This scene always felt forced to me. Like an obligatory nod of respect between the services, only they expected us to forget the part of the series where Leckie and his fellow Marines spend an entire episode getting drunk and prowling for women in Melbourne.
This is just wrong though. Yea they had a year to recoup in Melbourne after the length and hard fought battle of Guadalcanal. And throughout 1943-1945, they never went back. Only to be stationed on islands just as bad as the ones they just fought on to recover. compared to the Americans in Europe fighting in towns, receiving warm welcomes from locals and stationed normally in populated areas in England, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. You have to remember, the war in Europe lasted essentially a year for the Americans, compared to 4 in the pacific. It wouldn’t be that uncommon for the Army to learn what the Marines went through in Japan once the war ended
@@coiboyify I mean, a year in Melbourne is still more rest time than most men in Europe would have gotten. Most troops in Europe would only get a few days leave to a rear area, but nothing like the rotation periods units would get in the Pacific. Only the unlucky ones would be sent to islands like Pavuvu. The majority of rest areas in the PTO were really nice. I think Band of Brothers has accidently poisoned people's perception of warfare in western Europe. Not every town was received with welcoming throngs of civilians handing out goodies, in fact that was the exception. Most populated areas in the wake of Allied armies would have been bombed-out and desolate, with civilians either hiding or fleeing.
@@MichaelAllen-po4eo If you think that June 6 was the only bad day the US experienced against the Germans, then you need to read more about the western front and the Mediterranean theaters.
The cabbie reminds me of something that happened to my father after he returned from Normandy via 2 years in an army hospital. He was parked in a red zone, and a cop was writing a ticket. When the policeman saw him in uniform, on crutches, missing a leg, he just tore up the ticket. The greatest generation.
I don't know which is worse: Not having a hero's welcome from your own family or having your room used as a junk room because they didn't think you'd come home alive
In BoB he did say he was planning on making a killing out of driving troops home who came from the war. It's possible unless they're in different parts of the US altogether.
I remember returning to my parents place for a month after we got back from deployment. Everything looked and smelled the same, but it never felt like home again. 24 years of living there and it felt like I was a stranger. It was nothing my family did, everything just changed. As an infantryman, my parents were just happy I came back in one piece.
Yup, things back home didn't really change much at all. YOU changed, for better or worse. Regular people back home lived regular lives, you lived anything but.
When my uncle came home from Korea he found a different family at his old home. They didn’t know where his parents had moved too. Once he found them it turned out the letter they sent telling him the new address never got to him. I remember him saying how his feelings when he knocked on the door only to find his folks were not there were like a knot in his gut.
@@revelstatus2346 Mate, hold on, why are you so toxic to a complete stranger?? There is nothing cowardly about not having what it takes to join up. We are a society, soldiers alone cannot function in it, nor scientists, doctors, business man, engineers, lorry drivers.... The list goes on and on. He may posses a different form of courage. I consider for example nurses as incredibly strong. They are there in our worse moments, taking care of people, cleaning them from puss, puke and their urine and poop and much more. I don't have what it takes to do that job, and I dare to guess you neither. There are many forms of strength in this world, being willing to go to war is just one of them. And we need all of them, in the people, in order to survive as civilization in this world my friend.
@@revelstatus2346 First, I am just a bloke on the internet, and second, I have no idea what goes on in that crazy melon of your, so you gonna have to figure it out for yourself.
@@bluerep40 I don't know if you are being sarcastic or not, but the actor who played the cab driver looks to be the one who played an obscure paratrooper in BoB (Bart Ruspoli)...the one who tells Cpt Sobol that it is Maj Horton telling him to cut the fence. ua-cam.com/video/bVCTTuzj8ys/v-deo.html
This scene really shows the respect that we all have for each other. We may be in different branches and talk shit about each other, but in the end we all have a mutual respect and care for each other because of the fact that our uniforms started with United States (not to say, in the end we don't have respect for fellow servicemen of other nations). That's why the cab driver didn't take it, he mentions that the Marines had it worse than him, but had it been a fellow soldier, sailor, or airmen he probably did the same. I know I wouldn't if I was him.
Exactly, it is about a community. I served in the US Army in Desert Storm and I always try to look out for the younger guys back from Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't drive a cab, but I'm a 26-year police officer in an area with a heavy presence of military bases. When I was in the traffic/patrol division I would try to cut them a break especially if they were just back. Readjustment can be challenging and they need help sometimes. When I returned, I had plans for college (I was a stop-loss soldier and was supposed to ETS before the whole Desert Storm/Shield deal, I had plans for college) and I then went to school only a few months after. I remember the professor in one of my classes had everyone stand up in class and tell what they were doing and where they were from. I stood up and told them where I just came from and I'll never forget the look on some faces. You have to remember that the scars of Vietnam were still festering in society and some people looked at me as if I was damaged goods waiting to flip out. ( I could see it in their eyes) There was one guy towards the end of that day in class who stood up and shared his story as well, he was also there and a soldier as well, we were the only two in a class of about 25. It was cool to have someone like myself in the class as well. We talked and became friends during that time. I've since lost track of him years back, but having him around certainly helped me tons.
Have a buddy who never served try to trash talk the Air Force. I stopped him and said, “you have never served a single day. You didn’t earn the right to rag on the Air Force.” He stopped. We may rag on our fellow services but when an outsider who has never raised their right hand tries, we band together.
It’s important to remember that these guys both went through the toughest training available to become a paratrooper and a marine. Yet the drivers admission that he had it easier than Leckie is a blatant sign of respect from one soldier to another
I had friends that joined the Marines, I had friends at joined the airforce, I even had friends who joined the coast guard. We always talk s*** on each other, but when you come right down to it, this is what matters. That through thick and thin, we will always look out for one another despite our different branch. Thank you for your service to all my fellow veterans
don't diss coast guard. lol. my dad was a cpo in the CG prewar. when it touched off, the navy was woefully short of destroyer crews. enter the CG. he spent the war on a destroyer hunting subs in the north Atlantic. those guys stepped up big time.
@@tekay44 Not a diss. Just a branch ppl seem to forget is part of the DOD and has their fair share of struggles. Making it in the coast guard is no joke. Thank you Dad for his service!
More likely they just needed the space. I did the same with my brother's room when he went off to college and they did the same with mine when I went to college
When I came back from the Marines back in 2013, my room old looked like a hoarders room. My little brother’s stuff was piled all over the place; couldn’t even walk through the room. The one thing I told them before I left was to not touch my memory box which I put in the closest. It had a bunch of sentimental stuff from childhood and some manuscript books I had written. The memory box had been ransacked and the notebooks were ripped apart and destroyed. I left the next day and never went back.
dan marr his memoir was a best seller. He knew. He also went on to publish over 40 books about American history on top of writing for some of the most prestigious magazines and newspapers. He was like a Stephen Ambrose. He lead a pretty successful life after the war. If you ever serve in a war, always be good friends and super nice to the Marine or Soldier who says he’s a writer. That’s how you end up as a prominent character in his book and later an HBO miniseries 😂
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He had Alzheimer's at the end of his life. His family said he no longer recognized or knew any of them. The only thing he remembered was the war. It was so deeply seared into his memory that even Alzheimer's could not erase it.
@@youtubecommenter37Yeah but hopefully the producers don't fuse me with other guys who may have done unsavory things. I don't like how they did some of the guys dirty. From what I remember in Sledge's book I don't think they ever mentioned Snafu specifically cutting out gold teeth. Also Peck the incompetent cowardly replacement from episode 9 wasn't like that at all irl. First off he wasn't some barely trained mid battle replacement. He arrived on Pavuvu post Peleliu and spent several months training, making friends and getting integrated into his units. None of the actions he was portrayed as doing in the show were his irl. Sledge became friends with him on Pavuvu and it was never mentioned if he was drafted or not. Only thing true was that his name was Peck and the affair thing. 😂
Phenomenal scene with the cabbie. Its well illustrated here how people on the home front had zero idea of what these boys went through. Well done to the producers/writers.
