What's The Scuttlebutt Podcast
Step into history with The What’s The Scuttlebutt Podcast (WTSPWWII), your go-to source for deep dives into the events, untold stories, and extraordinary individuals of World War II. In some episodes, we bring you firsthand accounts from veterans who served on the front lines, offering their personal experiences and unique perspectives on the realities of war. We also sit down with acclaimed authors who have dedicated their careers to uncovering hidden narratives and shedding light on lesser-known aspects of the conflict. But we don’t stop at books and battlefield accounts—we also explore the world of WWII cinema. From directors and producers to screenwriters, we talk with the creative minds behind the films that bring history to life on the big screen. For those who live history firsthand, we feature dedicated WWII reenactors who meticulously recreate battles, uniforms, and daily life from the era, offering an immersive glimpse into the past. Whether you’re a history enthusiast, a military buff, or simply fascinated by the human stories that emerged from this defining moment in history, WTSPWWII is your ultimate destination. Join us as we honor the past, celebrate the heroes, and preserve the legacy of World War II for generations to come.
What's The Scuttlebutt Podcast
War Movies, WWII Mail, Naval Ship Names, and a Big 2026 Kickoff
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Digital Fortin Media proudly presents the What's the Scuttlebutt podcast with your hosts, Don Abernathy, Jeff Kopsetta, and Dennis Blocker.
SPEAKER_02Welcome everybody to another episode of the What's the Scuttlebutt, your favorite World War II-based podcast. I was gonna say the first episode in 2026 before I finished my opening, opening little tagline, but welcome to the What's the Scuttlebutt podcast, your favorite World War II based podcast. There we go. We gotta get the word podcast in there, it just doesn't feel quite right. We're talking about not feeling quite right, it hasn't felt quite right. The three of us haven't been together in at least a couple of months now because of holidays and whatnot. What's going on, fellas?
SPEAKER_01Man, it has been too long, but it's a good way to start off 2026, man. We got a lot to talk about.
SPEAKER_02I was talking about this the other day, 2026. We started in 2018. Wow. You guys have been at it a while. Well, you've been at it. See, that's the funny thing too, because when you do this stuff, we do so many of them, we forget. Dennis, you've been around here for quite a quite a handful of these too now. You're you're well past 30, 40 episodes, I would imagine. I I well, probably, yeah, it's 30. I mean, we're at the 200 and something. You've been around here for quite a clip yourself. So um it it happens quickly because I remember we'd often forget how early on Jeff jumped into this, right? He's been around here for damn near, probably season two-ish. Um, he's been here since the early days, and so yeah, it's we are chugging along and uh and we're gonna get together next month. But real quick, I was reading a manuscript and I came across a date that confused me, which led me to some research. So, Jeff, you're familiar with the George F. Elliott.
SPEAKER_01Uh, I'm not much of a Navy guy, but okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02The George F. Elliott was the ship that brought the first infantry marine corps division to Guadacanal on August 7th and sank on August 8th. Sound familiar now?
SPEAKER_01What yeah. Okay, where are we going?
SPEAKER_02Well, I was reading this manuscript, and one of the members of the Wesleygo 8 was shipped out on the George F. Elliot in 1943. I'm like, well, how can that be? Oh, everybody knows the damn thing. Sank on August 8th, 2000. I mean 2000, 1940. Dennis, is it common practice to reuse vessel names?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that would they would do that. It'd be definitely, but I would make a note to the author, and because that'd be definitely something he'll want to uh investigate further.
SPEAKER_02And the I the identifier is the big deal because I because I you know I've always heard of George F. Elliott getting sunk. So the USS George F. Elliott AP 13, that's the key indicator, ordered as a war haven of the British service and requested during construction, launched, then commissioned by USS Victorious, ID 3514 in 1918, commercial vessel between the wars of uh Victorious Cities and Harvey in 1931 and the city of Los Angeles in 1938, acquired by the Navy on October 30th, 1940, renamed George F. Elliott and recommissioned on 10th of January, 1941, sunk by the USS Halled DD-350 after sustaining heavy damage on August 8, 1942. And then the George S F Elliott AP 105 launched um launched as a name I can't pronounce for the Delta lines on 16 of December, 1939, acquired by the war shipping administration on April 12, 1942 for the Navy operation, and commissioned on September 23rd, 1943, and sold to the Feral Lines of New York in 1948 and then renamed the African Endeavor. I don't know, I guess it just occurred it just didn't occur to me that we we would recycle names because you would think that the names are associated to a vessel for historical purposes. So it it just never occurred to me, I that one sank, but we promised this guy's family that we'd have a boat named after him. So let's I and I'm not sure that's the reason either, but my cynical mind is, and so that's not an uncommon practice to reuse names on vessels.
