Japanese anti-aircraft gunners, some of whom must have also caught glimpses of the pilots in the cockpits the moment their aircraft caught on fire after being hit by bullets or shrapnel.
Sure, it’s no sword-swinging, musket-firing, hand-to-hand combat like we saw in Pirates of the Caribbean and the likes, but for modern naval combat, this sure look personal to me.
Peter Chen over at ww2db.com sent me an email about this Japanese movie a few days back called Otoko-tachi no Yamato. All I can say is “wow.” The plot summary is here from IMDB:
Makiko Uchida arrives in a southern Japanese port hoping to find a boat that will take her to the final resting place of the Battleship Yamato on the 60th anniversary of its sinking. She is rebuffed by all until she reveals to Katsumi Kamio that she is the daughter of Petty Officer Uchida. Kamio is surprised for he thought unlike himself, Uchida had been lost when the Yamato was besieged and sunk on April 7, 1945 by American aircraft which prevented its fulfilling a final suicide mission against the American fleet battling to capture Okinawa. Kamio and Uchida were part of a close set of comrades that proudly and bravely served on board this, the largest battleship ever constructed. He agrees to journey with Makiko with only the help of Atsushi, a 15 year old deckhand. As he pilots the way throughout the rough 15 hour journey Kamio reminiscences about life aboard the Yamato during the war and also about the sailor’s mothers and girlfriends left back home. Written by Brian Greenhalgh.
Here’s hoping for a US release with subtitles. Notice the blood bath on the deck and backdrop of the AA guns. Filmmakers here achieved something memorable…and most certainly terrible.
Found this in a sports section from OCT 1944. Former boxer Jack Dempsey is here, and according to the caption, gives a “good natured kidding” to another. And the final phrase, still in use today: “You should have seen the other guy.”
This is American copy writing bravado at its best. I was reading a chapter in Fussell’s Wartime about this. His argument (in short form here) is that news outlets were all about the “brighter side” as a way of keeping “morale” up. They wouldn’t (or couldn’t) really tell readers what was going on. Books published later would bridge this gap. Robert Sherrod’s Tarawa is an example.
Additionally, I had no idea Dempsey was in the service during WW2. I knew he was a boxer of considerable fame but that’s it. I grabbed this bit from his wikipedia entry:
When the United States entered World War II, Dempsey had an opportunity to refute any remaining criticism of his war record of two decades earlier. He volunteered for national service and was commissioned as a commander in the U.S. Coast Guard, charged with developing a physical fitness program for U.S. soldiers. Later, he served as a morale officer in the Pacific and in 1945 became a hero to many when, at age 49, he insisted on going into battle on Okinawa with a group of men he had trained.
I don’t know why I thought this, but I was thinking of the movie Coming to America, where in the barbershop, the old men are arguing about boxers. Jack Dempsey, I think, plays a prominent role in that argument of the greatest boxer ever.
There isn’t much I liked about the movie Jaws. It did, however, keep me out of the surf for a good portion of my youth. But that’s another story.
When it airs on cable now, I always surf back in for Robert Shaw’s scene stealing moment on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis prior to that silly denouement. Via youtube, we have the three shark hunters: Quint (Shaw), the Sheriff (Roy Scheider), and the young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) talking “scars.”
Say what you will about that movie, but Shaw nails the whole “concept” of the “old man and the sea” who has, no question, seen things he’d like to forget. This scene set up the movie’s final irony, I think. Not everyone there is going to make it. Isn’t this a screen writing rule outside of the Star Wars movies? Someone is going to die, and here, it’s Quint.
Some time ago in a ww2 forum, I read a post that basically said this:
“You mean Ambrose didn’t coin the term Band of Brothers?”
Sometimes I have these moments where I’d like to scream through the computer and say something bad, like “mix in some other kinds of reading now and then, eh?” But I don’t. That person is probably real young and just beginning her/his journey as a student of history.
So just for fun, let’s watch some youtube, specifically a five minute scene Shakespeare’s Henry V, where we learn that the term “band of brothers” predates WWII and Mr. Ambose by a few years. Enjoy.
The Discovery Channel is set to air Ocean of Fear: Worst Shark Attack Ever, the story of the USS Indianapolis. Here is the blurb from their web site:
A dramatic documentary featuring the story of the USS Indianapolis in World War II. Explore the sinking and the horrifying shark attacks that cost hundreds of soldiers’ lives.
Air dates: Jul 29, 9:00 pm, Jul 30, 1:00 am, Aug 04, 11:00 am, Aug 04, 6:00 pm, and Sep 02, 5:00 pm
Now this ad caught my eye. It was buried deep in a corner column near the bottom of a back page, one or two from the end. Of course, there was much to worry about in those days (OCT 1944), and modern day worriers need only swap out the term that best suits them. For me, it’s “essay stomach”, for all those composition papers I get to read (good stuff some days…other days…well, no comment).
A friend of mine might say “teenager stomach” as his kid is acting, well, like teens do. You know, all goth-y and steeped in oodles of emo (that’s the term) angst. Don’t forget “office stomach” as there are more than a few a-holes acting like Michael from The Office.
The list…it goes on. One thing is certain: I’ve got some PB in my vanity. It’s a product that never goes out the style, even if the slogan is a little hacky. “Tastes good and does good.” Indeed.