My Pops served in Vietnam with the 1st Marine Division he told me how amazing it was to come home to my grandparents between his first and second tour he said to me that hed never seen his parents react to seeing him like that up to that point in his life. When I got home from my first deployment my Pops was waiting for me at the Airport hadnt seen him in two years plus was a great reunion.
This makes me think of the time I came home for leave from my deployment in OIF. My dad was out front trimming the tree, sees me, and he was like: "Oh you're home, great. You can help me with this."
Leckie's book "A Helmet for my Pillow" is an interesting book to read. He was a bit toned down for "The Pacific" but overall a great performance. Like "To Hell and Back" Leckie's book is dripping in PTSD. Two great moments. Running out of the Broadway play "South Pacific" because it was so unreal (why he wrote the book) and his emotions about the A Bomb in 1945 and then later in the late 50s.
In the book "Flags of my Father" by James Bradley, son of Iwo Jima flag raiser Navy Corpsman John Bradley, the author comments he went to see the 1950s film "Sands of Iwo Jima" starring John Wayne with his dad. As they left the theater John Bradley had one comment for his son: "It was nothing like that."
@@tygeburgess8769 I had an uncle die around Metz-Nancy area. 3rd Army 80th Infantry. Lt. Hubert G Perkins. I don't hasve an other info on his unit, but it was also a Tank Destryoer Battalion.
I like this scene. It rings true through millennia. Veterans respect and honor other veterans, even, dare I say, they were on opposite sides. Sure there maybe some inter-service rivalries but in the end we are brothers and sisters who share a bond. Checkout: Falklands/Malvinas veterans meet on the battlefield.
You want Inter-Service rivalry in the Allies? Look at the RAF and the Royal Navy. You want the most egregious form Inter-Service Rivalry in History? Just look at the Japanese Navy and Army. Damm. Their rivalry merged it's way into Politics and policy.
I felt blessed that everytime I came home from deployments no matter how awful it had been, when I finally got to visit home on leave it was really nice to have my room exactly as I had left it before I enlisted several years before. My parents were fantastic, fully supportive but always worried and caring.
I'm a Soldier, we always have interservice rivalry, we rib each other and joke with one another. It doesn't disappear, all of us understand the despite our family (military) differences, we look out for one another. We respect one another, even if we don't know the person, their background, or what they went through. To some, it doesn't look that way, but there isn't a single military member that will say they have a lack of respect for a military branch or anybody that served in any other branch.
The boy that left is never the man that returns. You never go home again really. Makes you angry at first because it's like nothing changed while after going thru so much. Then one realizes it's the self that changed and no one else. Lonely feeling really.
What's with the parents? Couldn't figure out dad in episode 1 and now both mom and dad in the final episode. Sledge's parents were worried about him 24/7. Leckie's....meh. No way Eugene's mom was gonna put crap in his room while he was overseas. Basilone's parents, especially his dad, was worried about him. Leckie's folks are a case study in COLD.
Need to remember the societal norms of the time of what being the man of the family was. The father was deflecting his worry by pretending to show concern over the vehicle and not wanting to acknowledge that his son was leaving and may never come back. A lot of fathers had their own experiences from WW1 come back to haunt them as they watched their sons go off to war. Same as my grandpa (WWII Pacific) with Vietnam and my uncles. Leckie and Eugene came from very different financial, family and traditional backgrounds. Neither cared less for their child believe me.
The cabbie had experienced some of it, parachuting into Normandy and all. His parents didn't know any of what he'd been through unless his dad had been in WWI. At least pops seemed to sense giving him space and not crowding him, mom didn't have a clue. It was strange in 70, 71 and 73 when my older bro, myself and my younger brother came in from Viet Nam and we each acted as interpreter and guide for the homecomer getting him adjusted back in.
“You didn’t say that when we lugged it up here FOUR years ago” Sooo, as soon as their youngest son ships out, instead of maybe keeping his room as it was, they turn it into storage.... That line caught my ear right off. Maybe it was their way of coping, or maybe it was just the way they treated Bob all along. Either way his reaction to seeing/ hearing that was heartbreaking... thank God for Vera and Bobs toughness. RIP Devil Dog. And thank you.
Mrs. Leckie didn't, couldn't possibly, understand the man her son had become. He left a boy and came home a man... and NOT the kind of man she envisioned while he was growing up. Remember, he'd been gone for three years. All that time the Leckie family were still living their lives in wartime America... food rationing, scrap drives, not being able to get gas or tires for the car, working in some sort of community group, Victory gardens.... But still the dinner had to be made, the laundry done, the day to day wouldn't wait. And then, poof!, her son shows up out of the blue. No call, no telegram, no nothing. How do you expect a woman to act?
@@carlhicksjr8401 for one any family that has serving kids who live at home they don't just stuff their rooms with junk and are unprepared. Yes they live normally but at the back of their minds they think, at least have hope at the very least, that their kids will return and so will arrange or prepare their rooms for when that time will come. At the time she son just showed up the war had finished and it takes time for transition so a little bit of time had past after the end of the war. The family should've been prepared for return of their son dead or alive.
What a scene, guy comes home from the war, parents-dad turned it into a junk room, it shows “ dad” wasn’t really into him ever since growing up! But the scene gets better later not shown here, he visits his old childhood girlfriend Vera-🙂😍🙂
Christmas 1968 I went home on leave after being in the army for a short time. I was in AIT for artillery training at Fort Sill and through a number of flights and buses I finally got a bus late at night in Philadelphia for a return home to south jersey. I was the only one on the bus and the bus driver took the bus way out of it's route and drove me right home to my house. Wish I could thank him but I'll never forget his kindness.
Leckie was always my favorite character. Strong, artistic with his words and a sound resolve to make it through the hell of those jungles. He was just a ordinary man but he was definitely a hero for sure.
I've watched this show before my time in the service, this scene stuck with me for a while for no particular reason. It wasn't until I got out and finally got home that the phrase, "you can never go home." struck a chord with me. When Leckie says nothing's changed, and the cab driver said he thought the same thing when he came home, I don't know, I guess I felt the same way when I came home, it seemed like all my family and friends left me behind in 2015 and moved on to 2019 without me, even if I did come home from time to time for block leave. When you are away so long, the home you left behind moves on without you. I kind of had a similar experience to Leckie's when I got back to my house, my parents weren't as bad as this scene though.
Many years ago, when I was stationed overseas in the Navy, I came home unexpectedly around the holidays. I wanted to surprise everyone, so I didn't tell anyone I was on the way. When I got there, nobody was home -- they'd gone several hundred miles away to visit other relatives. Spent Christmas alone in the family house.
The real Joe Liebjott returned to San Francisco. That could not have been him. This scene does a good job describing how tough the Marines truly had it and how much they are overlooked.
According to BoB book, most of East Company vets were from Pennsylvania and Philly. Including Winters, Toye, Melarkie, Guarnere. It's possible he could have been from E Co
When they say you can never go home again, this is the reason why. No matter how long you were deployed, you are not the same person that left. The house didn't change, you did. I was gone two years before I got home again. Everybody was still the same, but I could tell that I had changed. I wasn't the smart assed 18 year old kid anymore. I came back a 20-year-old man that had seen and done things these people would never do, or understand for some.
Homie had some time in London or Paris but those marine's also spent 9 straight months in Melbourne lol respect all around but that was an odd line to throw into the show. And for the marines jungle rot the boys in the European theater had such cold that feet and legs were amputated and people would try to sleep at night and just die. Everyone single person on the Frontline in that war had it rough.