SPEAKER_04No, that's not uncommon, they would do that. And uh, and regarding this this uh item, I I would definitely would let the author know. Yeah, because that'd be a really cool footnote that he could put if he wants to to know that this ship is actually named after one that was lost at Guadacanal.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, especially one that particular name because of the association. You know, you read Guadacanal Diaries or you read any of Robert Lecky's stuff, you're gonna be familiar with that ship name. And then, you know, uh-huh. Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the number keeps popping into my head, 128, but I uh don't quote me, but it's something like the first hundred and fifty or so APs. If it was AP up to about that number, they were repurposed commercial uh liners that they uh transferred into troop transport ships like the Arthur Middleton or or the Elliott. Um they weren't built st specifically for the Navy, and and it could be more than 150, but I want 128 comes into my mind for whatever reason. Um, but I mean you think about one of the more famous uh renamed ships, you think of uh all the way up to the aircraft carriage, C V two gets sunk, uh the Lexington, and then C V sixteen um you know uh sends Hellcat's in the Tarawa for its first operation uh and lasted up into the 1960s. So yeah, definitely not an uncommon thing, but it is, like you say, a pretty good point uh to point out that it probably should denote the difference between AP uh what was it, AP13 and and then AP uh whatever you know.
SPEAKER_02105.
SPEAKER_01105, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Now, have we gotten to the point in um military history where a name becomes kind of like a jersey number after so many years, if it's so famous, that name is kind of retired. Obviously, if these two ships weren't named so close apart, do you think that they 38 years later would have used the same name after you know the history of World War II and Guadacanal kind of got big, or they just because obviously, like a USS Arizona, for example, I don't know what did they ever recycle that name?
SPEAKER_01Well, we don't have any battleships.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_01No, but we've always had an enterprise. I think as long as the Navy has been around, there has been an enterprise. Gotcha. So that's that's 200 years, yeah.
SPEAKER_02See that we learned something here today. So, what's been going on with the COG there, fellas? I've been seeing a lot of uh social media work and some great um production value and information getting out there, and and how's that project going?
SPEAKER_01Well, basically, we've just been whipping Dennis like a dog uh to to work so hard for a cog. He uh you know, well, it takes it takes a village, it really does, and and we're seeing it, and we're and I think Dennis would agree too, and I'll let him talk more about it, but um we we're starting to see the payoff. And we're starting to see um just some of the ramifications of uh and maybe that's not the right word, but um when when two guys uh have something in mind and a vision and not unlike what you've done with WTSP, Don. I mean, you you you had a vision and you built something, and look at what you've done now, and it's um it's moving. It's very moving, it's very humbling to see something just start snowballing so quickly. What it was just at first a conversation becomes federally incorporated. Um yeah, um it but yeah, Dennis is really uh the perfect fit for his uh for his role and um you know has really kind of been the backbone of of what we've been doing, and um it's neat to see the team grow, and it's very exciting to see what 2026 is gonna hold hold for Cog for sure.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. I'm excited for you guys. Anything you want to add to that, Dennis, before we move on.
SPEAKER_04Well, my goodness, we could do a whole episode on everything that's happened over the last uh couple months. But what's really awesome, Dawn, is that you know this started because you know, and I think what Jeff was alluding to before was that all the decades of research that we've been doing and and going to events and making contacts and having friends and making friends and making you know relationships over the years, and and you're always working for somebody else, though. You're always it's always for another institution or another association, and so you you're butting up against people that don't have the same vision or they're tired or they're they don't want to do it, they don't this seems like a crazy idea. Burnout's a huge problem. Yeah, Jeff and I were would be sitting in the back, uh, and actually those are some of my fondest memories of the last couple years, is is sitting in the back of his yard there, and we'd be sitting at the campfire there, the the uh burn pit, and and we would um smoking cigars and um just uh talking about uh our ideas of if we had a nonprofit, what we would want to do with it. And it just so happened that by chance we had on Andrew Bohr, the what's the co-8 story, and then he showed that photograph. And that started this whole journey was my curiosity about that stone pediment that was to the right of those young men. And uh that led to introductions to uh the the building owner. And uh from that point on, you know, I when I got with Mr. Siderly, he says, What do you want to do with this information? Mr. Siderly being the owner of this building where the uh Wesleyquamen were inducted and took their famous rooftop oath. Uh, what do you want to do with that? I says, Well, sir, I says, I'm concerned that this was almost lost to history. Like, like you own the building, it's been generationally passed to you, and you didn't even know this happened here. You had no idea that the entire sixth floor, your business offices were used by the Marine Corps for induction of thousands of young men going into the Marines in World War II. I said, we need to make sure this never happens again. We never almost lose this history. So I says, we need to put a plaque up there. And he says, that sounds great. Let's do it. Well, then we met for lunch, and uh this is a really good uh lesson on why face to face with people is so important. Um, and this is something that Jeff and I are really good at if we can get face to face with somebody. Um, and Mr. Siderley met me for lunch and he said, Oh, Dennis, it's too bad you don't have a nonprofit, because then we could really have an awesome event. And then I was like, hmm. So and then I, you know, immediately, huh?
