"The Pacific" Premiers Sunday March 14, and ia a sequel to "Band of Brothers," but told not as the experience of One Group's Experiemce, but through the eyes of three militarty men in the Pacific, totally unrelated. 

John Basilone, one of the three spotlighted, will shine, since his exploits and heroism, and modesty, are SO monumental. 
A series of  ONLY FOUR stamps  with the November 10, 2005 issuance "Distinguished Marines" by the U.S. Postal Service stamps honoring four Marine Corps heroes. These stamps honored Basilone, Daniel J. Daly, John A. Lejeune, and Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller.

Guadalcanal: Basilone's fellow Marines gave him the nickname "Manila John" due to his former service in the Philippines. On October 24, 1942 his unit engaged the Japanese in the Lunga area when their position came under attack by a regiment of approximately 3000  Japanese soldiers, who began a frontal attack using machine-guns, grenades and mortars against the American heavy machine-guns. 15 Americans fought for the next 48 hours until only Basilone and two other men from his squad were still able to continue fighting. Basilone moved an extra gun into position and maintained continual fire against the incoming Japanese forces. He repaired another machine-gun and personally manned it, holding his line until replacements arrived. With the continuous fighting, ammunition was becoming critically low and the supply lines cut off, Sgt. Basilone risked his life by fighting through hostile lines and returning with urgently needed ammunition for his gunners. By the end of the battle, the Japanese regiment was virtually annihilated. For his actions during this battle he received the United States military's highest award for bravery, the Medal of Honor. Afterwards Private First Class Nash W. Phillips, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, recalled: "Basilone had a machine gun on the go for three days and nights without sleep, rest or food".

Iwo Jima: Basilone  participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. On February 19, 1945 he was serving as a machine-gun section leader in action against Japanese forces on Red Beach II. During the battle, the Japanese concentrated their fire at the incoming American troops from heavily fortified blockhouses staged throughout the island. With his unit pinned down, Basilone made his way around the side of the Japanese positions until he was directly on top of the blockhouse. He then attacked with grenades and demolitions, single handedly destroying the entire hostile strong point and its defending garrison. He then fought his way over toward Airfield Number 1 and later aided a friendly tank which was trapped in an enemy mine field under intense mortar and artillery barrages. He guided the heavy vehicle over the hazardous terrain to safety, despite heavy weapons fire from the Japanese forces. As he moved along the edge of the airfield, an exploding mortar shell instantly killed him. For his actions during the battle of Iwo Jima he was posthumously approved for the Marine Corps' second highest decoration for bravery, the Navy Cross.

It was inevitable after the popular and critical success of their 2001 World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers," which told the story of the drive to conquer Hitler and Mussolini, that executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg would return to finish the job. “The Pacific,” which tells the story of the war against Japan, is here -- it begins Sunday on HBO -- and is its forerunner's equal in emotive strength, weird poetry and technical bravura; it is also, if memory of the first series serves, an even more brutal and unnerving experience, appropriate to a war fought in tropical extremes against an enemy for whom surrender was not an option.

I'll say now...and most might be predicted from the Spielberg oeuvre -- that it's a splendid production, absolutely worth watching in its 10-hour entirety. It is full of remarkable things, from the measured, modulated performances of its large cast of stars and supporting players -- universally excellent and life-sized, even when a speech or moment invites overplaying -- to the clamorous staging and brilliant editing of the battle scenes, so awash in chaos, so seemingly random in their progress, that it's difficult to work out how any of it was accomplished....

Based largely on two first-person accounts -- "Helmet for My Pillow" by Robert Leckie (played here by James Badge Dale) and "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge ( Joseph Mazzello), with Medal of Honor-winner John Basilone (Jon Seda) as the third dramatic anchor -- the series presents only a slice of the war, following the 1st Marine Division through battles on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Okinawa, Cape Gloucester and, briefly, Iwo Jima; for tonal variation and audience relief, there are also excursions to Melbourne, Australia, for R&R, and back to America, as Basilone is sent around the country selling war bonds.
The series begins with a stateside preamble, and ends with an episode set entirely after the war, as the survivors attempt to come back into the world.

...We are at war, and in war; the view is almost entirely that of enlisted men and noncommissioned officers, and extends no farther than they can see themselves. The rest of the world is nothing but a dream. (The dropping of the atomic bomb is presented as just another passing rumor.) Although we are given plenty of emotional information about our main characters, the series is less a narrative than a kind of tone poem, alternating moments of dark and light, quiet and loud, action and rest.