@@vks_productions you're clearly missing the point. This line was added to make it sound like soldiers in Europe were vacationing while marines in the pacific were not. Any liberties to Paris or London were under constant threat of bombs and rockets. And were for very brief periods of time, if at all. Melbourne was virtually untouched by the war and certain groups of marines, including Robert leckie, were there for 9 months straight. The point is that it was a dumb and unnecessary line. The point is that it was a false statement. The point is that you're saying you'd rather be in Paris or London than Melbourne when you're comparing those cities in the 21st century to those cities in 1943.
Had to re-watch this scene to know what the cab driver really meant. I thought he didn't want to take Leckie's money because of jungle rot and malaria, then I realized the fare was on the house because Leckie was a Marine who had it much much worse than the paratroopers in Europe
@@TheMoistGrapefruit For me it didn't register the first time because the cab driver said 'I ain't touching that', which didn't make much sense compared to, say, 'its on me' or 'no need to pay, Marine'.
@@keitht24 Its not that paratroupers in the European theater didn't suffer, its just they didn't live in a world of shit 24/7. As the Cabbie said, Normandy was hell but atleast he got a break in Paris and London
Tarkkus Although I personally really like this scene, I do think it's funny that the writers forgot episode 3 where the Guadalcanal Marines spent about 9 months in Melbourne. I guess we're supposed to assume the Paratrooper isn't aware of that, but it's still a nice moment of respect between returning veterans.
We may talk a lot of shit to each other... A LOT of shit... but the respect the Bloody Boot Club has for one another is real. Very few swabbies and zoomies ever burn through a blister on a ruck hump, but the grunts and jarheads know. Being a military historian compels me to also mention this: I take absolutely nothing away from the Marines and their operations in War Two, however it should be mentioned that most of the combat infantry in the Pacific theater were, in fact, Army. The Marines deserved the 'Tom Hanks treatment' given to the Army Airborne in 'Band of Brothers', but very little is said about the Army in the Pacific, And Americans are almost completely ignorant of the bleeding and dying the Aussies and Kiwis did.
@@Someloke8895 I wasn't aware that Gurkhas fought in the Pacific campaigns. I knew, of course, about Italy, Africa, and the CBI Theater, but not in the Pacific. Have to look that up.
@@TrueRomancer04 To a very large extent you're right TR'04. Much of the whole 'Greatest Generation' thing does indeed mythologize War Two, and not just for America. Consider that part of the spectrum involved in Nazi worship... I have a buddy of mine who is firm member of the Cult of Michael Wittmann, for example, and no matter how much I try and tell him that the SS was an eff'd up organization from the Reichsfuhrer to the drummer boys, he won't come off that. As you can tell from my photo, I'm a reenactor. Reenactors from various eras tend to talk to each other, but one of the fastest ways to get me to DX you off my friends list it to announce that you reenact an SS unit...
@TrueRomancer04 Key phrase: "our representations". I'm fully aware that other nations sacrificed much, and often much more than the US. However, these are American movies made by American directors with American actors (or at least people who come to America to be actors). In no way are we responsible for representing the history of other nations. If you want to see more movies about the Red Army, then your complaint should be with the Russian film industry instead of our cultural perspective of history.
@@americanatlas3631 I chose the term "representations" because it isn't just in film or television. We've had dozens of WWII-centered videogames, for example, which seem to just be Normandy and the Pacific over and over again. I don't particularly care about seeing more of the Red Army (though Enemy at the Gates is at least serviceable). I'm more concerned about the U.S. treating World War 2 as our own personal Arthurian Myth, a mostly-fictional time of a "unified," "more moral" America singlehandedly saving the world...and using that delusion to justify every decision we've made since, especially in terms of American Exceptionalism.
My favorite scene of the Pacific. There was a difference in the two theatres. Both were tough, hard...WWII was our era as a country. This scene solidifies who we are as members of different branches of the service acknowledging the different challenges faced confronting a different enemy.
To every grunt, sailor or airman the worst battle in the world is the one they're caught in the middle of, whether it's tropical jungle, urban rubble, mountain terrain, hot desert, frozen fields, in the middle of the ocean or the blue skies.
That was like us Jarheads in Okinawa being on working parties while at an Air Force base for a couple of days. The propeller heads always fell over themselves making sure we had snacks and meals all day. I don’t think I paid for a single soda those two whole days because they wanted to hook us up. To this day I appreciate those guys taking care of us like family members.
80 years before a group of Union Soldiers came home from the American Civil War. The family welcomed them, they had a dinner, and the next day they were out in the corn bin "shucking corn" (pulling the dry leaves off the corn cob). War is sort of Majestic to see. Civil life is a little bit of a downer.
I just had this thought: The reason his parents had moved all that stuff into his room was because they didn’t believe he was coming home….not alive anyway.
Leckie had said that he was very much a surprise baby to his already older parents. You can see later that his siblings are very much older than him. They were just worn out I think. Still, it does seem cold they treated him like that.
Dang dude that’s just messed up his parents are like essentially saying why aren’t you dead or dang he’s back already. Super messed up I feel bad for him you can see it in face that he just sad.
Leckie get's out the cab without a sound but the paratrooper groans, when you get old and/or your knees are gone you will groan like that too. nice attention to details.
I think the folks at home were hearing how bad it was in Japan and just assumed he'd not return. But he should have let them know he was coming home. It's one or two days less worry for the parents.
At first, I thought it was just an insult, but it wasn't. The cab driver was giving a nod to the Marines who got nothing but "malaria and jungle rot", the Paratrooper at least got 'liberties' in Europe which was something and both men had seen hell, but he gave Leckie the free fare on the house. It's just how he phrased the words, but it was just a welcome home in his own vernacular.
It was a "vernacular" that Leckie would have understood. The "I ain't touchin that" was " You don't owe me nothin". That former Para's "Welcome home" would count more than any "thank you for your service" that any civi might offer.
I think some of the audience's reaction towards Leckie's parents is a bit unwarrented. I don't remember the show in full, but the clip goes from Leckie on the street to his parents awkwardly walking him into his old room, likely embarrassed that they've turned his room into a storage unit. The underlying text is, of course, that they he had died. But the way the clip is set up, we have no way of knowing if Leckie received a warm, heartfelt welcoming home by his parents. It's deliberately made to paint the parents in an unfavourable light. Moreover, as dark or negative as it seems, as family of an individual who's gone to war, especially a war of the magnitude of WWII, the rational thing to do is to make your peace with the possibility that this individual will likely die.
There's been a lot of back and forth about how rough the fighting was in the Pacific Theater compared with that in the European Theater. It was rough in both theaters. But...suppose you as a combat soldier were given the choice of which area you could fight. What would be your choice...the Pacific or Europe? Me? I'd take Europe. But...it wouldn't include Omaha Beach or that quaint little French village of Bastone.
I think that people make the mistake of looking at the media's portrayal of the two theaters as emblematic of the theaters as a whole. Which is wrong since millions of men with completely separate experiences served in both. Would a soldier have a better experience in Germany in the spring of 1945 than a soldier on Okinawa during the same period? Most likely. And would a soldier guarding a base on Bougainville have a better experience than a solider sitting on the Anzio beachhead in Italy? I would also wager yes.
If that were me coming home and that is all I got for a welcome back, I think I'd skip unpacking and go look for some kind of boarding house to move into as soon as possible. It is clear they did not expect their son to return and are not happy that he did return. The cab driver showed him more appreciation than his parents???? It's hard, but time for Leckie to move on.
A soldier (in this case, the cabbie) wouldn't use the term "liberty" to describe time off. That's a Navy/Marine Corps term. But other than that, good scene.