SPEAKER_02You're like, how long would that take? Exactly. Dennis isn't the type of guy who says, who's gonna do that? He's like, how long will that take?
SPEAKER_04That's exactly the conversation that Jeff and I had practically within 15 minutes of me leaving lunch with Mr. Sidery. I call Jeff. I'm like, you're not gonna believe this, and he course Jeff is like, let's do this, and then we go to the um we go to the event up in Dallas, and on the way back, it was like, how would we do it? And then it was by the time we got home to his house in Burnett, Cog was basically the foundation was laid in that drive. It's it's a pretty awesome story.
SPEAKER_01It's it's basically like a prom day. Cog was conceived in you know the back seat. Back an old beer.
SPEAKER_02How anybody who's ever been in a band, a improv group, a podcast, what have you, how long did it take you guys to come up with a name? Because that's usually the hard thing, you know, you get to the point where you know, like ACDC, oh, that was the sticker on the back of old boy's sister's sewing machine. I mean, how long did that take to come up with? Who kind of came up with a general idea of it, and then how did you hammer that out?
SPEAKER_04I was asking Jeff what conserving, if conserving could be used in the in the in the in the ass in the uh uh in in the way of preserving history. Like we know about conservation, like you know, trees and land management and stuff like that. So could it be used as a preservation of history? And he says, you know, we're like the the conservators of the greatest generation, you know, it's like we're and then so I told I told him I says, wait a minute, I think you just named it. I says, I think Jeff, I think you just is that's how it went down. I said, I think you just named it. And I says, and and look at the initials like for marketing. Oh my gosh. Like cog. Cog.
SPEAKER_02Well, I don't know if you guys kind of thought about this either, because one of your plans with this organization is to help small museums stay up and running, get some angles and some ideas, and you know, Dennis and I kind of loosely talk about you know how you guys want to kind of help bring attention to museums, correct? Well, I'm not speaking out turn, right?
SPEAKER_03Well, that's correct.
SPEAKER_02If all that's a machine, if all that's a machine and you guys are just a small contributor to that, you're the cog in that machine of helping to keep all that going too. So it's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_04That's right. And you know, and when we were talking on the on the drive back, like we were even thinking about marketing. Like the how awesome is it for marketing to have uh a meeting called that you get to present to a an organization, and you pull up your your your presentation and you you have uh a swoops in a cog that is you know uh Medina Valley Historical Society, boom. And then you have in you know Hudson Valley Library, oral history project, boom, the TV. And then you have come in here the um uh the historical society of World War II landing craft, you know, boom, right here, right? And then you have this missing peg, this missing a cog, right? And you say, Let's engage the gears, and you click that, but nothing moves. And then you look at the sponsors and you say, Because your cog is missing, and then all of a sudden, frostbanks cog comes in, or or or whatever, some philanthropist, or you know, this this this cog comes in and you click that, and that turns, and it c causes everything else to start turning, and this amazing visual of a tread, like a machinery of war, or a home front, or a tank. Yep, exactly. It's freaking beautiful.
