The Pacific Episode 7 'Peleliu Hills' REACTION!!

[@NikkiStevenReact]

The Pacific episode 7 full, watch-a-long REACTION: bit.ly/3XE4zBo We are up to season 4, episode 10 of The Last Kingdom on Patreon... watch the full watch-a-long REACTIONS here: bit.ly/3TE2bJ8 We have started Sons of Anarchy: watch the full watch-a-long REACTIONS here: bit.ly/3ZervbO If you want to keep up with us, the community, the schedule and everything we have going on, join our discord. It's fun and free: discord.com/invite/stikkerfam We stream LIVE on KZbin, give it a sub: kzbin.info

[@CharlieHepp]

thanks

[@hajdukMikboban]

Thanks a lot guys I enjoy the Reaktions with you very mucho 👍✌️🖖😂🤣 🙉🙊🙈 MIK

[@BlueDebut]

10:35 those weren't just the 1st Marines. They're the 7th Marine Regiment lead by Chesty Puller. The entire show except for a later episode is about the 1st Marine Division. Each man, Sledge, Leckie and Basilone are all from separate regiments. Leckie is 1st Marines Basilone is 7th Marines Sledge is 5th Marines.

[@lawrenceallen8096]

The boy from Jurassic Park did one hell of a job playing sledge, eh?

[@CharlieHepp]

@@BlueDebut hmm

[@twohorsesinamancostume7606]

In Sledge's book he talks about what that reaction to the women being on Pavuvu actually was. That dumbass shavetail thought he was ogling the women but in reality Sledge was utterly confused, after a month and a half of nothing but fear and death being around something good just did not compute. Good, kind things like a pretty lady handing you something nice to drink had been completely stripped out of his world. I went through the same thing after the Battle of Fallujah. It wasn't anywhere close to as brutal a fight as our guys went through in the Pacific but it still was a month and a half of the most intense urban combat the Marine Corps had seen since the Vietnam War. By the end I had forgotten that cooked meals and coffee even existed so imagine my utter shock when one of the female staff poured me a cup of coffee. It just didn't make sense. At least our officers weren't stupid enough to poke at us like that jackass shavetail did.

[@ScarriorIII]

Not only that, but he was ticked off they'd put women in front guys who haven't seen a woman in years. Moral outrage.

[@tristent8353]

Reading your comment I take it you served overseas in Iraq, so with that I wanted to take a moment to simply say thank you for your service.

[@rollomaughfling380]

This isn't a book club. *_Stop! With. The. Spoilers!_* And yes, I'm saying this for future reaction reaction videos that you're going to ruin for everyone. *Stop It.* What is wrong with your mind?

[@catherinelw9365]

Sledge thought those women had no more business being there than politicians would.

[@blazingangel5463]

@@rollomaughfling380 TF are you talking about?

[@stevedudeman]

The actor who played Gunny did a great job of going from super bad ass seasoned Marine to a frail old man during this battle.

[@donaldshotts4429]

The real guy was 46 I think? Old as hell for being in the front lines in a sauna with enemies that fight to the last man

[@SlCKB0Y-sb1kg]

@@stevedudeman Gary Sweet, an Australian actor.

[@daddynitro199]

I love that after Peleliu, Sledge is on the same beach as before he went into battle, focusing on the eagle, globe and anchor that Sidney Phillips gave him on that beach.

[@psauce9837]

Snafu was trying to protect Sledge from losing his humanity by discouraging him from taking the gold teeth

[@TopGunner1994]

Snafu was real person that Sledge mentions several times in his memoir. In this series though, Snafu represents the general behavior of several different marines Sledge encountered throughout the war. Example: Sledge was discouraged from collecting gold teeth by his squad’s medic.

[@notthestatusquo7683]

Yeah and the teeth collecting was by a guy they called "Souvenirs." Leckie talks about him in his memoir. He kept them in a sack he wore around his neck.

[@BlueDebut]

Yep when I read his book I noticed the same thing

[@genghisgalahad8465]

@@notthestatusquo7683 at least they won't read below and find out who wrote what when so they can experience the show like we all did not entirely knowing what's what. New people really need to experience the show without a hint of anything, like we experienced it.

[@shabut]

@@genghisgalahad8465 you did not experience anything. Please know that

[@genghisgalahad8465]

@@shabut watching it? Weird but okay.