Yes, but he's speaking to a Marine. Wouldn't he use the language of the Marines? If he was referring to Halsey, he wouldn't say General Halsey because the army didn't use the word Admiral.
Overused meme that's still funny #DeezNutz it’s weird when you first come back from a deployment. Just plain weird. People handle you like you’re made of glass and everyday routines stress you out for reasons you can’t explain
@@youtubecommenter37 it certainly did for me, took me about 2 months to get use to a bed, some nights, I would wake up trying to "look for my rifle". I had a very thin line of patience as well, could not stand waiting quietly and big bangs made me flinch and fidget sometimes. There are some that never heal from such things, but I got my cure.
Max Hastings has some great books on WW2. For the Western allies….in order of ‘least fucked up to most fucked up’ (my words….not his) places to serve……..It went North Africa…….Western Europe…….Italy……..THEN the Pacific theater. From thousands of interviews from the guys who served there.
i finished this series last night. and the just overwelming amount of respect for the shit these guys went through had me, a 32 yr old man crying like a full on bitch.
Unreal that parents could act like this! My kids are truly a gift from God and there is nothing that I would not do for them! Thank you God for blessing me with children and protecting them from harm.
The coldness of Robert Leckie's parents here is such a huge contrast to Eugene Sledge's warm, loving parents when he returned from the Pacific. ua-cam.com/video/U4bvSs54UP0/v-deo.html
Love this scene, when you compare the two theatres the U.S. was fighting in it becomes very apparent that one theatre was "less horrible" than the other. Mortality rate tells the story well, along with the lack of humanity to be seen for thousands of miles in every direction. No towns full of grateful people, just civilians throwing themselves off of cliffs because they're convinced the Americans are demons. With total respect to the heroes that fought in that war that dwarfed the war to end all wars, If I had to fight, I know which theatre I'd choose.
I think this scene would be better left out honestly. It needlessly depreciates the experiences and sacrifices of men who fought in the European/Mediterranean theater and doesn't even make sense in the context of the show. It's as if the writers expected us to forget that they dedicated an entire episode to Leckie and the Marines being received by cheering crowds in Melbourne, and chasing women and getting blackout drunk for several months in between operations.
I just can't imagine what it would be like to come home from World War II and try to pretend that everything could be normal again. It's just impossible to comprehend what these people experienced.
I think, in all fairness, that whilst Bastone was hell it was about a week of heavy fighting with less than a 1000 lost. At the end of it the boys would of got fresh uniforms and hot showers etc. You compare that to those fighting in the Pacific where it was just a constant grind against fanatical maniacs.
The cab driver pointing out how comparatively easy it was to be a paratrooper in Europe versus being a Marine in the Pacific really reminds you that every American serviceman's wartime experience was different in some significant way. It also reminds the audience that, in case they had not figured it out already, they had not just watched a "Band of Brothers" re-make.
Indeed. While the paratroopers of the US 101st and 82nd mostly faced poorly trained german troops from the 700. series infanterie divisions throughout most of the european campaign, the US marines had to face against their elite and well-trained japanese rikusentai marines counterparts throughout most of their campaigns in the pacific. The US troops in Europe were incredibly lucky that the UK expeditionary were the ones who had to deal with six SS panzer divisions as well as 2 german paratrooper brigades in Caen.
You do realize that the 82nd and 101st fought in other campaigns besides Normandy, right? These silly comparisons are pointless, every serviceman who saw action,no matter where, went through his own individual hell. Very easy for you to say, from the safety of 80 yrs and behind a keyboard, that the Airborne faced poorly trained, ineffective enemy troops. Take a look at the casualties both units suffered. @commanderbacara225
This scene always felt forced to me. Like an obligatory nod of respect between the services, only they expected us to forget the part of the series where Leckie and his fellow Marines spend an entire episode getting drunk and prowling for women in Melbourne.
crush a can fer jay owen
This is just wrong though. Yea they had a year to recoup in Melbourne after the length and hard fought battle of Guadalcanal. And throughout 1943-1945, they never went back. Only to be stationed on islands just as bad as the ones they just fought on to recover. compared to the Americans in Europe fighting in towns, receiving warm welcomes from locals and stationed normally in populated areas in England, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. You have to remember, the war in Europe lasted essentially a year for the Americans, compared to 4 in the pacific. It wouldn’t be that uncommon for the Army to learn what the Marines went through in Japan once the war ended
@@coiboyify I mean, a year in Melbourne is still more rest time than most men in Europe would have gotten. Most troops in Europe would only get a few days leave to a rear area, but nothing like the rotation periods units would get in the Pacific. Only the unlucky ones would be sent to islands like Pavuvu. The majority of rest areas in the PTO were really nice. I think Band of Brothers has accidently poisoned people's perception of warfare in western Europe. Not every town was received with welcoming throngs of civilians handing out goodies, in fact that was the exception. Most populated areas in the wake of Allied armies would have been bombed-out and desolate, with civilians either hiding or fleeing.
@@coiboyify there was north Africa and southern European campaigns too in 1942-1943. But yes, aside from 6-6-44, Pacific was way worse.
@@MichaelAllen-po4eo If you think that June 6 was the only bad day the US experienced against the Germans, then you need to read more about the western front and the Mediterranean theaters.
The cabbie reminds me of something that happened to my father after he returned from Normandy via 2 years in an army hospital. He was parked in a red zone, and a cop was writing a ticket. When the policeman saw him in uniform, on crutches, missing a leg, he just tore up the ticket. The greatest generation.
I don't know which is worse:
Not having a hero's welcome from your own family or having your room used as a junk room because they didn't think you'd come home alive
Parents for sure 😂
I came home to my parents hosting a foreign exchange student in my room.
Had to sleep on the couch.
The fact that his Mom used the word "Warning" instead of "Inkling" or "Good News" shows that they'd already just continued their lives without him.
@@Unsound_advice Dude that must have sucked
@@Unsound_advice ouch. Sorry about that.🙏
It's my headcanon that that cabbie is Joe Liebgott.
You could be right. I mean, why else would they put that there (other than that military brothers/sisters respected one another)
Same
In BoB he did say he was planning on making a killing out of driving troops home who came from the war. It's possible unless they're in different parts of the US altogether.
MarvinT killing?
@@SuperAlfie666 lots of money
I remember returning to my parents place for a month after we got back from deployment. Everything looked and smelled the same, but it never felt like home again. 24 years of living there and it felt like I was a stranger. It was nothing my family did, everything just changed. As an infantryman, my parents were just happy I came back in one piece.
Yup, things back home didn't really change much at all. YOU changed, for better or worse. Regular people back home lived regular lives, you lived anything but.
same story with me as well
When my uncle came home from Korea he found a different family at his old home. They didn’t know where his parents had moved too. Once he found them it turned out the letter they sent telling him the new address never got to him. I remember him saying how his feelings when he knocked on the door only to find his folks were not there were like a knot in his gut.
When I got back from Nam and was discharged, I went home. the second day there, my dad asked how long I planned to stay!
Man fuck all that nonsense. Thanks for doing the damn thing man. I’m 24 years old and don’t have the balls to join up. Y’all are my heros
@@revelstatus2346 Mate, hold on, why are you so toxic to a complete stranger?? There is nothing cowardly about not having what it takes to join up. We are a society, soldiers alone cannot function in it, nor scientists, doctors, business man, engineers, lorry drivers.... The list goes on and on. He may posses a different form of courage. I consider for example nurses as incredibly strong. They are there in our worse moments, taking care of people, cleaning them from puss, puke and their urine and poop and much more. I don't have what it takes to do that job, and I dare to guess you neither. There are many forms of strength in this world, being willing to go to war is just one of them. And we need all of them, in the people, in order to survive as civilization in this world my friend.
