Dave Homewood wrote:
Jiggersfromsphilly wrote:
Bill Guarnere E 506th 1010st AB, landed in the SW corner of the square about 15 minutes before the 505th, 82nd heavy weapons platoon of the 505th jumped into it.
By then they were slaughtered by the alerted troops.
That is very interesting. I never had thought about it before but in the TV series Band of Brothers we the viewers never saw where any of the other main characters landed on the D Day jump, just Dick Winters. As Winters met up with Bill Guarnere soon afterwards I assume he too was not far from the village. As someone who knew nothing about the US paratroopers before seeing the series I always like to learn more about those guys who were portrayed in that extraordinary series.
As for The Longest Day, I like the film, but I do find a few things off-putting. I don't like the fact that they decided to make it in black and white, I think that's a shame. And I agree with others and have always thought that the stacking of the cast with big name Hollywood stars and pop singers of the day detract from it somewhat.
I really don't like John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, their performances are so wooden and lacking in reality and conviction. I can never fathom why they became such big stars and the American audiences seem to adore them, they are very poor actors. Mind you the same goes these days with the likes of Nicholas Cage.
There are some great scenes in this film though. The attack on Pegasus Bridge was great. And the large sweeping scene of the troops attacking Ouistreham was great.
By the way it was Richard Todd who played Major John Howard. Todd was himself a paratrooper on D Day too.
After having done the Band of Brothers tour, with two different guides, I found it quite amazing to see what Hollywood had done to the story. Yes, there were people there named Winters, Hefron, Guarnere, Nixon, Compton, etc. They even actually did a lot of the stuff portrayed in the series. They did not, in many instances, do it in the way it was portrayed in the series. Some of the stuff, in the series, wasn't even close to the actual actions of the group portraying it. But, like they say, "Never let facts get in the way of a good story."
If you want to get a real feel for what actually happened, read both of Winter's books and Guarnere and Hefron's books. There are a couple of others but the authors and titles escape me at the moment. Maybe "Jiggers" could enlighten us.
By the way...Dave...Don't be sitting down there bad mouthing an American Icon like the "Duke". I have people there and they know where you live.
And Mitchum was probably not more than half sober during his shoots. Mudge the vindictive