Our Grandfathers in Wwii

Our Grandfathers in WWII

One of my favorite movies is Band of Brothers, I really like it because it shows all the aspects of World War II. Band of Brothers is a story about the United States Airborne Division 101 and their missions through World War II. It starts out with their first mission of Operation Overlord(D-Day) and goes until V-E day, otherwise known as Victory in Europe Day. The movie also shows all the conflicts and struggles the soldiers faced during the World War II. My connection to this movie is that my grandpa served during World War II. But before my grandfather died I never got to talk to him about his past or about the war. He died while I was young, so I never thought how important that war was to us or how he and so many others gave their lives for us. The movie shows how the United States troops lived and how they went through the cold and winters. The movie opened my eyes and showed me a lot more about the world.

During past history classes, teachers only taught us important dates and what happened on this day or that day. But they never taught us how the United States soldiers lived or how they struggled. First off the soldiers went through a few winters deep inside Europe and lived with very little or no resources at all. Once the United States soldiers went far enough into Europe it took weeks for supplies to fill them back up. They couldn’t have airplanes fly and land because there were no airports most of the time the soldiers were in the thick forest. The only way they got supplies were from a medical camps set up a few miles back and get supplies from there. The soldiers never had showers, maybe every once in a couple months. The movie shows how bad winters were and when they were in the forest and were getting bombed. The movie shows that some guys lost boots, and they were shoe less or sock less. The movie also shows in one scene that the allied soldiers had to try and dry their socks out because if they had wet socks on consistently they would get trench foot. Or if they didn't have boots or proper clothing many soldiers got frost bitten or hypothermia. Also, some soldiers had problems back at home. For example, one of the men got a letter from his wife saying that she couldn't wait for him and that she is moving out and wanted a divorce. After he found out his morale dropped very low and was severely depressed. And this small amount of depression was very bad because it could decrease morale in the camp rapidly. Soldiers with low moral can barely and would be useless practically. As you can see the troops went through many hardships during the war.

The movie, which is about fourteen hours or so, covers all aspects of the war, from the harsh winters to the terrible diseases that the men contracted. Many other movies created about wars do not show the harshness of the conditions the soldiers suffered under. Many movies show one aspect or one small detail to the battles but I believe Band of Brothers show almost all hardships that the soldiers went through. The movie uses details from the veterans that they spent a lot of time interviewing. They showed these interviews, before and after each scene of the movie. I am really into war-type movies, World War II, and present day wars. But out of all the movies I've seen, Band of Brothers shows and describes life and the