Sunday, Oct. 07, 2007

Shocking memories, lessons in 'The War'

In recent interviews, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns talked about the urgency in making "The War," the outstanding World War II series that aired this past week on PBS.

Some things he said struck me as being extremely important.

First, that a good number of high school students he informally polled believed that the United States teamed with Nazi Germany to fight the Soviets. He was not kidding and found nothing funny about it.

Second, Burns said he knew he could no longer wait to produce the series. A decade ago, he said, many World War II veterans still refused to talk about the horrors they experienced in battle and in liberating the prison and concentration camps. Now, some of them decided, it was time to share what they had kept from their children and grandchildren for so long.

And, Burns said, the vast majority of our World War II vets could be gone within the next five years. He knew his window was closing rapidly, to tell the story the way he believed it should be told: factually and through the eyes and souls of those who lived through it.

Everything Burns said rang true with what I've encountered talking with World War II veterans over the years. Our greatest generation, as Tom Brokaw called it, is nearing its end. From 1,000 to 1,200 American World War II veterans die each day, according to varying sources.

Burns' documentary is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. It's a brutally honest presentation that sugarcoats nothing -- not the dead, not the emaciated prisoners of the concentration camps and prisoner of war camps, not any horror of war.

Given the publicity the documentary received, I wondered if many of our local World War II veterans have watched the series, and how it affected those who did. Were there some who could not watch it at all because of the emotions it would stir?

Perhaps surprisingly, Ventura "Ben" Moreno of Patterson has watched -- surprising because only in the past year or so has he finally been able to open up and tell his family what really happened to him during the war. Among his experiences, he knocked out a Japanese machine gun nest on Okinawa and took a bullet in the wrist in the process, earning him a Purple Heart.

The series, Moreno said, "Brings back memories."

"My children have asked me about it, and I tell them, 'This is what I don't wish on anybody,' " he said.

In one segment, the documentary explained how, on the island of Saipan, Japanese soldiers convinced the women and children that, if captured by the Americans, they'd be terrorized and slaughtered. So the women sent their babies to their deaths by throwing them off a cliff, and then jumped off as well.

"I actually saw that happening when I was there," Moreno said.

He also found himself drawn to the HBO war series "Band of Brothers."

"My wife said, 'Why do you watch them? They make you cry.' I said, 'Because you've been through it, you feel it and those guys (in his outfit) are closer to you than your own family.' "

Marvel Dunbar of Modesto was a wartime ship's chaplain. He, too, has watched "The War" series, and it has helped him understand why so many of the veterans he's known simply could not talk about their experiences.

"I've known hundreds of veterans over the years," Dunbar said. "Very few will give you the word-by-word of what it really was like."

The graphic documentary gave him some painful insight.

"It was very difficult for me to watch except for the fact that war is war," Dunbar said. "The killing of innocent people, the children, the bombing in Japan -- it didn't bother my sleep, but it bothered me to watch. I thought, 'Is it so necessary to show it?' But if it paves the way for future diplomacy, it's worth it."