SPEAKER_02I just had a thought when you were talking about the the episode where we had Andrew on and you took the photo two times now with this particular photo, this combat Harlan Block, two times now history has been affected by someone noticing something in a photo. Oh wow. Yeah. You're you and the photo of them, and then what was it, seven years ago now, when the gentleman was having like his kidney surgery or whatever, and he was laid up in bed, he noticed some of the differences in the photos, and they kind of tracked down the diff, you know, the inconsistencies on on the history of the the flag raising? Wasn't that started because somebody noticed something in a photo? Yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it was um when uh during the filming of Flags of Our Fathers, when it first started being shed some light on what they were wearing because they wanted to get it right. And it why why does why does the Corpsman have wire cutters? And I think that's what because the wire cutter, you know, pouch is so obvious on the right thigh there, that's supposed to be John Bradley, like, wait a minute, this this guy's not wearing any kind of medical gear, Unit 3 gear, anything like that. Um so then it kind of started that ball rolling, and the Marine Corps, I think, has had to fix it twice now, um identifying correctly the the Marines in the photo that um and Bradley's not even in that photo. Um he raised the first flag, but uh so yeah, you're right. It just takes a little uh you know, um let's look at this, even though we've seen it a million times, when you analyze something or you see things from a different perspective, which is what makes history so great, because history is not a fixed entity, it's not, it it's it's seen through so many different lenses. So, you know, when you just see these guys on the hill and it makes sense, and they sent these guys home, and okay, this is what it is. We accepted it, and then all of a sudden we looked at it through the lens of a military advisor, a costume designer for Hollywood, going, Wait, well then why is that guy wearing that? And how did that happen? You know, so it's so crazy.
SPEAKER_02It's so crazy because this isn't the first time that that photo has been scrutinized. Because if you guys have seen my drone video of our Iwo Jima flag raising statue here in Cape Coral, which is made from the secondary mold that Felix, what's his name? I can't remember his last name, Italian. He basically made a small, yeah, he made a small, a medium, and then he made the original. Our statue is poured from that medium mold, and in my video, you can those wire cutters are there. So even Felix and his, you know, whether he had military advisors, but you know, I know he had really ones and helmets, but even Felix noticed that they were there to the fact that he made them on the statue. Wow, and even when you were for what 79 and a half years, people going down the Marine Corps, seeing the statue in real life, you can the things you know, they're full size, they're probably even larger because of scale, they're probably 18 inches long, and no one's ever thought, why would a why would a corpsman be wearing wire cutters? But it took, as Jeff said, someone's staring at a photo saying, wait a minute. I guess maybe because everybody's just I don't know. People it was so close to the time then, and then you know, people just don't pay that much attention to the uniform until some advisor or some living history guy takes it like, wait a minute. But yeah, two times now that this kind of storylines had a little bit of a history update or change based off of somebody noticing something in a photo and doing a little research. It's pretty cool. It sure is. What's up, everybody? Look, it's 2026, we're all still broke, we all need to save money. 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Thanks again. You gotta buy gas, you gotta buy food, so why not get cash back on the money you spend? And when I say cash back, they do in fact put the cash back into your bank account. So check it out, look in the app store, that's upside. And when you sign up and they ask you, type in digital 9684. Thanks. So, interesting news. I got an email from some service the other day, and I posted on our our Facebook page. Uh, we've kind of considered our th ourselves a lot of things, but we've never considered ourselves a war movie podcast. Now, I will say back in the day, as a lot of filler time, we would uh talk. You know what it is, Jeff? I think I think maybe they just heard a lot of our references to the thin red line that they just think, oh, they're clearly a movie podcast, because that's kind of we haven't hit it in a while. That's kind of been an inside joke on our podcast, the the thin red line. But anyhow, for those of you aren't aware, this service called Feed Spot, they you know, they do surveys or whatever and they organize and they have us listed. I got an email saying, you know, you're in the top five war movie podcasts. Actually, we're number one. Uh, the what's the scuttle butt says looking for war movie podcasts to listen to? Um, an outreach free campaign to promote your uh brand or product, or war movie podcasters. List is what you need. So this is also a marketing company where they're trying to get their list of podcasts out to companies like authors and what have you to reach out to people like us. But yeah, we're number one. Um, the what's the scuttle butt for war movie podcasts? And so I thought, who knows? Maybe someone will see that and they'll they'll come listen to the latest episode and realize we haven't done any war movies in a long time. So for fun, and it's you know, it's the new year's and we're just getting up and running again. And I actually saw a World War II movie over the holidays, and I sent Jeff and Dennis a text saying, Are you