[@stevem7192]

The incident with the bunker was directly from EB Sledge's book AND RV Burgin's book. Sledge nearly getting his head blown off, firing point blank at the guy with the sword, men running out with their pants around their ankles, every bit of it was exactly as it was described. The bit with the living Japanese soldier getting his teeth pried out was from the book as well, but it wasn't during that particular skirmish. Also in real life it was quite a bit less gentle. Marines would take gold teeth because the price of gold was such that two handfuls of gold teeth taken from dead Japanese soldiers would net you more than a month's pay if you sent them back home to be melted down. The reason the men inside the bunker were so hard to dislodge is because the inside of the pillbox had concrete partitions, like cubicle walls. Any small arms fire, grenades, or most anything else that was directed inside was effectively nullified. And many of those pillboxes were connected via tunnels, so a cleared box could become re-occupied without anyone knowing until it was too late. According to R.V. Burgin, there were 17 Japanese soldiers hiding inside that pillbox. And a few of them needed to be finished off after the grenades, gunfire, tank shelling, and flamethrower killed the majority.

[@rollomaughfling380]

*_Stop! With. The. Spoilers!_*

[@voiceofraisin3778]

You can add an additional. The Japanese weren't stupid, they knew the GI's would throw in grenades. Most bunkers had a pit in the centre, a grenade comes in, you kick it into the pit so its explosion is either contained or directed upwards. That leaves the men in the bunker possibly stunned and deaf but alive to keep shooting.

[@B0BBYSW0RLD]

@@rollomaughfling380 Spoilers?😂This show is from 2010, you're a little late

[@rollomaughfling380]

@@B0BBYSW0RLD Their reaction is from 2023, you dope.

[@walshmeister88803]

@@rollomaughfling380 Oh shut up. Nobody cares about your feelings. If they get spoiled, they get spoiled. Not our fault they read the comments. Stop gate keeping and leave, or just never speak again.

[@deiwi]

Notice F4U Corsair aircraft at 9:30 flying towards the hills with the landing gear down. The airfield was so close they just took off, dropped the ordnance, turned back and landed for rearming in quick succession. HBO got this little detail spot on. What an amazing show. Thanks for the reaction.

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

I'd hope they would for spending a quarter billion dollars on the series lol

[@johnwriter8234]

My dad was TBM Radio/gunner in this operation

[@kylewright7882]

This was the episode that just started to emotionally wreck me. Band of Brothers had some tough moments, but this series just never lets up.

[@TopGunner1994]

As one comment I read put it, “Band of Brothers will make you want to join the Army, but The Pacific will make you want to be a pacifist”.

[@nikolaypetrov9789]

@@TopGunner1994 I agree that The Pacific is more gruesome, but for me, Band of Brothers is anti-war too. I think if army will force people to watch this 2 shows before signing up, a lot of people will not sign.

[@michaelstach5744]

People found episode 7 “The Breaking Point” in BOB to be tough. The Pacific starts at that level and descends deeper into hell.

[@gravitypronepart2201]

@@nikolaypetrov9789 why would the Army do that when they need recriuts?

[@chaost4544]

The Pacific does an amazing job of showing why the Pacific Theater was just as brutal as the Eastern Front in WWII.

[@RLhole68]

Also to quote Sledge on the death of Ack Ack, loosing him "was like loosing a parent we depending on for security"

[@squint04]

The blanket scene with "Ack Ack" gets me every time!

[@paulhewes7333]

He was their Captain Winters.

[@saharafox8209]

Your co and XO are the parents of the company losing them hits hard

[@Rob-eo5ql]

Years later, even when they were grew old, the men in the unit said they never got over the death of Capt. Andrew Allison Haldane (Ack Ack). The Pacific was literally a meat grinder.

[@Faulcon11C]

When I first went into the Army as a Mortarman after 9/11, my grandfather (1st Marine Div vet) gave me a copy of Eugene Sledges book “with the old breed: on the islands of peleliu and Okinawa” which is what most of the “The Pacific” is based on. I didn’t read it until I was on my way home from my first deployment and it was almost comforting in a way. He was just a regular Marine Infantry Mortarman and he gave such a graphic, vivid, and terrifying account of the war in the pacific, nothing like which had ever been written. I’m so thankful that you and others are taking the time to react to these not just for the entertainment but so this current generation can at least empathize and learn what incredible sacrifices and difficulties American service men and women have gone through.

[@MeerkatADV]

And just think, they haven't gotten to Iwo Jima or Okinawa yet. (Okinawa was the deadliest battle of the Pacific Theater)

[@gray7433]

The opening narrated by Tom Hanks have been so impactful. The compartmentalization that each Marine had to do to go back to regular life is a terrible burden to put on anyone, but to have put it on young men is a tragedy. PTSD wasn't researched well for a long time, because the stigma around mental health is/was a personal failing. If only people had understood 78 years ago that trauma can/does happen to anyone and just being stoic and packing it away doesn't help, imagine how far we'd be now. Sledge as portrayed by The Pacific is truly traumatized by what he's seen and done-- hollowed out by it. It's just an incredible series to do that so effectively.