@@PavelKahun Who the fuck are you and why did I just waste energy replying back???
@@revelstatus2346 First, I am just a bloke on the internet, and second, I have no idea what goes on in that crazy melon of your, so you gonna have to figure it out for yourself.
@@PavelKahun speak normal you fuck.
This is the scene that links Band of Brothers and the Pacific.
if only leckie was on the west coast, maybe they could of had Liebgott drive him, wouldn't make sense but fuck it, its a show
@@Warszawski_Modernizm thought this scene was someone east?
@@Warszawski_Modernizm dude leckie was born In Philadelphia and grew up in ruthford NJ. Google it
Thanks Bonn, I never would have put that together. I appreciate your keen eye!
@@bluerep40 I don't know if you are being sarcastic or not, but the actor who played the cab driver looks to be the one who played an obscure paratrooper in BoB (Bart Ruspoli)...the one who tells Cpt Sobol that it is Maj Horton telling him to cut the fence. ua-cam.com/video/bVCTTuzj8ys/v-deo.html
This scene really shows the respect that we all have for each other. We may be in different branches and talk shit about each other, but in the end we all have a mutual respect and care for each other because of the fact that our uniforms started with United States (not to say, in the end we don't have respect for fellow servicemen of other nations). That's why the cab driver didn't take it, he mentions that the Marines had it worse than him, but had it been a fellow soldier, sailor, or airmen he probably did the same. I know I wouldn't if I was him.
Perfectly put
Given how many servicemen came back needing cab rides from the train station you'd go broke if you had them all ride for free.
Exactly, it is about a community. I served in the US Army in Desert Storm and I always try to look out for the younger guys back from Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't drive a cab, but I'm a 26-year police officer in an area with a heavy presence of military bases. When I was in the traffic/patrol division I would try to cut them a break especially if they were just back. Readjustment can be challenging and they need help sometimes. When I returned, I had plans for college (I was a stop-loss soldier and was supposed to ETS before the whole Desert Storm/Shield deal, I had plans for college) and I then went to school only a few months after. I remember the professor in one of my classes had everyone stand up in class and tell what they were doing and where they were from. I stood up and told them where I just came from and I'll never forget the look on some faces. You have to remember that the scars of Vietnam were still festering in society and some people looked at me as if I was damaged goods waiting to flip out. ( I could see it in their eyes) There was one guy towards the end of that day in class who stood up and shared his story as well, he was also there and a soldier as well, we were the only two in a class of about 25. It was cool to have someone like myself in the class as well. We talked and became friends during that time. I've since lost track of him years back, but having him around certainly helped me tons.
Have a buddy who never served try to trash talk the Air Force. I stopped him and said, “you have never served a single day. You didn’t earn the right to rag on the Air Force.” He stopped. We may rag on our fellow services but when an outsider who has never raised their right hand tries, we band together.
It's the solidarity of working class men who fought together against fascism
It’s important to remember that these guys both went through the toughest training available to become a paratrooper and a marine. Yet the drivers admission that he had it easier than Leckie is a blatant sign of respect from one soldier to another
One serviceman to another. One's a soldier the other is a Marine.
@@1bridge11 That's just semantics. And, no, I would never say that to a marines face.
Damn right. Soldier is a job description; Marine is a title for life. S/F!@@1bridge11
I had friends that joined the Marines, I had friends at joined the airforce, I even had friends who joined the coast guard. We always talk s*** on each other, but when you come right down to it, this is what matters. That through thick and thin, we will always look out for one another despite our different branch. Thank you for your service to all my fellow veterans
don't diss coast guard. lol. my dad was a cpo in the CG prewar. when it touched off, the navy was woefully short of destroyer crews. enter the CG. he spent the war on a destroyer hunting subs in the north Atlantic. those guys stepped up big time.
@@tekay44 Not a diss. Just a branch ppl seem to forget is part of the DOD and has their fair share of struggles. Making it in the coast guard is no joke. Thank you Dad for his service!
Who is on the register for George Washington's first two Battalions of Marines?
Coast Guards only MOH saved the Raiders.
Using their son's bed room as a junk room was messed up. Were they not expecting him to make it back alive?
Yea that is messed up
Total dick move by the parents
They mention that they didn't know he was coming back until he rocked up on the doorstep.
More likely they just needed the space. I did the same with my brother's room when he went off to college and they did the same with mine when I went to college
Noah C or they just ran out of space
When I came back from the Marines back in 2013, my room old looked like a hoarders room. My little brother’s stuff was piled all over the place; couldn’t even walk through the room. The one thing I told them before I left was to not touch my memory box which I put in the closest. It had a bunch of sentimental stuff from childhood and some manuscript books I had written. The memory box had been ransacked and the notebooks were ripped apart and destroyed. I left the next day and never went back.
Ok
I read " Helmet for My Pillow" 1957 the autobiography of Robert Leckie. Former Royal Marine here, brought tears to my eyes. Semper Fi to all the USMC.
I hope this man went out knowing how loved and appreciated he was. He will always be a hero to me
dan marr his memoir was a best seller. He knew. He also went on to publish over 40 books about American history on top of writing for some of the most prestigious magazines and newspapers. He was like a Stephen Ambrose. He lead a pretty successful life after the war. If you ever serve in a war, always be good friends and super nice to the Marine or Soldier who says he’s a writer. That’s how you end up as a prominent character in his book and later an HBO miniseries 😂
He had Alzheimer's at the end of his life. His family said he no longer recognized or knew any of them. The only thing he remembered was the war. It was so deeply seared into his memory that even Alzheimer's could not erase it.
@@youtubecommenter37noted 😂
@@youtubecommenter37Yeah but hopefully the producers don't fuse me with other guys who may have done unsavory things. I don't like how they did some of the guys dirty. From what I remember in Sledge's book I don't think they ever mentioned Snafu specifically cutting out gold teeth.
Also Peck the incompetent cowardly replacement from episode 9 wasn't like that at all irl. First off he wasn't some barely trained mid battle replacement. He arrived on Pavuvu post Peleliu and spent several months training, making friends and getting integrated into his units. None of the actions he was portrayed as doing in the show were his irl. Sledge became friends with him on Pavuvu and it was never mentioned if he was drafted or not. Only thing true was that his name was Peck and the affair thing. 😂
Phenomenal scene with the cabbie. Its well illustrated here how people on the home front had zero idea of what these boys went through. Well done to the producers/writers.
My Pops served in Vietnam with the 1st Marine Division he told me how amazing it was to come home to my grandparents between his first and second tour he said to me that hed never seen his parents react to seeing him like that up to that point in his life. When I got home from my first deployment my Pops was waiting for me at the Airport hadnt seen him in two years plus was a great reunion.
This makes me think of the time I came home for leave from my deployment in OIF. My dad was out front trimming the tree, sees me, and he was like: "Oh you're home, great. You can help me with this."
I hope that was comforting in some way.
Glad I’m not the only one that had an experience like that.
Some people are just idiots. It is that simple.
Leckie's book "A Helmet for my Pillow" is an interesting book to read. He was a bit toned down for "The Pacific" but overall a great performance. Like "To Hell and Back" Leckie's book is dripping in PTSD. Two great moments. Running out of the Broadway play "South Pacific" because it was so unreal (why he wrote the book) and his emotions about the A Bomb in 1945 and then later in the late 50s.
my gramps was in a tank destroyer from africa to berlin. he HATED the show hogan's heroes for the exact same reason.
00000909000000000900000000000000
@Tyge Burgess
My pop's hated that show also.
In the book "Flags of my Father" by James Bradley, son of Iwo Jima flag raiser Navy Corpsman John Bradley, the author comments he went to see the 1950s film "Sands of Iwo Jima" starring John Wayne with his dad. As they left the theater John Bradley had one comment for his son: "It was nothing like that."