The limited point of view also means that, as in "Band of Brothers," the enemy is a remote, mostly dehumanized presence -- or a charging, immediate one that the complicit viewer is only too happy to see shot down, blown up or stabbed clean through. There is some attention paid to keep things on the near side of racism -- the Japanese soldier, Basilone tells a platoon of eager recruits, is not "a bucktooth cartoon dreamed up by some [expletive deleted] on Madison Avenue to sell soap," [They are tough as hell] and every so often we're allowed to feel their pain. Just so, there are scenes of American soldiers acting less than what we usually like to think of as human.

"Next war," says one character, "there's going to be two men missing, me and the MP they send after me." Because it is so graphically violent, it is by nature an antiwar movie, and not a "patriotic" one, even as it is intently pro-soldier, sailor and Marine.
..Here and there it edges near some old war-movie cliche -- the ironic death, the ravaged soul redeemed -- though it does not linger there long....

There is a sliver of romance that ineluctably works in between the original thing and its filmic portrayal -- indeed, the filmmakers have found room for love scenes, including a suggestion of "From Here to Eternity," and for sex scenes -- just as there are depths that even the best-equipped, best-funded band of movie people cannot plumb or re-create, only suggest.

As one character says of the Grand Canyon, in dialogue that seems calculated to reflect upon the enterprise at hand, "Pictures don't show it. You have to be there, looking down into it."

robert.lloyd@latimes.com
 

John Basilone
Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone (November 4, 1916 ? February 19, 1945) was a United States Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. He was the only enlisted Marine in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.

He served three years in the United States Army with duty in the Philippines before joining the Marine Corps. In 1940 he joined the Marine Corps and after attending training was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Solomon Islands and eventually to Guadalcanal where he held off 3,000 Japanese troops after his 15-member unit was reduced to two men. He was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of Iwo Jima, after which he was posthumously honored with the Navy Cross. Since his death and burial in Arlington National Cemetery he has received many honors including being the namesake for streets, military locations and a United States Navy destroyer.
Personal : Basilone was born on November 4, 1916 in Buffalo, New York, the sixth of ten children. His father, Salvatore Basilone emigrated from just outside Naples, Italy in 1903, when he was 19 and settled in Raritan, New Jersey. His mother Dora Bengivenga was born in 1889 and grew up in Raritan but her parents, Carlo and Catrina also came from Naples. His parents met at a church gathering and after dating for three years they got married and lived with Dora's parents while saving money to get their own place. He went to St. Bernard Parochial School in Raritan and after completing school when he was fifteen he dropped out prior to attending high school
He served three years in the United States Army with duty in the Philippines before joining the Marine Corps. In 1940 he joined the Marine Corps and after attending training was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Solomon Islands and eventually to Guadalcanal.

Military service: At 18 he worked as a golf caddy for the local country club before deciding to join the military. He enlisted in the United States Armyand completed his three-year enlistment in the Philippines, where he was a champion boxer. Upon returning home he worked as a truck driver in Reisterstown, Maryland. After driving trucks for a few months he wanted to go back to Manila and believed he could get there faster as a Marine than in the army. He enlisted into the Marines in July 1940 from Baltimore, Maryland and was sent to recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island followed by training at Marine Corps Base Quantico and New River (now known as Camp Lejeune). The Corps sent him to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for his next assignment and then to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands as a member of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
 
Basilone with his machinegun at GuadalcanalGuadalcanal: While on Guadalcanal his fellow Marines gave him the nickname "Manila John" due to his former service in the Philippines.[On October 24, 1942 his unit engaged the Japanese in the Lunga area when their position came under attack by a regiment of appoximately 3000 soldiers. The Japanese forces began a frontal attack using machine-guns, grenades and mortars against the American heavy machine-guns. The American forces fought for the next 48 hours until only Basilone and two other men from his squad were still able to continue fighting. Basilone moved an extra gun into position and maintained continual fire against the incoming Japanese forces. He repaired another machine-gun and personally manned it, holding his line until replacements arrived. With the continuous fighting, ammunition was becoming critically low and the supply lines cut off, Sgt. Basilone risked his life by fighting through hostile lines and returning with urgently needed ammunition for his gunners. By the end of the battle, the Japanese regiment was virtually annihilated. For his actions during this battle he received the United States military's highest award for bravery, the Medal of Honor.