[@michaelstach5744]

Captain Andrew Haldane was a graduate from Bowdoin College in Maine. This is the college that Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain worked, both on the faculty and as college president. If you have seen Gettysburg you know who Chamberlain was. If you haven’t seen Gettysburg why are you sitting here? Get to it. Sledge dedicated With the Old Breed to “Ack Ack.” Early in the episode the CB asks for a Jap sword. Later we learn what you would have to go through to get one, at the bunker and in the cave. Harrowing. I’ll pass on collecting a sword. As k/3/5 gets closer to Japan, we see Eugene descending into hell. He is in greater and greater danger of losing his soul, the thing his father worried most about.

[@rollomaughfling380]

*_Stop! With. The. Spoilers!_*

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

There's so many other battles this series doesn't cover that the three main characters weren't in but the US was, such as Midway, Manila, and Saipan to list a few. The US had a strict policy to not take prisoners after Guadalcanal due to the Japanese faking surrender, so that no surrender is what we see here in this episode. The Japanese would often lay on the ground and play dead before they'd look for the opportunity to attack the nearest American soldier with whatever weapon they have.

[@jameswg13]

The book covered some of them

[@gravitypronepart2201]

There was no such policy. But there was very little oppertunity or desire to take prisoners. But some, a few were taken, as you will see.

[@Gunnar001]

That’s one of the reasons why we atom bombed them to submission. The Japanese were fanatical psychos. The casualties for an invasion of Japan were estimated to be in the *millions* on both sides.

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

@@Gunnar001 Absolutely. I'm sick of hearing "the bomb wasn't justified" from all these liberals. Japan got off easy in the end.

[@Gunnar001]

​@@lelouchvibritannia4028 I definitely see it as justified. The Japanese were never gonna surrender by conventional means and would've attempted to fight off any invader with everything they had. The battles for the small islands in the pacific were some of the most brutal and bloodiest in the war. And that was just a taste. Imagine invading an entire damn country of millions of fanatical Japanese fighting to the bitter end, soldier and civilian alike. An absolute clusterfuck meat grinder.

[@fritzworley6316]

Idk if you guys have noticed how different Leckies battles were from Sledges. Leckie fought in jungles and Sledge fought on corral atolls and barren islands. Same war but totally different kinds of combat and terrain.

[@philippatek3928]

Love the fact you guys have been watching this…. When I was on the set of Forged in Fire waiting for filming,, I read “with the old breed” (Sledges book he wrote after the war)…. So good!

[@rollomaughfling380]

*_Stop! With. The. Spoilers!_*

[@corbinhbucknerjr558]

The tragic part is, by the time Peleliu was taken, the war in the Pacific had basically bypassed that area, so once the island was taken, it served no part in the remainder if the war. It was essentially abandoned and forgotten.

[@stevenhenry9605]

"They murdered sleep" is a paraphrase of a quote from Shakespeare's "Macbeth." It's iconic.

[@dylanstudley8445]

Not sure if you guys caught this our not. When Sledge is seeing the 1st Marine Divison coming out of combat, the guy on the stretcher he checks on is Chuckler. Chuckler was the one who gave Lecky his nickname Lucky after episode one when they "chewed em up" as Chuckler said.

[@maximilianodelrio]

They're all part of the 1st division, the 1st marines they saw coming out are a regiment of the division, sledge was in the 5th marines and basilone on the 7th marines

[@jeremyfagner6808]

I loved the way Snafu looked after Sledge throughout the series.

[@JnEricsonx]

And hey, they both wound up in Queen!

[@jandrewhearne]

My grandfather was in the 81st Infantry Division, which relieved the 1st Marine Division on Peleliu. They had to mop up in those hills. He never talked about it, but after he passed away, my dad found Japanese letters and a small Japanese flag in the attic.

[@ciaranconlon84]

The bunker was cleared, but the Japanese could use a network of tunnels to reoccupy "cleared" positions and do serious damage attacking unsuspecting Americans from behind. Sledge saved the lives of every man around him by hearing them.

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

The loss of Ack-Ack gives some meaningful contrasts with Band of Brothers, and how much less hopeful the Pacific war was than the European theater. It would be like losing Winters. The enemy was so insane that combat troops just generally assumed they were all going to die before Japan could be defeated, and their experiences seemed to confirm that idea. The deus ex machina that ultimately brought victory was very strange in history.

[@juanitajones6900]

The enemy was no more insane than the Allied troops. They simply had a different belief system. That's all. And the Americans could be just as ruthless in their own ways. They had already proved this in previous wars.

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

@@juanitajones6900 I'd say it's pretty definitively insane to believe that dying in battle is what's supposed to happen rather than a bad outcome. And don't play the "both sides" card: The atrocities of the Empire of Japan were systematic and beyond comprehension.

