George Smilanich: “Who the hell is Brad Pitt?”
Our buddy, Jeff Schogol, sends us a link to his latest article at the Military Times with director David Ayer who just released his film “Fury” last night in Washington, DC.
Ayer, who served as a sonar operator aboard a submarine in the 1980s, talked to Military Times about what makes “Fury” different from other World War II movies.
At the link is also a video interview with George Smilanich, one of the World War II veterans who consulted with the cast and crew to make a realistic movie.
I’m just glad to see a movie about the 2d Armored Division (Hell On Wheels) for a change.
Category: Veterans in the news
Gods bless George Smilanich. What an honorable gentleman. It saddens me most of al to think how many of his and my father’s generation, slip away each day.
I’m really, really looking forward to this movie.
About time the Calvary boys got a movie to their own.
I mean, Oddball (props to anyone who gets the reference) was great and all, but…
Kelly’s Heroes. Love that movie!
“I can’t believe you bought the kraut tank! The kraut uniforms I could see, but the tank?”
“Aw, come on, baby, it’s a beautiful tank!”
“It’s a piece of crap! It’s leaking oil all over the place!”
“Always with the negative waves, man! Always with the negative waves!”
http://www.warhistorystore.com/collections/frontpage/products/sherman-edge-t-shirt
I’m hoping mine gets here by Sunday; that’s when we’re watching it. God I hope they don’t F this up.
When I clicked on it, I got a warning that it was a WEB FORGERY, and to NOT give them any information!
Oh my God, I need this shirt in my life.
I think you meant “Cavalry” boys, unless I missed some religious reference. Sorry for the negative waves.
Damn, I always make that mistake.
You have to understand, they’re literally the same combination of letters, just a different placement of that bloody “l”.
A way to remember: it’s Aircav, not Aircalv. 🙂
Not to be confused with “hairy calves”…
Kind of like “ordnance” vs. “ordinance” – just that one silly “i” to confuse things!
I saw the same mistake on a tattoo once. I know Jesus rode a donkey once but Calvary Scout was a little bit of a stretch
ROFLOL ! ! !
What a ZINGER!
Thank YOU for reminding folks of this!
Having served as a Cavalry Scout (MOS 11D20) in Custer’s 7th Cavalry (and you KNOW how I love saying that!) at Fort Hood, Texas, I constantly have to correct folks on the proper pronunciation of “CAV-al-ry”, i.e., a mounted military unit primarily employed in reconnaissance, versus, “CAL-va-ry”, i.e., the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified.
And NOW, it’s time for chow in our mess hall, where today, we’re celebrating OKTOBERFEST!
Ain’t that neat?
I’m going to have weinerschnitzel and apple strudel!
Being a Mormon boy, I hope they’ll have some alcohol free beer (such as O’DOUL’S or BECK) for me to imbibe.
And guess what?
I was actually THERE, a Private First Class in Kaiserslautern, Germany with Company A, 11th Air Defense Signal Battalion, 32d Army Air Defense Command, just like good ol’ Elvis Presley!
Ain’t that neat?
I think I’ll get me a nice big ebola of soft vanilla ice cream.
Gosh, gee whillikers, don’t you wish you were me?
Elvis Presley trained in the 2d Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas.
I think it was before he went to Germany.
Elvis was stationed in Ray Barracks, Friedberg(Hessen)in the(then)Federal Republic of Germany. He lived in a mansion he rented up in Butzbach to the north of the barracks in Friedberg.
When I was stationed in Germany over 40 years later, they still talked about having the king in their town. It was a sad day when we closed down Ray Barracks and turned it over to the Germans.
Always with the negative waves, Moriarty, always with the negative waves man.
I have that DVD in my personal library, too!
I saw this on the news the other day, about laughed my ass off when he said, “Who the hell’s Brad Pitt?”
After watching his interview, I say this with the utmost respect: that old dude is awesome! Seriously, it breaks my heart that we have fewer like him every day.
