As most of you who follow this blog know, I have a love of history and have written many posts sharing my limited knowledge. Of course, being the amateur historian I am, I love books. It was the books I read as a child that awoke that love of history I have.
And as for the love of history, that also includes all the movies I’ve seen over the years. I so remember that as a young child, on our local TV station there were so many movies. Each day at 4:00 was The Big Show, usually a drama or comedy. On Saturdays there was a western movie; I’ve forgotten the title of that show. But then, on Sunday, was my most favorite of all, Battleground, showing one of those hundreds of movies that had been made during and after WW II.
Looking back on those movies now, I can’t help but realize that the historical accuracy of those movies were suspect. In that era, any movie always had to have romance and drama, created by factors that had nothing to do with the war. And when it came to the war, in no way could Hollywood show the true horror and terror of armed combat.
Then came the 1998 release of Saving Private Ryan, the most realistic war movie ever made up to that time. Though fictional, it was based on an actual event. And since then, there have been many true-life war movies and miniseries; Clint Eastwood’s movies Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, both concerning that horrible battle of Iwo Jima; a miniseries, Band of Brothers, the historically accurate story of the 101st Airborne Division’s 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, based on research and recorded interviews with Easy Company veterans; and another miniseries, The Pacific, focusing on the United States Marines Pacific actions in WW II, featuring the story of two Marines who later became authors, Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie, whose classic memoirs (both of which I’ve read) were an important basis of this series. Not so ironically, both of these series were produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who had also produced Saving Private Ryan .
Since my early years of viewing such movies, many more have been made. Unfortunately, many of them are full of the stale clichés that the earlier movies possessed. One such movie was the 1976 movie Midway, featuring an all-star international cast. A good, entertaining move with many of my favorite actors in it, but…definitely full of those stale clichés. But, much to my delight, a newer Midway was released in November of 2019 which totally aced the real story in a deeply historically accurate way.
At a truly fitting time, Memorial Day this past November, as a family we went to see the new version of Midway. It was truly fantastic and it prompted me to remember the great books I’d read years ago about this historical event. There was Miracle at Midway by Gordon Prange and Incredible Victory by Walter Lord. Having read both, I couldn’t help but remember Lord’s book for over the years he’s been one of my favorite historians. He wrote in such a “you-are-there” way, giving a minute-by-minute account of the event, putting you right in the middle of it.
Over the years I’ve read many of his books; A Time to Stand, about the heroic stand at the Alamo; A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the RMS Titanic; Day of Infamy, the attack on Pearl Harbor; Lonely Vigil, a saga of the coastwatchers of the Pacific War; and one of my all-time favorites, The Good Years, a fascinating chronicle of American events from 1900 to the First World War, most likely touching upon many events that are unknown to most Americans.
Nonetheless, Incredible Victory was a book that no longer inhabitated my library shelf so I put it on my Christmas “Wish List”; and, HO-HO-HO, Santa Lynndee came to visit – thanks Honey Anghel! And on reading this book again, I was reminded that there truly are miracles.
I loved Saving private Ryan and it sets the standard for war movies. I have got to see Midway I missed it when it was released.
I love history, so I need to pick up this book. I think it’s amazing what our soldiers went through to protect our country. My husband loves learning more about WW2 so I’ll tell him about this book as well.
‘Tis a fantastic book for one who has a love of WW II history. Other WW II books by this same author are “Day of Infamy”, about Pearl Harbor; “The Miracle of Dunkirk”; and “Lonely Vigil” a wonderful saga about the actions of brave men that have been almost totally ignored. All are available at Amazon.
I think I need to read this book! I am always looking for books that I can read while I travel and this sounds perfect!
Thanks for the info. As a parent, I remember taking my son on these ships when we were visiting coastal cities like San Diego. We learned so much from these tours!
Interesting to learn. Which ships are available to see? Here on the Atlantic coast there is a Naval museum at Patriot’s Point in Charleston, SC, where you can see the USS Yorktown, the USS Laffey, a destroyer that was hit by 5 Kamakazes and three 500 pound bombs at Okinawa and a submarine, the USS Clamagore. A fantastic historical visit!
One of my sisters served in the military and loves history as well, I’ll have to tell her about this book.
My dad is retired Army and his health now keeps him homebound much of the time. I think he would love this book. I look forward to sharing Incredible Victory with him.
I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. Thank him for me for his service.
I really enjoy learning about history. This sounds like a really amazing read to add to my collection.
I like this book so much. Same here, history has been super interesting since day one. Will definitely try to get this.
This book sounds interesting. I need to get back into reading more and stop making excuses and just get back into it.
I adore this post. For one it is about your own life story and two, I love learning history, movies, and the combo of them and books. All my faves!
Thanks, Terri, glad you enjoyed my efforts.
This book sounds great. I am needing to start a new book, I usually have a few read in the winter months.
I do enjoy learning about history, and historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine. This sounds like a great choice for my book bucket list! You’ve reminded me talking about movies, I want to see the movie 1917.
It sounds like a great book! My kids and I love history too! I really have to watch the movie!
I have yet to see the movie or read the book. I just haven’t had the time. But Midway was one that I wanted to see. I really do love the historical based war movies.