[@catherinelw9365]

@@juanitajones6900 Which previous wars? Give examples. You clearly know nothing of what the Japanese did to Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos and other Asians they brutalized.

[@TheRadScientist_]

My family is from Peleliu, my grandmother lived there during WWII and witnessed her own mother burn alive from a napalm strike at the age of 12. Its just so sad how our nation of Palau was forced into a war we had no part of all because of our “strategical location”.

[@MrYoung86]

After watching The Pacifc I read the book from the real Sledge. Its truly crazy to read what these guys went through, I cannot imagine what it must have been like.

[@jameswg13]

Did you read the book version of the Pacific as well

[@ClaudioTheCrowing109]

His and Leckie's book are both must reads

[@Curtis006]

@@jameswg13 Is the book version for The Pacific good? I saw it at a thrift shop recently, maybe I should've picked it up. It said it was the companion piece for the show. Should've grabbed it.

[@jameswg13]

@Curtis006 its a good read on its own. It includes some of the same stories in more detail but also includes stories they couldn't include in the show for a variety of reasons and also didn't include Leckies story in the book as such.

[@Nokdu.]

Those burning Japanese soldiers from the bunker were saying "Mother, Mother" and "God, Help me please"

[@RLhole68]

If you notice on the lighter Gunny gives Sledge it had the 1St. Marine Division patch, as they are part of the Division, their unit is company K 3rd Battalion 5th Regiment of the 1st Division. K/3/5 landed with 235 men and officers and left with 65 "fit for duty" Gunny retired if memory serves from reading Sledge's book after Peleliu. Col. Chesty Puller commanded the 1st regiment of the 1st division on Peleliu and they took 70% casualties and what is shown is them coming off the line to leave the island for Pavuvu to recover and get replacements.

[@cantgetriight]

As far as taking souvenirs, it was kind of common in American culture back in those times to take teeth and body parts from the dead as heirlooms. When you look at lynchings in the South, people used to take teeth, skulls, etc. from the victims and photographers made post cards of the mutilated bodies and sold them in shops. America was wayyy different back then.

[@voiceofraisin3778]

I think it was Rod Steiger, the actor famous for In the heat of the night and other 60s and 70s classics who was US navy and in an interview mentioned that after a Kamikaze hit his ship one of the crew recovered the pilots femur and carved it into a flute. War makes stressed people do wierd things. Theres also the famous case of a jeep driver who had decided to decorate the front of his ride with a rack of skulls. Pacific heat and wildlife could strip a body in days so skulls were easy to come by and this driver obviously thought he was being the 40s version of an edgelord. He got pulled up by an officer who pointed out that nobody had a clue who the bones were so he could be riding round with a fellow GIs skull on his car so stop it. Or else!

[@jackson857]

The behind the scenes DVD of Peleliu which was included in my box set of the The pacific is just incredible.

[@prettymuchbangtan]

hey guys! when you finish the pacific please react to GENERATION KILL, its the last of the hbo war series so far and its excellent

[@lawrenceallen8096]

The boy from Jurassic Park did one hell of a job playing sledge, eh?

[@JnEricsonx]

Hell, he's teamed up with future Freddy Mercury!

[@lawrenceallen8096]

@@JnEricsonx Rami will always be SNAFU.

[@RLhole68]

I have watched and own both of these mini-series and of the two The Pacific hits much harder to me as the war these men faced was so much different then the one that was in Europe, the combat is the same two men trying to kill each other but the difference is that a German faced with death or surrender more often than not would give up the Japanese soldier would die and take as many Americans with him as he could if given the chance. As Leckie said "they murdered sleep" coming around the clock, the few that would defend during the day while those that worked at night rested in the caves

[@juanitajones6900]

Did anyone notice a wounded Chuckler being carried away, while Chesty Puller and the 1st Marines were leaving the hills? That means Leckie and three of his closest friends were all wounded at Peleilu. Also, Peleliu is the only WW2 battle site in the Pacific that I know have war memorials for both the American and Japanese forces.

[@corbinhbucknerjr558]

Iwo Jima has them, two are side by side on the top of Mount Suribachi. The Marine monument is a simple painted concrete one, the Japanese monument is a few feet away, three times its size and made of granite. There are other monuments from both sides scattered around the island. Granted, there are no more Marines buried there, except of course the missing. But almost the entire Japanese garrison of 21,000 troops are still on the island. I got to Iwo twice when I was in the Air Force in the early 90's, flying supplies and mail to the Coast Guard attachment that used to be there.

