PBS shows last night

[Pat Carry]

Did anyone see the 2 shows last night? The 1st one was about the USS OKlahoma and the 2nd was about the USS Arizona. Good stuff!

[Taigh Ramey]

Yes they certainly were good

[cooper9411]

Enjoyed both very much. PBS reaired them this morning (Thursday) so I watched them again.

[JohnB]

Yes, interesting stuff.
The Oklahoma survivor said he swam to a floatplane blown off the ship...are there any photos of that wreckage? I'm just wondering how intact the aircraft was.

Also, on the Arizona, they featured a young ensign and showed his snapshots of his cabin. Anyone else notice the large scale P-40 model on his desk?

[Jerry O'Neill]

A friend and former co-worker was the Associate Producer on the Oklahoma documentary. They did a good job.

[Pathfinder]

When I visited Pearl in the 80s there were still survivors working as docents. One was wearing a name plate showing he was a retired Lt Cdr. But he said, "I'll sign your book by the picture of the OKLAHOMA as I was on December 7th...Seaman 2nd..."

[Steve Nelson]

I thought both were quite well done. The interviews with the survivors were especially moving, and my wife and I both got choked up when the Arizona survivor visited the Memorial.

The only nitpick I have is that both shows used the same motley collection of mis-matched clips of Japanese aircraft, including twin-engine Ki-48 "Lilys" and Ki-32 "Marys" (both Army aircraft) and of course the ubiquitous shot of the "Japanese" SBDs dropping bombs and P-36s making strafing runs (cribbed from John Ford documentary/propaganda films.) But authentic footage of the correct types is quite rare, so I'm not going to knock them for going "back to the same well" as countless other documentaries. At least they didn't recycle any footage from "Tora! Tora! Tora!" or that "other film" (described by film critic Roger Ebert as "the story of the Japanese surprise attack on an American love triangle.")

I was doing a bit of reading this afternoon about the USS Utah. I knew her hull was also still lying in the harbor, but I didn't realize that some of her former crew had chosen to have their ashes interred aboard her, like the Arizona.


SN

[JohnB]

I noticed the Japanese twins in the Arizona progran, but not the Oklahoma.
Granted, I certainly could have missed a couple of two second shots, but I didn't see them.

They do seem to show up everywhere in the P earl Harbor cobtext, including, IIRC, the first minute or two of The Pacific miniseries on HBO.
After that rocky start, I thought we might be in store for a bumpy ride. Luckily, things improved after that.

But at least they aren't (yellow, IIRC) Cessna "bamboo bombers" with Japanese markings seen in PT-109.