familiar with this group? And and you guys said you were. And so I have a movie I'll bring up, and I don't know if you guys have seen one recently. Um, I gotta give a shout-out to my daughter. She came in the room and I was in Netflix Purgatory. Are you guys like me where you spend more time looking for something to watch than the actual amount of time you watch something? It's like, well, I've just looked for a movie for an hour and a half, I'm done. I'm gonna go watch Roku. So I was in Netflix Purgatory, and she's like, hey, stop watch that um 688. I'm like, huh? She got started watching it the other day, and so I watched this movie the about the 688. Are you you and I know you guys are are familiar with them, correct? Yes. For those in the audience at home, um the 688 was a group of um African-American women who were put, now according to the movie, kind of as a proof that they would fail, but whether that's historically accurate or not, I don't know. But they were put in charge of organizing and untangling the mess, the logistical nightmare that was the postage mail system to getting all the mail out to the guys on the front line in European theater. And we take things for granted, especially with email. And you know, time we're growing up in the 80s and 90s and 2000s, the postal service is a well-oiled machine. Well, imagine trying to be a mailman today if the person you're delivering the mail to moves every three days, every week, right? And they're not exactly places with well-defined postal codes and mailboxes. And so these ladies were put in charge of this monumental task. I mean, according to the movie, the time they showed up, they had hangers, not a hanger, but hangers just full of letters. Some of them are outgoing mail, some of them are ingoing mail, some are written on an envelope on a rainy day with a pencil and the address is smeared, some of them have mud, blood, and everything else on it. And and it goes in the great detail of the efforts they went to. Like at a certain point, one of the ladies, you know, figured out, hey, this could be frowned upon, but you know, it happens in war. If we actually open up some of these letters and get some more details because the addresses or the names are smeared on the envelopes, maybe we can find the missing keys and put this thing together and get these mails delivered. And they were I think they had like 90 days to sort this fiasco out because once again they were basically set up to fail. But I'm just going to give you the the synopsis of the movie. Um, the 6388 is a 2024 American War drama written and directed by Tyler Perry on the 600, the 68th 88 Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-black, all-female battalion World War II. It's based on the article Fighting a Two Front War by Kevin M. Heimel. The film features an ensemble cast. Um, the 6 Triple 8 had a limited theatrical release on December 6th of 2024 before airing on Netflix. On December 20th, the film received mixed reviews from the critics. Its feature song The Journey was nominated for Best Original Song at the 97th Academy Awards. The film was nominated and won five awards at the 56th NAACP Image Awards, including Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Motion Picture, and acting wins for Washington Abstained and Ensembled Cast. Here's the plot. A West Virginia mother waits daily for news from her two sons serving overseas while childhood friends Lena and Abram face difficulties of their budding romance, because you know every war movie needs a romance side to it. In the 1940s, Philadelphia, Abram uh warned for deployment, promises Lena's mother he will come back to her house and court Lena properly after the war. Abrams is killed in action as a fighter pilot to heartbroken Lena enlist after graduating school. She uh befriends other enlistees and they train in Georgia and they go overseas. The movie in itself is really good. If you're a uniform watcher, if you're a part of the problem being what we do, we kind of pick things apart. Um, if you're going to go down that road, the set production was pretty well done. Obviously, Tyler Perry's a big production company. Um, when it came to the uniforms, I don't know, I wasn't there. I don't have, you know, obviously, I don't put together women's auxiliary corps and female enlistment uniforms. I will say on some of the wider shots, you can kind of tell that the uh costume designer was trying to find just as many air-correct uniforms. And what I mean by that is some of them will have uniform A on, some of them will have uniform B on. And it's kind of like you have all these girls serving in the same platoon, same division, and they all kind of have hodgepodge uniforms, which very well may have happened. I'm just saying these are the kind of things you notice. And then there's a scene where they're at a camp and four gentlemen come over, and each one of them has a different variant of a World War II uniform on. Um, a lot of Jeep caps, a lot of Jeep caps. You can tell that maybe helmets were few and far between, even on the guys. Um, just you know, we need covers on these guys, jeep caps, here they are. So, I mean, you could probably nitpick some things when it comes to uniform, but the storyline was great. Once again, I wasn't I never occurred to me, you know. We call our email, mail call all the time, right? Mail call, we read our emails, which by the way, you can email us at mail call at WTSP WorldWar II.com. But in all these years since 2018, we never we never did an episode on how the hell did the mail get there? I it once again, it's just one of those things, you know, it's not it's not the glamorous side, right? It's not the romantic aspect. There's so many things like this, the logistical side of war. You know, Jeff can tell you it takes so many people on the back end to get you know the front end moving, and it's a very cool story. You know, you got your romance in there. Sat down, watched it with the old lady, she enjoyed it. The kid recommended it. I thought it was a great uh great little story. Once again, it's a good way to get people interested in World War II, and it covers uh content that you never really give much thought about. So if you guys are interested, it's on Netflix, it's the 6888. I haven't looked at Rotten Tomatoes, I can imagine it maybe didn't get the best score in the world. But once again, it's for a modern-day World War II movie. 