[@r.b.ratieta6111]

Sidenote, the reason they focus largely on Eugene is because these experiences are based on his memoirs called "With The Old Breed." Eugene actually broke a security rule because the Marines weren't allowed to keep journals or write things on paper while on the island. But Eugene worked his way around this by writing things on scraps of paper he found and keeping them in his pocket Bible. He didn't write them in journal format, just made small notes about what he remembered most. He brought all those notes home and kept them in a private place for decades. His wife pitched the idea that perhaps writing a book about them would help him deal with his nightmares. Eugene wrote the first draft but never intended to publish it; instead he made a few xeroxed copies and shared them with his kids and family. His kids then strongly pushed for him to publish the book, as they contained a very unique firsthand account of historical events that had never been documented. Eugene eventually relented and the book became a bestseller. When General "Mad Dog" Mattis took command of the Marine Corps, he created the Commandant's Reading List, which creates a list of books Marines are required to read while serving at a certain rank. Eugene's "With The Old Breed" is one of the first required books for young privates who make it through Boot Camp. Basically General Mattis' way of saying, "Here's what warfare is all about, and your potential role as a Marine."

[@scalisque5403]

They changed the scene where the guy is talking a dump in the cave from the book and I get why. In the book he runs up hill where there is a B.A.R gunner standing. He runs behind him and the Japanese gets close but the gunner unloads from the hip and cuts him in half. The guy who was taking a crap scared of course shouts “why didn’t you shoot him earlier!?” And the BAR gunner smiles and says “I wanted to see if I could cut him in half.”

[@jando426]

Love this episode. One of my favorite along with Okinawa.

[@george217]

The Japanese military had a saying. "Duty is heavier than a mountain; death is lighter than a feather". They rarely surrendered. Some Japanese soldiers didn't surrender until as late as 1977...

[@ferallion3546]

One of the things that struck me as the huge gap between civilian and combat veteran is when the lodge member said “winner” of the MOH. You never say winner or won, it’s always recipient or received. Medal recipients will always tell you that no one is seeking to purposely get a medal. The Pacific Theater of Operations was a very different war compared to the European Theater of Operations. It’s something that is extraordinary about WWII. Really glad to see you guys reacting to these series. Make sure to listen to some funny jokes and laugh. Sometimes learning about can dive into places that open our eyes and it’s not always pleasant. Take care 😁

[@rollomaughfling380]

That was the point of the dialogue in the scene. The cluelessness.

[@ferallion3546]

@@rollomaughfling380 Ya. It's really striking. I'll be fair to the civilian populous. Less than one percent serve and only a fraction of active duty is combat so it's just not on people's radar. I had to learn to be patient after I got out. I had one time when a coworker (really sweet girl) was pretty excited about her day and when she found out I was a Navy vet, she asked me if I'd ever killed anyone. I was polite and said fortunately no but that was the first time I started thinking about how to engage questions like that. Then there are the clueless ones like you mentioned and you really want to roll your eyes. Plus toss them into a pool lol

[@justinpeck6015]

Thats crazy. Fighting 30 straight days, day and night, pretty much none stop.

[@bustedupgrunt1177]

The Gunny, the old breed, .... passing the torch on to Eugene, a good Marine.

[@really_dont_know1681]

You guys talked about how you didn’t like how they were looting the dead Japanese and mutilating them and I agree it’s not right but this was a war of pure hatred. The marines and the Japanese absolutely hated each other because of how hard the other fought and because of the propaganda they had been fed before the war. Both sides really stopped seeing each other as human and instead as savages that needed to be wiped out. When so many of your men have been cut down and especially when marines stumbled on the bodies of their brothers who had been tortured and executed by the Japanese it would cause them to do the same back. Just awful what these men went through.

[@maxbrazil3712]

The real tragedy was the fact Peleliu could have been bypassed and didn't need to be taken, but it was a point of ego with General McArthur.

[@walshmeister88803]

It was a very dark and brutal war that was experienced by the greatest generation of our time that had gone to hell and back. It is sad now that these veterans of that time are now all gone. As an old saying goes, 'War never changes'. Well despite all the advancements in military tech, war will always never change how brutal it can get.

[@trev9168]

Sledges thousand yard stare when they were burning the bunker is horrifying

[@germanicthunder3533]

In keeping with the whole war theme, I agree with the other commentors that you should check out Generation Kill, as far as HBO goes. But in regards to the Spielberg/Hanks-produced WWII series, they're preparing a third such miniseries for AppleTV called Masters of the Air that I think you should keep your ears open for. But in terms of WWII movies; for the Pacific Theater, I think you should check out the Clint Eastwood double feature: Flags of our Fathers, and Letters From Iwo Jima; movies based on the titular battle told from both sides of the conflict. And for the European Theater, especially the Eastern Front, I strongly recommend two Russian films you can fortunately find here on KZbin in full: 'The Cranes Are Flying,' by Mikhail Kalatazov, 'Come and See,' by Elem Klimov, and a relatively recent Russian miniseries you can find here as well, called 'The Dawns Here Are Quiet'. You both have the emotional and mental maturity to know how not black-and-white war can really be, so I feel you would be able to truly appreciate commemorating these war stories from the perspectives of a people we may not often see eye to eye with, but need to remember are just as human as us, facing against a common enemy and dealing with very understandable human hardships. You two are amazing.

