Tag: History

Howard Hughes Camarillo Airport Connection

Came across this little gem in the Wikipedia article about Oxnard Air Force Base, or what is today Camarillo Airport:

Oxnard Airport was opened in 1934 by the County of Ventura and consisted of a 3,500 foot dirt runway … During the thirties Howard Hughes erected a tent on the airport to shelter his H-1 racer, which he tested from the Oxnard Airport.

All the more interesting considering that I always suspected the scene in The Aviator when Hughes crashes the H-1 into a beet field was filmed in Oxnard. Locals may recognize some of the nearby features in these shots (ignoring the simulated bipack color Scorsese annoyed us with), better to just watched on the DVD at 46:35:

Which pretty confidently puts the shooting location about here. The real event took place near Santa Ana, CA captured in this National Geographic photo.

Review: HBO’s The Pacific

Today I watched the last installment of HBO’s The Pacific, culminating 10 hours of intense television that I had been anticipating for months. As with Band of Brothers before it, The Pacific was more than just education–it brought amazing perspective on the tragedy and violence of war and reenforced how small my own problems seem in comparison.

The Pacific was about as different from Band of Brothers as the Pacific Theatre was from the European during the war. As Eugene Sledge points out in this talk, the German soldier was a very competent killer, but in the end, wanted to get back to his family after the war. The Imperial Japanese soldier, however, had no higher honor than to die for the emperor. That led to a very different kind of brutality and a raw volume of killing thoroughly depicted in the series.

On balance, I felt Band of Brothers to be the better of the two–primarily due to the fact you are following one cohort through the war and get to know the soldiers, and their amazing leader Dick Winters, quite well over the 10 hours. The Pacific bounced around between different key Marines and only touched on some of the incredible leadership stories (Chesty Puller getting the most attention).

One of the most compelling stories, that of Captain Andrew “Ack-Ack” Haldane, deserved more attention. He represented the best America had to offer, a natural leader: captain of the football and baseball teams, president of the student council, beloved by his men and respected by his superiors. As you can read in this profile, and this news story, his impact is still felt.

Even as an American history buff, I did not know the whole story of John Basilone and intentionally did not read more about him beforehand so as to experience his story unfold in the series. That resulted in the second kick in the stomach of the series for me, the first being Haldane. After reading the citations for his Medal of Honor and Navy Cross, I couldn’t help but feel the depiction of both events in the series was lacking.

As with Band of Brothers, the series brought an amazing perspective to the “problems” I have in my “intense” and “stressful” corporate job. Since we don’t have cable at home, I bribed a history buff friend of mine to subscribe to HBO (thanks Scott!) so we could watch each episode over lunch at his house. The contrast couldn’t be more stark, going from my “hectic” office, to view (or rather experience) each episode in the dark of his living room, then emerge an hour later to a sunny afternoon in his bucolic suburban neighborhood. Each time I returned to the office, things seemed a little less dire at work.

Overall, I salute Hanks and the producers for putting this historic piece out there. It will educate countless viewers about what those men went through, and maybe make you think a little bit differently about Trumen’s decision to use the nuclear bomb to ultimately save lives. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as Band of Brothers, it is an important contribution to our historic memory and a superb tribute to those Marines.

Band of Brothers Hero

I’m not one to usually perpetuate forwarded emails, however I made an exception here:

One of the “Band of Brothers” soldiers died on June 17, 2009.

We’re hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services.

I want a nationwide memorial service for Darrell “Shifty” Powers.

Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry.

If you’ve seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn’t know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the “Screaming Eagle”, the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he’d been in the 101st Airborne, or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said, “Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945 … ” at which point my heart skipped.  At that point, again, very humbly, he said, “I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy … . do you know where Normandy is?”

At this point my heart stopped.

I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was and I know what D-Day was.
At that point he said “I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem .”
I was standing with a genuine war hero … . and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day.

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said; “Yes. And it’s real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can’t make the trip.“ My heart was in my throat and I didn’t know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I’d take his in coach.

He said, “No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy.” His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this.

Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer.

There was no parade.  No big event in Staples Center.  No wall-to-wall, back-to-back, 24×7 news coverage.  No weeping fans on television.  And that’s not right.

Rest in peace, Shifty.

“A nation without heroes is nothing.”

Indeed.