I have high hopes for the movie. A lot of stories need to be told in a medium that reaches more than just history nerds like me. I recently found out that Tom Hanks is producing another HBO miniseries, this time about the 8th Air Force, hopefully it turns out better than “The Pacific.”
I’m still hoping for a movie about the Ploesti raid. Even Michael Bay could let himself go on that one and probably still wouldn’t have enough fireballs to be historically accurate. Of course the point shouldn’t be the explosions, it should’ve the heroism and sacrifice of the men who flew Operation Tidal Wave. That of course means that the only guy in Hollywood who wouldn’t miss the point is Mel “Batshit Crazy” Gibson, so good luck with that one.
If it is about the 8th, it is going to be bloody as all hell. I forget the actual numbers off hand, but they lost tens of thousands of fliers throughout the war. I didn’t mind the Pacific, and overall thought it was pulled off pretty well. It was just a different kind of story than BoB so people tried to judge it based off of that.
Sadly, “The Pacific” took way too many liberties with history, particularly the parts based on Leckie’s experiences. It’s probably because many of the men depicted in “Band of Brothers” were still around when that show was made and called bullshit on most of the hollywooded parts (Richard Winters did a lot of that), prompting the producers to go back and reshoot those scenes closer to what really happened. That’s why “Band of Brothers” was 95% accurate, 5% Hollywood.
Unfortunately Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge, Sidney Phillips, (and John Basilone, obviously) and most of the men they served with had already passed away by the time the show was made, so it didn’t recieve the same vetting process. Having read both “Helmet For My Pillow” (Leckie’s first book) and “With The Old Breed At Peleliu and Okinawa” (Sledge’s first book), I watched “The Pacific” thinking, “Did these guys even READ their source material? What the hell?”
On a related note, Robert Leckie’s “Strong Men, Armed” is probably the best and most entertaining history book I’ve ever read. He just had a way with words that keeps you turning pages through even the driest material–“Helmet For My Pillow” contains a full-page, PG-rated, and remarkably poetic dissertation on the word “fuck” and its cultural and linguistic significance to Marines! Also, comparing those two books, it becomes clear that, according to Leckie, there were many excellent officers in the United States Marine Corps (he pretty much worshipped the ground Chesty Puller walked on). It was just his luck not to serve directly under any of them.
Yeah, the scene in the first episode where there’s a map of the world was a good indication of how things were going to go.
What, you mean to tell me the Nazis *didn’t* invade Iceland?
As a Mormon boy (who served with the 101st Airborne in the old Republic of Viet Nam), I also was disappointed with, “THE PACIFIC”, after having seen, “BAND OF BROTHERS” (which is in my personal DVD library).
We NEED movies to be clean enough for entire families to enjoy watching together.
I would like to see a good movie on the battle of westerplatte. I believe it was about 40-50 polish held off 50000 germans, who towed a battleship into bombardment range, for about a week and half. On a island 300m long by 100m wide.
I’d like to see “The Last Battle” turned into a movie.
A company of mechanized infantry, a platoon of German soldiers who have had enough, and some French VIPs defend a castle against fanatical Waffen SS hoping to take the HVTs.
Best of all? It’s insane, pure Hollywood… But 100% real! Look up the book, honest!
I actually get to go to a prescreening later today at the MCOE HQ building here at Benning WITH the cast and crew of the movie. I guess since they made a tank movie, they wanted to let the Armor School see it first. Can’t freakin wait!
You going to leave us in suspense? How was it?
I still can’t believe they moved Armor School from Fort Knox. Whatever the hell happened to Fiddlers Green?
Our saloon here at the Armed Forces Retirement Home is called, “FIDDLER’S GREEN”, not because of the Cavalry, but because, before they changed the name, this used to be the United States Naval Home, and still uses the original Naval Home insignia, and receives direct logistical volunteer manpower support from the local United States Navy Sea Bee base.
I know. I’m still pissed that they moved them to the home of the Infantry. Now Benning has a bunch of DATs running around.
He he he he he he ….. he said DAT.
[/butthead voice]
When the M1 hit the field, DATs got upgraded to C-DATs: Computerized….