[@AndrewAHynd]

Rumours are Masters of the Air will be out in the next 6-8 months or so.

[@Anthony-kw4en]

Poor Basiline having to smile while around Freemasons (the Shriners) that wanted the war in the first place.

[@markfoor4137]

Remember what George S. Patton said...."The duty of a good soldier is not to die for his country but to see to it that the other son-of-a-bitch dies for his!"

[@boosuedon]

These battles form the legacy of the Marine Corps. The reputation as the best fighting force in the world. Semper Fidelis, always faithful, never give up, never quit, adapt and overcome. I was in the Marine Corps in 1969 and their legacy weighed heavy on us every day. It still does!

[@righdowncharlie]

The scene with Sledge and the Army guy at the end is priceless. He’s got this “you don’t get to tell me what to do after what I’ve been through!” look on his face.

[@catherinelw9365]

That was a Marine lieutenant, not Army. They nicknamed him "Lt. Butterbars".

[@fd009597]

The worked EMS and often Dispatched to a Veterans Home in our Area ... the most Honorable Men and Women we would even get to spend time eating lunch on our downtime with Vets From WWII, Korea , Vietnam many stories being told but you could tell some ...just couldn't and wouldn't share stories...if you have a Veterans Home go visit donate incidentals items and visit a listen to them

[@dmayres]

That scene on the bunker really set the tone for the rest of the series, really horrifying, unimaginable

[@chaost4544]

Seeing Gunny break down always gets me damn emotional.

[@Tommy1977777]

The Pacific: a place that sucked so hard even good memories result in sadness.

[@Plastikdoom]

I can speak. For at least 05 USMC when I joined. We are still taught you don’t get out of your fighting position at night, even with NVG’s and thermals, for the same reason, also. Because we are taught you shoot anything that isn’t you. If shit goes does down, that is in one of your positions. We are still. Taught the basics of we learned as nation before WWI, during that. And after, even now, we’ll over a century later

[@chaost4544]

The cave systems weren't just on Peleliu but on many islands as well. The Eastern Front and The Pacific Campaign in WWII adds a whole new definition to what brutality is.

[@happyjohn354]

Back in the day they used to take skulls as a souvenir they would paint them carve them engrave them you name it.

[@GK-yi4xv]

Someone mailed a skull back to his girlfriend in the U.S., and she was pictured with it on the cover of Life magazine. It was considered something to celebrate - 'the only good Jap is a dead Jap'. Someone sent Eleanor Roosevelt a letter-opener made from a bone taken from a dead Japanese soldier. A photo with it on her desk went public, and I believe she returned it to the sender. Things like this were actually seized on by Japanese propaganda to help convince the Japanese people that surrender would be a fate worse than death. In its own small way, it contributed to their 'fight to the death' fanaticism.

[@saharafox8209]

The best part of the episode is snafu after the bunker it really captures the frustration anger emotional trauma sadness and guilt while he's telling them to just die

[@antonego9581]

Yep, Rami Malek is so unbelievably good in this

[@TheApilas]

It's in this episode this series turns dark and sad

[@Tommy1977777]

I took a tour of a similar cave structure on Okinawa. The things left from the war is staggering. There were blood stains and grenade explosion shrapnel in/on the walls from Japanese officer committing suicide by holding a grenade to their heads.

[@Sharpyste]

Having knowledge of the pacific war before this isnt even the worst yet , next episodes really ramp that up

[@JnEricsonx]

17:43-My grandfather brought back a Nambu pistol from the Pacific. He brought it back from the guy who tried to kill him with it. First gun I ever held in my hands, as a kid. 110% safe, ammo wasnt on this side of the planet in 40 years.

[@JimFinley11]

When the Japanese fortified islands, they not only turned caves into bunkers, they connected them with networks of tunnels. Even when a cave was supposedly cleaned out, the Marines were likely to find someone shooting at them from that same cave, now behind them.

[@liftme225]

As brutal as digging for gold is most of these kids grew up during the depression with nothing but the rags they had on their backs. I think is was not as common as the movie depicts. Just showing another element to horror of combat .If you enjoy books i suggest reading many excellent books written by the veterans of this nightmare. Snafu was absolutely looking out for Sledgehammer when discouraging Eugene from digging for gold.

[@cbro6014]

When’s the next episode?

[@Cherokeelion]

You get through not for yourself but for the brother on your left and the brother on your right.

[@rg20322]

If you want a real challenge to watch in multiple videos, I suggest Montemayor and Midway from a Japanese perspective. He also has the same from the US perspective. These videos are such quality and map exactly what took place during the battle of Midway from both points of view.