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SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, there's so many war movies that come to mind, and I was uh, you know, even just talking with Tammy, like, hey, what are some that really have spoken to you over the years, you know, strictly World War II, right? And we're not gonna go into Platoon or anything like that, but um it was it was funny. She said, I could watch Saving Private Ryan over and over. I'm like, okay, I think right, like we we all got that. It is probably one of the greatest war movies ever made. Um But she uh really enjoyed Hacksaw Ridge for one of the modern films. Um it's got a little bit of everything in it. Uh, and what I mean by that is um, you know, there's there's obviously the romance, so but it doesn't take away from the story. Uh it's the human side of things. Um she you know, she says she always kind of gets emotional with it knowing that it's a true story. And there's a lot of great movies that are made that aren't about true stories. Um so you know that's great, but uh truth is to me ten times better than any fiction or any uh you know creativity of any writer, honestly, because uh for people who truly know the truth and know the past, it it doesn't get any better. So when you can when you can blend those two things, uh I think I think you're doing pretty good. Um so that's definitely one that I I enjoyed. Not everything about it. We we know there's there's inaccuracies uh in in the gear. We know that the violence mirrors that of like watching 300 or or a modern video game. Um it's a little over the top. Um but uh aside from that, uh, you know, I think I'm gonna have to go with some of the classical ones. I'm gonna stay away from series, uh, but to stick with some of the best World War II films I think I've seen in my life, my top three are Sans of V Wojima, Memphis Belt, and Patton for three very different reasons. Uh, and I won't go into all three. Um, but I do want to say that growing up watching Sans of V Wojima, um that movie is really uh one of the more important films um that happened for the military, specifically for the Marine Corps, um, because I think it was 1947, about two years after the war, um, the Marine Corps was being threatened as an individual branch um by the National Security Act. And it started looking, you know, the the the the um the people behind keeping the Marine Corps as a separate entity, it was waning. Um the you know, the Second World War changed a lot of things. Um if we can send multiple army divisions into Europe, then what do we need an amphibious force for if if we could, you know, field 22 divisions of of the army in the Pacific, then what is the specialty of the Marine Corps at this point? Um their specialty really truly was nothing special. They just did it with uh less money and worse equipment. Um and that's the heart of what the Marines can do. They adapt and improvise and overcome. Um but uh, you know, even if you're not a John Wayne fan, even if you know there's things about it that are hokey, uh, as you might say, but it's a film, you know, that was done in 1949. It it probably really truly helps save the Marine Corps uh to keep it to where we know it as of as today. Um it blended some great um actual footage. And it used some of the real people who were there. Uh Lieutenant Harry Schreier, who raised the first flag, has a conversation with John Wayne. In fact, I think he hands him the flag. The flag then gets handed from John Wayne to um Bradley, and John Bradley, Gagnan, and Ira Hayes are the three that walk up to to um to John Wayne to go put the flag up. Uh and then, of course, the only living Medal of Honor recipient that came off of the island of Tarawa, uh Colonel Shoop, plays himself talking to um uh uh Major Howe uh from uh the Eighth Marines at Red Beach 3 at Tarawa. So um they all play themselves, and I think that's a really cool way to do it. Um, because I think that's what really helped, you know, kind of pull on the heartstrings of the American public who was absolutely tired of war uh in 1949 because they just lost 400,000 young men to fight it. Um so to me that's one of the most important World War II movies made for for so many reasons. And um uh uh I don't know if they still do it, but when my brother went through Marine Corps boot camp in the early 90s, they watched Saving Pri uh uh Sands Vojima at at boot camp at Paris Island. So it's it's definitely kind of a living legend as far as American cinema.
SPEAKER_02I was just pause and thinking of the uh how no, we love these movies and how impactful they are, but sitting at a Marine Corps boot camp living it, getting ready to make this your career whether it's four years or longer, and then seeing that and then when the credits roll, you know, it's different than getting up and going in the kitchen to turn around and have you know your your uh control sergeant there ready to say any questions and uh that's probably different. You can get the answers right from the source.
SPEAKER_04That's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_02How about you, Dennis? Any movies off the top of your head? Have you seen any recently or anything you want to suggest? Maybe someone who may have not seen it, go out and check out.
