Wow. That chilled my bones. I so desperately need to see Band of Brothers, but I need to buy it so I can see the whole thing without having to try and record it off the History channel.
I was setting up a DVD recorder we acquired recently. I put it through its setup paces, and when it finished I flipped around to see that the channels had setup properly, etc.
Flipped to the History Channel, and BoB was just starting (though I didn't know just yet what it was). It was at the point just before the opening credits, where veterans were telling small stories - "We were just small town boys..." "We were attacked..." - and so on. But one fellow from a small town said something that just chilled my bones (as best as I can remember the quote):
"Three guys from my town committed suicide because they were 4F and couldn't join up"
Anyone who knows the exact quote, please drop it in the comments.
Posted by Ken S at September 29, 2007 01:49 PM | TrackBack (0) |The line is:
"We came from a small, small town, and three fellas in that town were, that were 4F committed suicide. Because they couldn't go. [pause] A different time."
The thing about "Band of Brothers" that absolutely gets you in the gut is that each episode begins with these little snippets of interviews with different guys. Just a sentence or two, mostly. But the thing is, none of these guys are ever identified by name. Until the end. The last ten minutes or so of the tenth episode is more of those interviews, and each of the men is named on-screen. Not at first, but only later. After you've watched these guys and gotten to know them as characters in a really long movie. And then this guy appears and you're like "Oh, I saw him a couple episodes ago," and then his name appears on the screen and you know exactly who he is, and I swear, if you can sit through that without bawling your eyes out, you're just not human any more.
Posted by: Jeff Harrell at September 29, 2007 06:23 PMThanks Jeff. I really need to see that.
Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at September 29, 2007 07:21 PMJeff is right. That episode where they introduce themselves gets me every time. My view experience was just like his.
My wonderful wife bought me the DVD series for Christmas a few years ago and they have gotten good use. I've loaned it to numerous people over the years and they all have the same experience.
I read the book years ago when it first came out, so I had a working knowledge of the storyline, but seeing the way they portrayed the guys. Amazing.
By the way, Dick Winters has his memoirs out now. Pretty good read.
Ken, I can FedEx the series to you if you like.