[@steveg5933]

My granddad was a Navy SeaBee (Construction Battalion) and fought along side the Marines at Peleliu Regarding Eugene and his dad their relationship and message that father tried to impart to his son is not all that different than Thomas Doss and Desmond conversations. Granted the senior Doss took comfort (or tried to) in the bottle.

[@tome2294]

I would recommend you watch the Ken Burns documentary called "The War". Eugene Sledge and his friend from Mobile AL are featured in the documentary. I doubt you can do a reaction to it, but watch for your own enjoyment and education. It has a great deal of actual footage and cover the war in Europe and the Pacific.

[@tonym362]

My father didn't talk much about his time in the war. Until I enlisted & came back from Nam. Only then could I attempt to understand. One thing he did say, the stench from rotting, decaying bodies is a smell you never forget. He was right.

[@Rhyfelwr03]

The killing of the Marine with the E-Tool was purely by accident. The morphine wasn't taking effect and they tried to knock him out, unfortunately it was a fatal strike.

[@AuroraIsBeautiful]

I can never successfully get through the Ack Ack death scene without crying.

[@johnwriter8234]

"Oh Captain, My Captain. "

[@Tommy1977777]

There are very few civilians who can understand that level of exhaustion. The longest I ever went without sleep was 4 days.

[@JnEricsonx]

2 and a half. Just a bad case of insomnia.

[@kiamkuczynski6786]

You 2 do the best reactions, you show the best parts

[@Brian-nt6lv]

With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge was the only book I've ever read while eating that put me off my appetite. His straightforward description of everything he saw is disturbing and well written. My college US history professor used it as the one required personal account of Americans' WWII experience for that class, and for good reason. The show's depiction of Peleliu is very close to what he writes.

[@TheRagratus]

@9:45- "look it's Col. Puller". THE Marine. Every Marine knows Chesty Puller- 5 Navy Crosses. He and John Basilone are the 2 Marines every Marine aspires to be. I'm Army and even I know this.

[@matthewmcmahon1541]

Lol, I've crapped my pants in a combat zone before. Dysentery was going around. Horrible when it happened, but i look back on it and laugh now.

[@VonRichtburg]

If you have the opportunity, have a look at "The Thin Red Line". In term of visuals, atmosphere, ambience, message, etc... it is very very good. It is not gruesome, it is not violent and gory à-la "Hacksaw Ridge" or "Saving Private Ryan"; but there is a different kind of intensity.

[@joshuaewalt486]

The place the mind goes in the situations these men were in is complete savage. Kill or be killed. Feelings ( robbing dead bodies, resting in uncomfortable conditions, ect.) Go the wayside, survival mentality , training and experience from past engagements takes over. These are some of the experiences that make the veteran bond so strong. Civilian population cannot relate, it's physically not possible.. but that's completely understandable and ok.

[@dumpsterdawg]

I will always leave a like but I rarely comment on these videos cause as Steven says "It's hard to have words after these episodes"

[@44264]

Pacific marines had a much worse life than the band of brothers because of a simple fact. They fought much earlier than the army. The stress compounded over time was so much more intense, against an adversary that wouldn’t even contemplate surrendering.

[@jensena04]

You guys need to watch Violent Knight,it came out today in Peacock.

[@groningen73]

'With the Old Breed' from Eugene Sledge really is a must read. If you think the depiction in this series is hell, wait to you read his book.

[@TheVampyr]

20:32 Japanese would use night infiltration tactics against the Americans in the Pacific. They would play dead where one of their comrades fell, and wait until night to strike. The American Soldiers and Marines in the Pacific would learn a hair trigger alertness that would never be unlearned. Remember, on Peleliu, the Japanese had a cave and tunnel complex that shielded most of them at day from American attacks, and would emerge at night. Sledge talked about this in a documentary in the 90s before he died.

[@Mwfrizzellandsons]

I’m hooked on this entire story. Reading their books. Sledgehammer’s book is excellent.

[@GHOST6472]

Hey guys! When is next episode coming? I thought it was suppose to come last Friday?

[@NikkiStevenReact]

We had an issue last week that interfered with the schedule. If you’re on discord, we post schedules and updates every week there.

[@guscarlson7021]

Eugene wrote about the beach assault on Peleliu in his book "With the Old Breed..." He noted that the Japanese had mined he beach with 500 lb bombs to blow up the landing craft. Eugene tumbled over the side of his craft onto the sand just a few inches from a detonation plate. At that instant, he writes, he looked down the beach and saw a marine step on one. He was instantly vaporized. Imagine this is your first impression of combat. The gates of Hell flung wide open. Watching you two watch this was harder than watching it by myself. Thank you for doing this, I know it hurts.