SPEAKER_04You know, I'm I'm like Jeff, I gotta I gotta go back to the classics, man. You know, here with this pro program that Jeff and I are putting together for the Weslico 8, I had to do some research on the guys, and I requested from um their librarian of their high school, Weslico High School, uh, she sent me um yearbooks from the high school from the 20s, 30s, and 40s with links to them all. And um looking at 1942, the uh yearbook from 1942, the yearbook staff that year had already started putting in our boys in uniform pages. And what hit me like a gut punch was the the guys see they're just they're 17 and 18, you know, and underneath the their pictures are their names, and then under one was at Corregidor, one was in the Philippines, and this is like they didn't know then when they printed it that all those guys are probably dead, yeah, like or are going to die, and there was several of those guys in that yearbook that it listed Philippines, Philippines, Corregidor, um, and and and and it really shocked me because it's this little high school down in Weslico in the Rio Grande Valley, the RGV, and uh one of the guys in the yearbook uh it said beside his name uh killed in action Pearl Harbor. Um and so that got me to thinking about this event that Jeff and I are doing, and I I want to get my girls, they're they're teenagers, into the um uh the uh the garb that they wore. The what do you call those almost like a flight suit, but it's zipped up in the front.
SPEAKER_02And just coveralls, I think.
SPEAKER_04Coveralls. So um I I know that when things were rough there, they they didn't have uniforms yet for the uh the nurses that were on Corregidor, and so they were making do with what they had. And a lot of times they were wearing them the coveralls. And so that got me thinking about thinking about my girls and trying, I wanted to really honor because my daughter Brooke, she wants to be an RN like her mom, and my other daughter Lauren, she wants to uh go into psychology, so both medical field, and um it got me to thinking about I don't know, just like the the the tie-in with the yearbook, and here they are. I want them to dress up and honor these nurses and the batan and corregidor. And so that got me to thinking about the movies. Um So Proudly We Hail with Claudette Colbert, and it it's a tremendous movie with Paulette Goddard, and it just shows just the grit, the grime, it gets down into just what they were facing and dealing with, and re you know, some are cracking up and and some are holding it together, and and they're thinking they're gonna get out of there. And when the movie was made, uh, you know, they didn't know, they didn't know if they made it or not, you know. And uh that hits you at the end from our perspective, it hit me, was like, man, I wonder if these nurses even made it through all those years ahead of them. So that one I really enjoy. Um, so proudly, we hail. Um another one that I really like was um, of course, and I've talked about it before, was they were expendable. And the only reason I mention it now is because it does have some very touching scenes with Donna Reed where she is one of the nurses on Corregidor. And when the the guys are are are there and and she's it's it's interesting because they they they show the young men wounded, scared, the Corregidor's being just shelled constantly, and and and bits of tunnel are falling and they're landing on them and they're thinking that's gonna crash and they're all gonna die. And here are these young guys are looking to their nurses almost like moms, and they're so stoic, right? And they're just so they're they're keeping it together for the guys under their care. And Donna Reed does an amazing job of that. So um that that she's that movie has definitely come to mind here recently. Um so proudly we hail. Um, and of course, I mean Robert Taylor, you know, the tan. I mean, goodness gracious, if you haven't seen that one, it's got a young um uh Ricky Ricardo uh in there, and um he he does an excellent job, and it's just such a great I think that's the first move I ever saw as a young uh you know, boy, because you know, I'm gonna grow up on military bases, you know, we military channels, especially like Iceland, you had two channels, and so that was always a war movie on. And uh, you know, you get to see um um where Eagles Dare and Technicolor with the crisp color and the cool uniforms and this and that, and you know, and you're a kid, you know, and you're you're just really drawn to that. But as far as substance, you know, that batan really is probably one of the first movies that as a kid made me realize like these guys stood alone and they did not retreat, they gave not one more inch, and they all knew they were gonna die. And they you just see these folks that you fall in love with, and that's what I love about it, Don and Jeff, is that the the director does such a good job and the screenwriter at making you care about these people, and then they take them from you one at a time, and it really makes you feel as much as you can, having not been in combat, but you start losing guys that you care about, and it's done slowly, methodically, like this gigantic Japanese machine that's just grinding you down, and then it just gets down to one guy, and it's just I highly recommend the tan with Robert Taylor.