Afterwards Private First Class Nash W. Phillips, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, recalled him from the battle for Guadalcanal: "Basilone had a machine gun on the go for three days and nights without sleep, rest or food". "He was in a good emplacement, and causing the Japs lots of trouble, not only firing his machine gun but also using his pistol."

War bond tour and marriage:  After receiving the Medal of Honor he returned to the United States and participated in a war bond tour. His arrival was highly anticipated and publicized in the media and when he returned to his hometown they had planned a homecoming parade in his honor. The parade occurred on Sunday, September 19, 1943 and drew a huge crowd with thousands of people, including politicians, celebrities, and the national press. The parade made national news in Life magazine and Fox Movietone News. After the parade he toured the country raising money for the war effort and achieved celebrity status. He appreciated the admiration but felt out of place and wanted to return to life as a Marine so he requested to go back to the war. The Marine Corps denied his request and he was told he was needed more on the home front. He was offered a commission, but he turned it down and later offered an assignment as an instructor but denied it as well. He requested again to return to the war and this time the request was approved. He left for Camp Pendleton, California for training on December 27, 1943. While stationed at Camp Pendleton he met his future wife Lena Mae Riggi, a Sergeant in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve. They were married at St. Mary's Church in Oceanside on July 10, 1944, with a reception at the Carlsbad Hotel. They honeymooned at her parents' onion farm in Portland.He requested a return to the fighting in the Pacific theatre
Iwo Jima:After his request to return to the fleet was approved he participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. On February 19, 1945 he was serving as a machine-gun section leader in action against Japanese forces on Red Beach II. During the battle, the Japanese concentrated their fire at the incoming American troops from heavily fortified blockhouses staged throughout the island. With his unit pinned down, Basilone made his way around the side of the Japanese positions until he was directly on top of the blockhouse. He then attacked with grenades and demolitions, single handedly destroying the entire hostile strong point and its defending garrison. He then fought his way over toward Airfield Number 1 and later aided a friendly tank which was trapped in an enemy mine field under intense mortar and artillery barrages. He guided the heavy vehicle over the hazardous terrain to safety, despite heavy weapons fire from the Japanese forces. As he moved along the edge of the airfield, an exploding mortar shell instantly killed him. For his actions during the battle of Iwo Jima he was posthumously approved for the Marine Corps' second highest decoration for bravery, the Navy Cross

Marine Corps buildings and landmarks; The Marine Corps has infrastructure named for him throughout the bases and stations they maintain. These include Basilone Road, an entry point into Camp Pendleton from Interstate 5; A section of U.S. Interstate 5 running through Camp Pendleton, California, is named the "Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone Memorial Highway"; and Basilone Drop Zone on Camp Pendleton.

Namesakes from outside the Marine Corps: In addition to the honors bestowed to him from the Marine Corps a wide variety of non military institutions have also chosen their name based on Basilones. Some of these include: The football field at 
Bridgewater-Raritan High School
 is called "Basilone Field", and on the wall of the fieldhouse next to the field is a mural honoring Basilone; the Knights of Columbus Council #13264 in his hometown is named in his honor;An overpass at the Somerville Circle in Somerville, New Jersey on U.S. Highway 202 and 206 that goes under it; The 
New Jersey Turnpike  bridge across the Raritan River is named the "Basilone Bridge"; The new Bridge that crosses the Raritan River in Raritan at First Avenue and Canal Street; A memorial statue featuring him holding a heavy machine gun is located at the intersections of Old York Road and Canal Street in Raritan, New Jersey. It was sculpted by a childhood friend, Phillip Orlando; A plaque at the United States Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.; a bust in Little Italy San Diego at Fir & India Streets. The war memorial is dedicated to residents of Little Italy who served in WWII & Korea. The area is called Piazza Basilone;Order Sons of Italy In America Lodge #2442 is named in honor of Sgt. John Basilone in Bohemia, New York. The Raritan Public Library has the Basilone Room where they keep memorabilia about him. Basilone's service to country and Corps was recognized with the November 10, 2005 issuance "Distinguished Marines" by the U.S. Postal Service stamps honoring four Marine Corps heroes. These stamps honored Basilone, Daniel J. Daly, John A. Lejeune, and Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. Since his death and burial in Arlington National Cemetery he has received many honors including being the namesake for streets, military locations and a United States Navy destroyer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Basilone
 
 
 

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