not being a history buff, but in terms of the usa, what about those that fought in the civil war??? they fought for freedom didnt they as well. are they any less heroes than those that fought in any other war that the usa has been in, whether against foreign enemies or themselves??
more to the point, the band of brothers series was made by speilberg and self confessed ww2 nut tom hanks, perhaps they kind of put a little bias in its direction, or highlighted specific events of that time to showcase what they had to offer as a generation.
isnt the renaissance period considered one of the greatest and most creative eras of mankind?? but i guess there isnt going to be a movie series highlighting all the great things that went on during this time.
as i said, im no history buff, and i havent seen the series either, but to say that the ww2 generation is the best generation is kind of skewed if one doesnt factor in all things being equal, ceteris paribus. perhaps you were biased after watching the series.....perhaps thats why mustang owners believe imports suck, or that turbo owners think they are better than na....or rotaries are better than.......

 

Still... the point is, there has never been a war since the World Wars that have demanded so much from the North American continent. Those wars changed this world forever, and I am hoping that we will never see any wars like them ever again.

Those men and women of the armed services laid down life and limb, family and brothers, sisters, kids, everyone and everything, so that we today can be sitting here typing on our keyboards and enjoying the cars we all drive, be it an S2000 or a yugo or a chevy.

They earned our freedom. They fought for it and they won it. And damn us all for trying to compare wars to other wars. We can all talk about it, watch it on TV and in the movie theaters, but there is no way, not one way, in which we can understand what it felt like to be on the sands of Egypt... to be there as France fell and the British retreated... or to be there on Omaha Beach.... I don't even dare try.

 

Just bought the B.O.B. DVD set and watched episode 1 and 2. Incredible I have respect for men who fought in any war. It takes courage, no matter when or what uniform you wear. These men were special. They came from a simpler time when the distinction between right and wrong was clear. One of the men interviewed stated several men in his hometown committed suicide because they were ineligible to join the ranks! That was a generation that cared

 

Band of Brothers is an awesome series. But if you want to stir your emotions even more, watch the commentaries of the men who were portrayed in the show. Truly patriotic.

 

B.O.B. was the bomb!!!

I've must have watched it atleast 20 times, on HBO, video taped it and even bought the DVD set...It's awesome !!

OK!

 

I've not seen the series, since I don't get HBO. However, I did read every one of Stephen Ambrose's books dealing w/ WWII, including, of course, BoB. So, I have no idea of how faithful the series was to his book. I've also read Brokaw's book.

I have to agree with the essence of both Brokaw's and Ambrose's books that the WWII generation was absolutely amazing. It was a total effort, supported whole heartedly by almost 100 % of the population, and made sacrifices mandatory for ALL classes of American society. Yes, of course some managed to get out of it, but the generalization is accurate.

That certainly was NOT the case during the Civil War. At least on the Union side (and I'd bet the southern side as well), the wealthy and powerful were able to avoid service by buying out of their duty. They could pay for a substitute victim to fulfull their military obligation. The poor, however, were dragooned into the fight. Kinda reminds me of Vietnam in that respect.

In any event, I'm convinced that the WWII generation is deserving of our unqualified respect. What they went through was above and beyond what any other generation ever did, mainly because of the total war aspects of it.