[@24fryguy]

You think they stopped posting “The Pacific”, because it wasn’t getting enough views? Or do they just like the U.S. Army more?

[@GHOST6472]

They definitely ain’t showing it as much love as the others lol it use to be Pacific and then Last Kingdom and they took it in turns. But we have had like 2 Last of Us plus 2 Last Kingdoms since the Pacific, which is a shame as this is the series I’m waiting for lol I think it’s due to the amount of views but I may be wrong, still love all their videos! Edit - They had an issue which effected the schedule I have been told that’s why

[@jonathanrichwine1996]

“That’s 1st Marine Division those are the guys everyone looks up to.” Actually they’re all part of the 1stMarDiv. Sledge is part of 1stMarDiv. When they say 1st Marines they mean 1st Marine Regiment. Sledge was with the 5th Marines which is part of 1stMarDiv

[@SilentXtract]

My great grandfather was a Marine at Belleau Woods he was a Navy Cross recipient in that battle and continued to serve in the Corps till 38 as a enlisted man when he ended up killing a man in self defense he was relieved of duty due to the shooting that took place but was allowed into the army air corps where he was placed as a evasion instructor for downed pilots at hickams field in Pearl Harbor he fought that Sunday morning as my grandmother who was only 14 at the time hid in a bunker. After Pearl Harbor he got back into the Marine Corps infantry as a enlisted man again and became a platoon sergeant on the Canal when a man named Robert O’Toole entered his platoon my great grandfather was in charge of my dads dad for the remainder of the war they fought in every battle the 1st MarDiv fought in together. After coming home my great grandfather introduced my grandpa to my grandma they ended up getting married and had my dad uncles and aunt. I never spoke to my great grandpa he died at the age of 97 a year before I was born in 1998. What I did hear were the stories of my grandpa and how much he admired his platoon sergeant and father in law and my grandpa believed that telling us about the war would make us not want to enlist ourselves he tried it with my uncles but they went to Nam anyways as volunteers. The things he said were sobering to the soul the fierceness of the Japanese oh so true. Brutality was the norm. Everything Eugene saw my grandfather and great grandfather saw just on a separate part of bloody nose ridge that K co endured. I admire each and everyone of them.

[@catherinelw9365]

Hard to read, need punctuation and paragraphs!

[@SilentXtract]

@@catherinelw9365 sorry it’s KZbin no one cares for that stuff

[@stevestoll3124]

I've owned captured military equipment from the second world war and there is an odd energy that comes with it. It's hard to explain the feeling.

[@guincofrag1847]

Gold teeth, flags and weapons as souvenirs were very common, in fact more than that, some even kept the skulls and send them home or have them as desk holders, obviously after a proper clean and boil. The human remains as souvenirs were mostly a Pacific thing and it was allowed, they hated and feared so much the japanese for their Bushido code of never surrendering, plus the japanese would often torture and mutilate american POW's. It was a very nasty war.

[@Smuffleri]

I hope you guys will react to Generation Kill after The Pacific! Another great HBO war show.

[@TEXASUSA45]

The Japanese used to sneak past the American lines in the middle of the night to reoccupy pillboxes and other fortifications they could find and wreak havoc on the Americans. Sometimes Marines had to clear the same bunker more than once.

[@genghisgalahad8465]

Peleliu Hills. Bunker. Ack Ack. Vets speaking, could watch them all day.

[@antonego9581]

the combat scenes in this series is unlike anything else. even saving private ryan doesnt compare. its utter insanity and horror

[@35906]

So,.. I was in Iraq. I am a US Marine. My unit was the first into most cities, from the crossing of the LOD to the final city we took. While the other side still had a standing army. We faced Sadam's Republican guard so many times,... I have never seen a movie or video that better depicts what I had to go through, then this series. Yes, I know they were different wars, but things like getting your hand stuck through a dead body, close quarters combat. I had found out once that only 1% of Americans were veterans (now it's less than that, and only 1% of Veterans are combat veterans, meaning they were deployed in a combat zone, receiving hazard pay and or combat pay. Only 1% of those men actually saw real combat. Now I understand why almost no one on earth understands me. Now I have no one, no friends, no family, I am all alone. Watching you guys react to this really helps me, it makes me feel like someone understands what I went through, it's like watching someone react to my memories. Thank you for watching these.

[@35906]

I want a hug 😞

[@35906]

@23:05 you talk about how real the visuals are. I'd say they are at about 5% of reality, and if they were even 50% realistic, no one would watch it, everyone would just puke.

[@35906]

@24:50 I have that zippo. I was first mar div in the Marines too 😛 just a different war.

[@jameswg13]

Due to the size of the Pacific and also some of the horrors that happened they split some of the stories between the show and the book with some crossover