Posts from The Tennesseean in thread „Saving Private Ryan (1998)“

I tend to agree with that assessment of what people want to think.

Too hard to think of the "real" story.

Jim, the story about the Sullivan Bros is missing a detail that was kept from their parents (as long as possible), because of it's horrific nature.

When the two surviving brothers were waiting with all the other men to be rescued, one of them did indeed go off his nut.

The gory details (supported by over one dozen affidavits) were that he was trying to "get back home," and started swimming away from the life raft he had just vacated, and as is the case in most all situations at sea like this, there were hundreds of sharks lurking about.

According to these affidavits, when he had swam just a few yards, he was attacked by a large shark and killed, and other sharks became involved...

You can see how everyone involved wanted to keep it from his parents. He was gone, and these gruesome details would've only caused them more pain.

For another true incident much like this one (complete with a cover-up), look up whatever you can find about the USS Indianapolis.

It's the ship mentioned by Quint (played by Robert Shaw) in the movie "Jaws." The story he tells while they're comparing wounds (and getting drunk) is an actual account from a friend of Shaw's who WAS on the Indianapolis.

I agree. My dad, who piloted a Higgins boat in many campaigns in the South Pacific (most notably, Okinawa), could NOT watch the beach landing scene.

He said it was "too real," and even for me, who's never seen combat, it's very near too much.