@@tygeburgess8769 I had an uncle die around Metz-Nancy area. 3rd Army 80th Infantry. Lt. Hubert G Perkins. I don't hasve an other info on his unit, but it was also a Tank Destryoer Battalion.
I like this scene. It rings true through millennia. Veterans respect and honor other veterans, even, dare I say, they were on opposite sides. Sure there maybe some inter-service rivalries but in the end we are brothers and sisters who share a bond. Checkout: Falklands/Malvinas veterans meet on the battlefield.
You want Inter-Service rivalry in the Allies? Look at the RAF and the Royal Navy.
You want the most egregious form Inter-Service Rivalry in History? Just look at the Japanese Navy and Army. Damm. Their rivalry merged it's way into Politics and policy.
@@johnpijano4786 Let's not forget the RAF and the BEF at Dunkirk either. The RAF got a bad wrap.
I felt blessed that everytime I came home from deployments no matter how awful it had been, when I finally got to visit home on leave it was really nice to have my room exactly as I had left it before I enlisted several years before. My parents were fantastic, fully supportive but always worried and caring.
All inter-service rivalry evaporates in exchanges like this and is replaced with heartfelt respect ✊.
I'm a Soldier, we always have interservice rivalry, we rib each other and joke with one another. It doesn't disappear, all of us understand the despite our family (military) differences, we look out for one another. We respect one another, even if we don't know the person, their background, or what they went through. To some, it doesn't look that way, but there isn't a single military member that will say they have a lack of respect for a military branch or anybody that served in any other branch.
The boy that left is never the man that returns. You never go home again really. Makes you angry at first because it's like nothing changed while after going thru so much. Then one realizes it's the self that changed and no one else. Lonely feeling really.
Yes. Exactly. That was hard for me to come to terms with....for a small bit of time. Like a day.
I remember that day. My brother and wife had my old room, I got the couch. Almost re-enlisted just for a bunk.
What's with the parents? Couldn't figure out dad in episode 1 and now both mom and dad in the final episode. Sledge's parents were worried about him 24/7. Leckie's....meh. No way Eugene's mom was gonna put crap in his room while he was overseas. Basilone's parents, especially his dad, was worried about him. Leckie's folks are a case study in COLD.
Need to remember the societal norms of the time of what being the man of the family was. The father was deflecting his worry by pretending to show concern over the vehicle and not wanting to acknowledge that his son was leaving and may never come back. A lot of fathers had their own experiences from WW1 come back to haunt them as they watched their sons go off to war. Same as my grandpa (WWII Pacific) with Vietnam and my uncles. Leckie and Eugene came from very different financial, family and traditional backgrounds. Neither cared less for their child believe me.
Leckie went on to be a prolific writer on military history.
The fact that he can recieve empathy from that unknown taxi driver guy but not from his parents ...
The cabbie had experienced some of it, parachuting into Normandy and all. His parents didn't know any of what he'd been through unless his dad had been in WWI. At least pops seemed to sense giving him space and not crowding him, mom didn't have a clue. It was strange in 70, 71 and 73 when my older bro, myself and my younger brother came in from Viet Nam and we each acted as interpreter and guide for the homecomer getting him adjusted back in.
“You didn’t say that when we lugged it up here FOUR years ago”
Sooo, as soon as their youngest son ships out, instead of maybe keeping his room as it was, they turn it into storage....
That line caught my ear right off. Maybe it was their way of coping, or maybe it was just the way they treated Bob all along. Either way his reaction to seeing/ hearing that was heartbreaking... thank God for Vera and Bobs toughness.
RIP Devil Dog. And thank you.
2 Americans, 1 fought Germans the Other Japanese. Love the respect.
Mom was acting like a douchebag!! After all the man had gone through...
Father did the same when he shipped off.
She wasn't trying to, she just didn't understand. To her he just went away for a while, she had no way of comprehending what he went through
I know huh, she should be grateful she didnt death telegram instead like other moms she would've seen or heard around the neighborhood
Mrs. Leckie didn't, couldn't possibly, understand the man her son had become. He left a boy and came home a man... and NOT the kind of man she envisioned while he was growing up.
Remember, he'd been gone for three years. All that time the Leckie family were still living their lives in wartime America... food rationing, scrap drives, not being able to get gas or tires for the car, working in some sort of community group, Victory gardens.... But still the dinner had to be made, the laundry done, the day to day wouldn't wait.
And then, poof!, her son shows up out of the blue. No call, no telegram, no nothing. How do you expect a woman to act?
@@carlhicksjr8401 for one any family that has serving kids who live at home they don't just stuff their rooms with junk and are unprepared. Yes they live normally but at the back of their minds they think, at least have hope at the very least, that their kids will return and so will arrange or prepare their rooms for when that time will come. At the time she son just showed up the war had finished and it takes time for transition so a little bit of time had past after the end of the war. The family should've been prepared for return of their son dead or alive.
What a scene, guy comes home from the war, parents-dad turned it into a junk room, it shows “ dad” wasn’t really into him ever since growing up! But the scene gets better later not shown here, he visits his old childhood girlfriend Vera-🙂😍🙂
This happened more than you can imagine, a different world than when you left.
Christmas 1968 I went home on leave after being in the army for a short time. I was in AIT for artillery training at Fort Sill and through a number of flights and buses I finally got a bus late at night in Philadelphia for a return home to south jersey. I was the only one on the bus and the bus driver took the bus way out of it's route and drove me right home to my house. Wish I could thank him but I'll never forget his kindness.
Not debbie but Chris
Leckie was always my favorite character. Strong, artistic with his words and a sound resolve to make it through the hell of those jungles. He was just a ordinary man but he was definitely a hero for sure.
This was one of the most heartfelt scenes in the movie. Welcome home.
Leckie turned out to be a great author. I have a couple of his books: "Helmet for my pillow", and "Strong Men Armed". Both are excellent!
Should’ve had a band of brothers cameo
Maybe with Dick or Wild Bill.
I've watched this show before my time in the service, this scene stuck with me for a while for no particular reason. It wasn't until I got out and finally got home that the phrase, "you can never go home." struck a chord with me. When Leckie says nothing's changed, and the cab driver said he thought the same thing when he came home, I don't know, I guess I felt the same way when I came home, it seemed like all my family and friends left me behind in 2015 and moved on to 2019 without me, even if I did come home from time to time for block leave. When you are away so long, the home you left behind moves on without you. I kind of had a similar experience to Leckie's when I got back to my house, my parents weren't as bad as this scene though.
Many years ago, when I was stationed overseas in the Navy, I came home unexpectedly around the holidays. I wanted to surprise
everyone, so I didn't tell anyone I was on the way. When I got there, nobody was home -- they'd gone several hundred miles away to visit other relatives. Spent Christmas alone in the family house.
The real Joe Liebjott returned to San Francisco. That could not have been him. This scene does a good job describing how tough the Marines truly had it and how much they are overlooked.
According to BoB book, most of East Company vets were from Pennsylvania and Philly. Including Winters, Toye, Melarkie, Guarnere. It's possible he could have been from E Co
@@zainahmed6502 Malarkey was from Astoria Oregon.
When they say you can never go home again, this is the reason why.
No matter how long you were deployed, you are not the same person that left. The house didn't change, you did.
I was gone two years before I got home again. Everybody was still the same, but I could tell that I had changed. I wasn't the smart assed 18 year old kid anymore. I came back a 20-year-old man that had seen and done things these people would never do, or understand for some.
Homie had some time in London or Paris but those marine's also spent 9 straight months in Melbourne lol respect all around but that was an odd line to throw into the show. And for the marines jungle rot the boys in the European theater had such cold that feet and legs were amputated and people would try to sleep at night and just die. Everyone single person on the Frontline in that war had it rough.
