World War II Movies

ROVIN' AND RAVIN' WITH MIKE

Monuments and Movies for the Greatest Generation

I am completing this article on November 2^nd, All Souls Day, 1999, the day in the church calendar (as readers of this column should know) when we pause to remember those who have gone before. Veterans Day, observed next week on November 11^th, is another day for remembrance. Of course, the Vietnam War shaped the life and attitudes of my generation in so many ways. I’m taking advantage of this Veterans Day, however, to remember the war that shaped and was shaped by my parents' generation, World War II, with a look at a memorial that is yet to be constructed as well as films that have for half a century shaped our understanding of the history of our country during that war.

By Veterans Day 2000, it is hoped, construction will begin on a new memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Perhaps the most memorial-crowded spot in our country, the Mall does not yet have a memorial like this one. Over fifty years after the end of World War II, the National World War II Memorial, unlike most war memorials, will honor not only the veterans who fought in that war but also the citizens, the civilians, who participated on the home front. It will recall the combined efforts and idealism of the United States during that war.

It is fitting that President Clinton, as the first post-World-War-II president, dedicated the site on Veterans Day 1995, looking back, to pay tribute to those who went before. The effort to create such a memorial has been led by Ohio Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur for over a decade. The winning design by Friedrich St. Florian, former dean of the Rhode Island School of Design, was selected in a national competition as a "place to celebrate the American spirit that brought victory of democracy over tyranny."

The memorial will be funded primarily by private donations, beginning with a capital campaign goal of $100 million. Senator Bob Dole is chairman, and actor Tom Hanks has volunteered to help raise public support. You can get involved in building the World War II Memorial by making a donation, becoming a Charter Member of the World War II Memorial Society, and entering the names of veterans in the Registry of Remembrances. (You do not have to make a contribution to enter a name.)

Today, the 2^nd of November, is also the date of the release on video of Saving Private Ryan, a film which has renewed interest in the history and sacrifices of individual Americans in World War II, as has Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation. Steven Spielberg’s film continues a tradition. In so many ways, our impressions of World War II have been shaped by the movies.

From the beginning, World War II was Hollywood's war. Jimmy Stewart (Army-Air Force), Glenn Ford (Navy) and others volunteered and went into battle. Bette Davis organized the Hollywood Canteen (and starred in Delmer Daves’s 1944 film with that title), and recently naturalized Marlene Dietrich fought the Nazis with a saw. Hollywood made movies about the War… and has continued to do so, decade after decade. Here, in alphabetical order, are some of the better-known and not so well-known films about World War II, at least one from every decade since the 40’s, which I compiled from various sources, including the well-stocked mind of the not-so-old warrior, who serves as R&R’s consultant in matters military:

1940’s

Air Force, by Howard Hawks, 1943

Battleground, by William Wellman, 1949

Follow the Boys, by Lou Breslow, 1944

Guadalcanal Diary, by Lewis Seiler, 1943

Objective Burma, by Raoul Walsh, 1945

Sands of Iwo Jima, by Allan Dwan, 1948

The Story of G.I. Joe, by William Wellman, 1945

They Were Expendable, by John Ford, 1945

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, by Mervyn LeRoy, 1944

1950’s

Bridge on the River Kwai, by David Lean, 1957

Never So Few, by John Sturges, 1959

Sayonara, by Joshua Logan, 1957

A Time to Love and a Time to Die, by Douglas Sirk, 1958

To Hell and Back, by Jesse Hibbs, 1955

1960’s

Hell Is For Heroes, by Don Siegel, 1962

In Harm’s Way, by Otto Preminger, 1965

The Longest Day, by Ken Annakin, 1962

1970’s

Patton, by Franklin J. Schaffner, 1970

1980’s

The Big Red One, by Samuel Fuller, 1980

1990’s

Memphis Belle, by Michael Caton-Jones, 1990

Saving Private Ryan, by Steven Spielberg, 1998

The Thin Red Line, by Terrence Malick, 1998

Find more about these films at the

Internet Movie DataBase

From John Ford and Howard Hawks to Terrence Malick and Steven Spielberg, this very incomplete list includes works by many of the major American directors of the past half century. Without demeaning or diminishing the suffering and sacrifice of millions, World War II, with its great passions and its great sacrifices, was perhaps the moviest experience of the twentieth century. Even the most anarchic and critical of these films end with a sense of purpose, of idealism, or rightness--doing right, being right--that was, of course, Hollywood's image of things. America in World War II was not as unified and cohesive as the movies show.

But it was an extraordinary time when ordinary Americans were called upon to do extraordinary things, and they did. As we go about our daily lives, we could do much worse than keep our feet dry and in their footsteps, our hearts full of noble thoughts of their sacrifices and achievements, of the world that for better, for worse—but let's hope for better—they left us. Thanks to them all, for all they did, in military or civilian life, and thanks especially to my father Ed Segers, my uncle Ralph Jones, and my friend Lewis Leland.

I also want to give you a link to a lovely poem from 1946 by Henry Reed, but tonight, all the poetry resources on the Internet have apparently disappeared, so I have to resort to looking up the poem in a book and typing its final stanza for you here. This is from "Unarmed Combat," from Reed’s Lessons of the War, perhaps any war:

Things may be the same again; and we must fight

Not in the hope of winning but rather of keeping

Something alive: so that when we make our end,

It may be said that we tackled whatever we could,

That battle-fit we lived, and though defeated,

Not without glory fought.

Rovin' Through U.S. History