SPEAKER_02Do you guys I'll have to check that one out because I have not seen it. Um, do you guys remember the movie that was kind of talked about with Kate Winslit where she was going to be um portraying Lee Miller and and her kind of biopic? Yeah, I saw that. What where was that streaming at? Because I remember I saw lots of talk of it coming out that I never heard anything about, and apparently it came out in 2024. It was produced in 2023, hit the film circuits, apparently did quite well over in the United Kingdom. Um, but I haven't seen it anywhere.
SPEAKER_04Where do you think it's prime prime video?
SPEAKER_02Amazon Prime have to check it out because I've been I I remember when the the it was in pre-production and post-production, some of the the photos are coming out, and then it just I never really heard much about it. Haven't heard whether it was good, bad, and different or anything.
SPEAKER_04It was good, it was good. She doesn't uh take Kate Windsus, it's freaking amazing. In that, yeah, she really pulls it off.
SPEAKER_02For those who don't know, Lee Miller was a pht uh ex-model and photographer for Vogue, who just happened to be over there uh during the landings, and apparently she was the first photographer ever to catch the use of the first use of napalm in war. She caught the the uh photos of it. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I'll have to talk about her. Lee Miller's war.
SPEAKER_02Yep, so the movie's called Lee. Um and Dennis believes it's on Games on Prime. So I'll have to check that out. Because I was definitely, you know, it was kind of one of those areas where we were kind of waiting for some more movies to come out, and then people were talking about that. I was like, ooh, that looks good, but then it just kind of fell off my radar, so we'll definitely have to check that one out. But um I appreciate the uh suggestion on the other movies. Um you guys have anything before we wrap things up?
SPEAKER_01Looking forward to seeing you next month, Don. The three of us can all be together. I can't wait to already.
SPEAKER_02January 13th. It's been it's been flying by already. So yeah, we're looking forward to it. Um, I'm gonna be doing what I like to call the the um rock and roll tour stop where I just come in and just crash on couch to couch, surf around for three days, and then do the Irish farewell and get back in here and go on. But we'll try to get as much done. Um, and I think what we kind of owe to our patrons as well, I think maybe we'll get together one day and try to set some time apart and we'll record some content that we can chop up and put up on Patreon for the Patreon listeners because I mean this will be you know, we're all together and it'll be in the same room in front of the same camera, so we can and um you know get some cool behind the scenes stuff too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So um, yep. Looking forward to it as well. Not looking forward to the plane trip. I did get a little fancy. I went Delta Boys. I learned the hard way last October when I went up for my mom's heart surgery, and I took um one of those cheap airlines in and um like Frontier or something, yeah. Lawn chair, lawn chair ink these airways. I mean, yeah, they got the plastic molded seats that don't move at all, and you know, being six foot five. I always tell the story, but it it bears to be told. Pre-9-11, actually, even post-9-11, I'd say pre-2013. My tall ass gets on the plane, they say, Hey, you want the bulkhead seat? You're tall, yeah. Right this way. Now it's hey, do you want the bulkhead seat? Yeah, 50 bucks. It's like, you know, it's just it's so they they just nickel and dime you, and you know, Frontier and the other cheap ones, it's and the main and comfort aside, the main reason I can't I didn't even go with them now is like when I went up for my mom's surgery, we had a hurricane coming, and they hadn't quite canceled the flight yet, but I had to make adjustments, and it's like, oh, you couldn't even call. Like, you couldn't even call and talk to anybody. Like when you called the 800 number, they wanted your um your your manifest number or whatever, and it says, Oh, your flight's not within 24 hours, you can't talk to anybody. It's like I got a hurricane coming in two days, I need to reschedule this. I can't be in Kentucky 18 hours before my flight and then get a different flight home. You know, it's like and I end up bringing buying a second ticket and flying Delta home. And long story short, when it's all said and done, I was able to get a refund. But it's like when you're in the thick of it, I need to at least be able to talk to somebody on the phone, you know. It was like, and so I just I well, I went with Delta, so it my flight out there should be. I think I have a layover somewhere, but you know, I'm looking forward to getting out of Florida for a while. I love I had a great time the first time I was in Texas, so looking forward to coming back, and uh we'll have to get some smoked meat somewhere and just oh yeah, for sure. We'll get you down the river walk. There you go. So uh thank you guys for hanging out with us for the start of another year. Please email us, mail call at WTSPworldwar 2.com. If you got a topic you want us to talk about, or maybe a topic you think you can contribute to the show, please reach out to us and we'll have you on. Um, or if you know somebody that we need to be on, let us know. We'll happily accommodate that for myself, Dennis, and Jeff. We'll happily talk to you all in a week.
SPEAKER_00This has been a digital four tin production.