Ever been to Melbourne? Most pretentious, boring place in the world. London and Paris better a thousand times.
@@vks_productions yeah well read "helmet for my pillow" and then tell Robert leckie he was better off staying on guadalcanal
@@pvtparts90 I never said that
@@vks_productions you're clearly missing the point. This line was added to make it sound like soldiers in Europe were vacationing while marines in the pacific were not. Any liberties to Paris or London were under constant threat of bombs and rockets. And were for very brief periods of time, if at all. Melbourne was virtually untouched by the war and certain groups of marines, including Robert leckie, were there for 9 months straight. The point is that it was a dumb and unnecessary line. The point is that it was a false statement. The point is that you're saying you'd rather be in Paris or London than Melbourne when you're comparing those cities in the 21st century to those cities in 1943.
@@pvtparts90 no I completely get it my man. I just wanted a reason to rag on Melbourne.
Had to re-watch this scene to know what the cab driver really meant. I thought he didn't want to take Leckie's money because of jungle rot and malaria, then I realized the fare was on the house because Leckie was a Marine who had it much much worse than the paratroopers in Europe
MarvinT I’ve watched the series twice and watching this clip is where what the driver said finally clicked for me
@@TheMoistGrapefruit For me it didn't register the first time because the cab driver said 'I ain't touching that', which didn't make much sense compared to, say, 'its on me' or 'no need to pay, Marine'.
I wouldn't say that. The paratroopers in Europe suffered heavy casualties during the European operations.
@@keitht24 Its not that paratroupers in the European theater didn't suffer, its just they didn't live in a world of shit 24/7. As the Cabbie said, Normandy was hell but atleast he got a break in Paris and London
Tarkkus Although I personally really like this scene, I do think it's funny that the writers forgot episode 3 where the Guadalcanal Marines spent about 9 months in Melbourne. I guess we're supposed to assume the Paratrooper isn't aware of that, but it's still a nice moment of respect between returning veterans.
GIANTS we are walking in the footprints of greatness .
Reminds me when I went to college and my bedroom was an office by Thanksgiving. I guess they didn't think I would survive freshman year.
We may talk a lot of shit to each other... A LOT of shit... but the respect the Bloody Boot Club has for one another is real.
Very few swabbies and zoomies ever burn through a blister on a ruck hump, but the grunts and jarheads know.
Being a military historian compels me to also mention this:
I take absolutely nothing away from the Marines and their operations in War Two, however it should be mentioned that most of the combat infantry in the Pacific theater were, in fact, Army. The Marines deserved the 'Tom Hanks treatment' given to the Army Airborne in 'Band of Brothers', but very little is said about the Army in the Pacific,
And Americans are almost completely ignorant of the bleeding and dying the Aussies and Kiwis did.
Don't forget the Gurkhas!
@@Someloke8895 I wasn't aware that Gurkhas fought in the Pacific campaigns. I knew, of course, about Italy, Africa, and the CBI Theater, but not in the Pacific. Have to look that up.
@@TrueRomancer04 To a very large extent you're right TR'04. Much of the whole 'Greatest Generation' thing does indeed mythologize War Two, and not just for America. Consider that part of the spectrum involved in Nazi worship... I have a buddy of mine who is firm member of the Cult of Michael Wittmann, for example, and no matter how much I try and tell him that the SS was an eff'd up organization from the Reichsfuhrer to the drummer boys, he won't come off that.
As you can tell from my photo, I'm a reenactor. Reenactors from various eras tend to talk to each other, but one of the fastest ways to get me to DX you off my friends list it to announce that you reenact an SS unit...
@TrueRomancer04 Key phrase: "our representations". I'm fully aware that other nations sacrificed much, and often much more than the US. However, these are American movies made by American directors with American actors (or at least people who come to America to be actors). In no way are we responsible for representing the history of other nations. If you want to see more movies about the Red Army, then your complaint should be with the Russian film industry instead of our cultural perspective of history.
@@americanatlas3631 I chose the term "representations" because it isn't just in film or television. We've had dozens of WWII-centered videogames, for example, which seem to just be Normandy and the Pacific over and over again. I don't particularly care about seeing more of the Red Army (though Enemy at the Gates is at least serviceable). I'm more concerned about the U.S. treating World War 2 as our own personal Arthurian Myth, a mostly-fictional time of a "unified," "more moral" America singlehandedly saving the world...and using that delusion to justify every decision we've made since, especially in terms of American Exceptionalism.
My favorite scene of the Pacific. There was a difference in the two theatres. Both were tough, hard...WWII was our era as a country. This scene solidifies who we are as members of different branches of the service acknowledging the different challenges faced confronting a different enemy.
Much respect to the taxi driver
To every grunt, sailor or airman the worst battle in the world is the one they're caught in the middle of, whether it's tropical jungle, urban rubble, mountain terrain, hot desert, frozen fields, in the middle of the ocean or the blue skies.
This scene takes place in Rutherford NJ, I've been here and Robert Leckie was also a writer for Bergen County sports
Most veterans(especially combat vets) dont care about their room(or space) being used for anything. They're just glad they survived and made it home.
My room was full of Christmas decorations when I came back from Iraq and my shoes and socks were gone.
You are damn right we are happy to be home.
That was like us Jarheads in Okinawa being on working parties while at an Air Force base for a couple of days. The propeller heads always fell over themselves making sure we had snacks and meals all day. I don’t think I paid for a single soda those two whole days because they wanted to hook us up.
To this day I appreciate those guys taking care of us like family members.
Such an honest scene, I bet. It reminds me The movie the best years of our lives. I'm sure the vast majority of homecomings were similar to this....
This scene has always moved me.
80 years before a group of Union Soldiers came home from the American Civil War. The family welcomed them, they had a dinner, and the next day they were out in the corn bin "shucking corn" (pulling the dry leaves off the corn cob).
War is sort of Majestic to see. Civil life is a little bit of a downer.
Hollywood makes war look Majestic. IRL it's not.
The cabbie was my son Damien Freeleagus
The scene with his parents always breaks my heart.
"Yeah, but I got a really nice leave in Australia." -Robert Leckie
I just had this thought: The reason his parents had moved all that stuff into his room was because they didn’t believe he was coming home….not alive anyway.
A great series, I thought Band of Brothers was good, but, as a former Royal Marine, The Pacific was simply better.
War is hell but the Pacific theater is the deepest layer.
No buts. All war is hell, period.
Leckie had said that he was very much a surprise baby to his already older parents. You can see later that his siblings are very much older than him. They were just worn out I think. Still, it does seem cold they treated him like that.
Airborne and Marines have respect for each other
Plzz do more pacific scenes
I subbed
The Army also got jungle rot and malaria in the Pacific!
And both faced the Japanese in the Philippines and on Okinawa.
Dang dude that’s just messed up his parents are like essentially saying why aren’t you dead or dang he’s back already. Super messed up I feel bad for him you can see it in face that he just sad.
Leckie get's out the cab without a sound but the paratrooper groans, when you get old and/or your knees are gone you will groan like that too. nice attention to details.
Maybe he was wounded in Normandy or somewhere else, serious enough to be sent home early.
I think the folks at home were hearing how bad it was in Japan and just assumed he'd not return. But he should have let them know he was coming home. It's one or two days less worry for the parents.
At first, I thought it was just an insult, but it wasn't. The cab driver was giving a nod to the Marines who got nothing but "malaria and jungle rot", the Paratrooper at least got 'liberties' in Europe which was something and both men had seen hell, but he gave Leckie the free fare on the house. It's just how he phrased the words, but it was just a welcome home in his own vernacular.
