rapidfire In Review
Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. By Mark Harris. Penguin Books, 2015. $18. ISBN 978-0-14- 312683-6.
Y A Visit to Vietnam
When Hol- lywood went to war in 1941, the Depart- ment of War asked
ou walk through the gate, and time shifts back to 1968. You’re in Vietnam, and the sights and sounds surround you. “The sounds that
came out of Vietnam were unique to that war,” explains Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum Execu- tive Director Col. Mac Burdette, USA (Ret), describing the new outdoor military exhibit at the museum near Charleston, S.C. “The [UH-1M] Huey helicopter, which you hear fl ying overhead right now, a jet streaming by, a 105 [mm] howitzer, a fi refi ght out in the jungle some- where, the howler monkeys, the cicadas in the trees.” The interactive exhibit is geared toward educating
young people and honoring those who served. “We’re in the 50th anniversary period of Vietnam and will be for some years,” explains Burdette. “We decided we should do something for the Vietnam veteran.” The Vietnam Experience showcases a brown-water
Navy support base and an adjacent Marine Corps artil- lery fi re base. Much of the equipment was donated by the Navy and has the bullet holes to prove its age. There are helicopters, a 105 mm howitzer, an ambulance, and one of two remaining MK1 river patrol boats in existence. Cmdr. Art Schmitt, USN (Ret), a Vietnam-era helicop- ter pilot, found the exhibit extremely realistic. “It’s just about the way it was, and the sounds are perfect,” he says. The Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston and the Medical University of South Carolina are using the exhibit in their post-traumatic stress treatment programs. For more information, visit
www.patriotspoint.org and click on Explore Museum.
— Pam Windsor 20 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2015
fi ve famous fi lm directors to produce training fi lms, documentaries, and fea- ture fi lms to educate and energize the public eff ort for the war. Film historian Mark Harris tells the won- derful stories of middle- aged movie legends John Ford, Frank Capra, John Huston, William Wyler, and George Stevens as they join the Navy and Army, fi lming combat operations in the Pacifi c, North Africa, and Europe at sea, in the air, and on the ground. Harris explains these
fi lmmakers knew movies would not win the war but rather the American peo- ple. He describes “how to tell stories with cameras” and discusses Hollywood egos, jealous rivalries, and fi ghts with studio moguls, isolationists, censors, and meddling military and government bureaucracies. This is an amazing inside
look at how Hollywood made wartime movies, ob- tained combat footage, and produced stunningly eff ec- tive cinematic propaganda.
Their Last Full Mea- sure: The Final Days of the Civil War. By Joseph Wheelan. Da Capo Press, 2015. $26.99. ISBN 978-0-306- 82360-2.
Acclaimed historian Joseph Wheelan (Bloody Spring) brilliantly
describes the last 150 days of the Civil War from Jan- uary to May 1865. Wheelan’s vivid nar-
rative revisits the Con- federacy’s desperate and ultimately futile defense of Richmond and Petersburg, Va.; the widespread starva- tion and disease suff ered in the besieged cities; bitter and bloody battles; and the Union Army’s aggressive tactics in its race to trap and crush the disintegrat- ing and fl eeing rebel army at Appomattox. He also graphically
portrays Gen. William Sherman’s ruthless cam- paign through North and South Carolina, the wan- ton looting and destruc- tion of property, and the vengeful atrocities com- mitted by both sides. — William D. Bushnell
PHOTO: PAM WINDSOR
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