Fiddler’s Green was a FOB in Afghanistan during my year there…so the name is not forgotten.
Terrible name for a FOB. It is essentially purgatory for Cavalrymen.
Speaking of WWII, there is a military aircraft museum in Canton Ohio that was far better than I expected – I toured it yesterday. Well worth a day trip if you are within a couple hundred miles – one exit south of the civilian airport and follow the signs.
Anyone out there remember when they released “The Big Red One”? Can’t remember the name of the kaserne in the FRG, but the first guys that got to see it were the soldiers of 1/16 IN, 1st ID (FWD) in the early 80’s if my memory serves me. Lee Marvin et al attended.
I have that DVD of the 1980 movie in my personal library.
I was serving in the 2nd AD when I was selected for my Green – to – Gold scholarship. I have my enlisted dress greens in my closet along with my father’s dress greens both sporting the Hell on Wheels patch.
Btw my dad was just diagnosed with terminal cancer last week and has weeks to months to live. I would appreciate any and all prayers.
My prayers go out to you.
Prayers sent.
Condolences.
Even when you THINK you’re prepared for it, it’s still tough.
When I visit my Folk’s graves in Spring Lake, North Carolina, I put a Teddy Bear on Mama’s grave, 101st Airborne and 8th Army insignia on Daddy’s grave, and play my guitar and sing to them.
Amazingly, nobody steals the Teddy Bear from Mama’s grave, or the United States Army cloth shoulder insignia from Daddy’s grave.
Tar Heels are good people.
I’m so sorry to hear that. Prayers already sent up.
Prayers going out brother. Lost my dad to cancer in 2006. Miss him every day. Spend as much time as you can with him. I was fortunate in that I was quite close geographically to my old man and was able to spend a lot of time with him. It did me a lot of good.
Regards and prayers for your Dad. I suspect I speak for everyone who has ever lost theirs, that you will feel like you didn’t spend enough time with him, or didn’t do enough for him. Bet if you ask him, he’ll tell you you’ve done well and that he’s proud of you. Hang onto that. It will never hurt any less, but you’ll learn how to cope with that unique pain over time. Hang in there.
Prayers UP!
Prayers out and up!
God bless you and your family. You have my prayers.
Heartfelt prayers brother.
Ok, going full out nerd on this one so be warned.
Ok, looking forward to this because they portray a Army division in the post D-Day and post Battle of the Bulge. It is a false assumption that many have made, myself included to think that the war had become a mop up operation and that the German no longer could present a coordinated defense. I was surprised that they started out at 1945 rather then the summer fighting in the Bocage in France between June-August. So far only Band Of Brothers seems to really touch on that area. I know saving Private Ryan did a bit, but it did not really cover the fighting outside of the cities. The closest it got was when the SS Armored Half track (Sd.Kfz. 250?) was taken out. So this should be good.
Secondly is that I have a World War Two table top game that allows you to play as elements from ether the 2nd Armored (Hell on Wheels) and the 3rd Armored (Spearhead). If we are talking about the 2nd Armored, we should mention the 3rd Armored. The book has some interesting info about how the units were set up. Also it covered a SSG from the 3rd Armored, SSG Pool that is worth a look.
Any who that is my random thought on that.
Since it’s been mentioned a lot in this thread I have to point out that Kelly’s Heroes gave a nod towards hedgerow fighting in Normandy: “When we was in the Bocage country we was assaulted by them Tigers. You know what I mean by ‘assaulted’? Well, I mean assaulted!”
The only way to kill a Tiger is to hit it in its ass.
“So offer him a deal.”
“What kind of a deal?”
A deal, deal! Maybe he is a Republican, business is business.”
Don’t you mean, “Clairmont”, Booker?
EXCELLENT MOVIE Gentlemen. They portray a crews interaction perfectly. There were a few extremely minor plot holes I saw, but by an large I high recommend it. It was good enough that it gave me an anxiety migraine. Couple years ago I wouldn’t have been able to finish it.
Sounds like I’m really going to enjoy this one.
Thank you for the review!