It was a "vernacular" that Leckie would have understood. The "I ain't touchin that" was " You don't owe me nothin". That former Para's "Welcome home" would count more than any "thank you for your service" that any civi might offer.
What " liberaties " the vast majority of Europe was bombed to smitherns and the locals didn't have much
@@hannahdyson7129 Paris was never bombed. Locals still had plenty. And London was bombed, but never occupied by the Germans.
I think some of the audience's reaction towards Leckie's parents is a bit unwarrented. I don't remember the show in full, but the clip goes from Leckie on the street to his parents awkwardly walking him into his old room, likely embarrassed that they've turned his room into a storage unit. The underlying text is, of course, that they he had died.
But the way the clip is set up, we have no way of knowing if Leckie received a warm, heartfelt welcoming home by his parents. It's deliberately made to paint the parents in an unfavourable light.
Moreover, as dark or negative as it seems, as family of an individual who's gone to war, especially a war of the magnitude of WWII, the rational thing to do is to make your peace with the possibility that this individual will likely die.
There's been a lot of back and forth about how rough the fighting was in the Pacific Theater compared with that in the European Theater. It was rough in both theaters. But...suppose you as a combat soldier were given the choice of which area you could fight. What would be your choice...the Pacific or Europe? Me? I'd take Europe. But...it wouldn't include Omaha Beach or that quaint little French village of Bastone.
I think that people make the mistake of looking at the media's portrayal of the two theaters as emblematic of the theaters as a whole. Which is wrong since millions of men with completely separate experiences served in both.
Would a soldier have a better experience in Germany in the spring of 1945 than a soldier on Okinawa during the same period? Most likely.
And would a soldier guarding a base on Bougainville have a better experience than a solider sitting on the Anzio beachhead in Italy? I would also wager yes.
The Russians might disagree with you on that one.
Gotta wonder how Leckie would’ve talked down to O’Keef. He would’ve put Perconte to shame.
@@tyrannywatch974 True but we’re talking strictly Americans for the most part I think.
@@tyrannywatch974 it was tougher in the East because the bulk of German forces were over there. Not to say that they had it easy in the West
Sorry, but the Marines were only about 1/6th of the infantry assigned to the Pacific. The Army was also used on Iwo Jima.
If that were me coming home and that is all I got for a welcome back, I think I'd skip unpacking and go look for some kind of boarding house to move into as soon as possible. It is clear they did not expect their son to return and are not happy that he did return. The cab driver showed him more appreciation than his parents???? It's hard, but time for Leckie to move on.
All you got was jungle rot and Malaria?
And sunny beaches and Australia.
You got frostbite and Typhus.
A soldier (in this case, the cabbie) wouldn't use the term "liberty" to describe time off. That's a Navy/Marine Corps term. But other than that, good scene.
Yes, but he's speaking to a Marine. Wouldn't he use the language of the Marines? If he was referring to Halsey, he wouldn't say General Halsey because the army didn't use the word Admiral.
@@robertpugliese9863 no, he would not
Not sure what messed with his head more... the war or his parents
Overused meme that's still funny #DeezNutz it’s weird when you first come back from a deployment. Just plain weird. People handle you like you’re made of glass and everyday routines stress you out for reasons you can’t explain
@@youtubecommenter37 it certainly did for me, took me about 2 months to get use to a bed, some nights, I would wake up trying to "look for my rifle". I had a very thin line of patience as well, could not stand waiting quietly and big bangs made me flinch and fidget sometimes. There are some that never heal from such things, but I got my cure.
As shown in the Melbourne episode, he remarked on the warmth of the Greek Family he got to meet. He was the classic unwanted child.
Very similar to my home coming except my dad asked me where id been for the last months.
Max Hastings has some great books on WW2. For the Western allies….in order of ‘least fucked up to most fucked up’ (my words….not his) places to serve……..It went North Africa…….Western Europe…….Italy……..THEN the Pacific theater. From thousands of interviews from the guys who served there.
Many come home. But they all lose their life.
Probably happened more often than we know.
Incredible scene!!!
pacific tried too hard to create a relationship with the character, when band of brother didnt even try and it did that fine.
@@gabrielmartines3510 what do you know about what I cared about - and liked? speak for yourself.
i finished this series last night. and the just overwelming amount of respect for the shit these guys went through had me, a 32 yr old man crying like a full on bitch.
I remember coming home on leave and not telling my parents.
Unreal that parents could act like this! My kids are truly a gift from God and there is nothing that I would not do for them! Thank you God for blessing me with children and protecting them from harm.
Something weird abut that Leckie family. 'Oh, look our son survived the war! Damn, now we have to clean out his old bedroom'
Amazing how the true bad guys in war have always been the parents and their treatment of returning soldiers.
Does anybody feel his father was a good caring parent
but his mother sounded like a classic narc mother ?
I don’t know how much of this is true but Leckie ain’t mention shit about this in Helmet for my Pillow
Gee wiz, nice hug mom I missed you too.
The coldness of Robert Leckie's parents here is such a huge contrast to Eugene Sledge's warm, loving parents when he returned from the Pacific. ua-cam.com/video/U4bvSs54UP0/v-deo.html
Love this scene, when you compare the two theatres the U.S. was fighting in it becomes very apparent that one theatre was "less horrible" than the other. Mortality rate tells the story well, along with the lack of humanity to be seen for thousands of miles in every direction. No towns full of grateful people, just civilians throwing themselves off of cliffs because they're convinced the Americans are demons. With total respect to the heroes that fought in that war that dwarfed the war to end all wars, If I had to fight, I know which theatre I'd choose.
I think this scene would be better left out honestly. It needlessly depreciates the experiences and sacrifices of men who fought in the European/Mediterranean theater and doesn't even make sense in the context of the show. It's as if the writers expected us to forget that they dedicated an entire episode to Leckie and the Marines being received by cheering crowds in Melbourne, and chasing women and getting blackout drunk for several months in between operations.
I know the feeling about your own family do not care about you, I feel identify with lecky :(
His parents seemed like they didn’t want him home. They seemed ungrateful
I just can't imagine what it would be like to come home from World War II and try to pretend that everything could be normal again. It's just impossible to comprehend what these people experienced.
I guess that cab driver forgot about the 101st being in Bastogne
I think, in all fairness, that whilst Bastone was hell it was about a week of heavy fighting with less than a 1000 lost. At the end of it the boys would of got fresh uniforms and hot showers etc. You compare that to those fighting in the Pacific where it was just a constant grind against fanatical maniacs.
Wow, those two are cold!
i can literally imagine the cab driver wearing his airborn helmet and combat gear ngl
Honestly, it's pretty twisted that they used his room like that. Leckie probably figures they didn't believe he'd come home.
Leckies mom and dad were worse than parents who beat their kids for no reason.
The cab driver pointing out how comparatively easy it was to be a paratrooper in Europe versus being a Marine in the Pacific really reminds you that every American serviceman's wartime experience was different in some significant way.
It also reminds the audience that, in case they had not figured it out already, they had not just watched a "Band of Brothers" re-make.
Indeed. While the paratroopers of the US 101st and 82nd mostly faced poorly trained german troops from the 700. series infanterie divisions throughout most of the european campaign, the US marines had to face against their elite and well-trained japanese rikusentai marines counterparts throughout most of their campaigns in the pacific.
The US troops in Europe were incredibly lucky that the UK expeditionary were the ones who had to deal with six SS panzer divisions as well as 2 german paratrooper brigades in Caen.
You do realize that the 82nd and 101st fought in other campaigns besides Normandy, right? These silly comparisons are pointless, every serviceman who saw action,no matter where, went through his own individual hell. Very easy for you to say, from the safety of 80 yrs and behind a keyboard, that the Airborne faced poorly trained, ineffective enemy troops. Take a look at the casualties both units suffered.
@commanderbacara225