Posted on 09/24/2007 1:13:50 PM PDT by hawkeye101
WATERLOO --- The first installment of Ken Burns' long awaited seven-part World War II documentary, "The War," which aired on PBS Sunday night, captivated many but contained one error that caught the attention of some Cedar Valley residents.
Local viewers noted that the show' first installment, "A Necessary War," mistakenly stated that the five Sullivan Brothers, who enlisted in 1941 and were killed Nov. 13, 1942, were from Fredericksburg, Iowa, and not Waterloo.
The confusion probably arose because Bill Ball of Fredericksburg, a good friend of the Sullivans, was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. His death, according to Courier articles, is the reason that the Sullivan brothers chose to enlist.
The Sullivans had met and made friends with Ball and his siblings when they all attended dances at the Electric Park Ballroom in the 1930s.
The Sullivan Brothers were the children of Thomas Sullivan, of Harpers Ferry, who moved to Waterloo in 1910. He married Alleta Abel, a native of Waterloo, on Feb. 14, 1914. The boys --- George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert --- were all born in Waterloo.
Kelly Sullivan Loughren of Cedar Falls, granddaughter and grandniece of the Sullivans, said her ancestors did not live in Fredericksburg. She deferred to unofficial local Sullivan family historian Michael Magee of Waterloo, who agreed.
"That's disappointing," Loughren said.
Magee said he hoped the producers can correct the error on any subsequent airings or DVD releases of the film.
Lynn Novick of Florentine Films, who co-produced and co-directed the film with Burns, visited Waterloo when research for the film began more than five years ago. Waterloo had been considered as one of the communities to be featured in the film, but eventually was ruled out in favor of others.
Attempts to contact Novick this morning were unsuccessful.
Same here. I watched that 1944 movie a jillion times. At the end, when they were walking in the clouds, and then waiting for the youngest one to catch up, like in he did in real life, was a real tearjerker.
Can you imagine what would have happened if the Italian American community complained about not receiving specific coverage.
This is a cut & paste of my response to a poster who thought somebody was insulting active duty personnel in another thread which was about this very topic. I’m also attaching a link to that thread as well. Forgive my laziness in not re-typing it.
"I think the slam was intended for "hispanic veterans" who are indignant about Burns failure to insert policical correctness into a documentary.
I haven't seen the documentary yet of course, but in my opinion the only valid focus on ethnicity in a history of Americans in WWII would be on the institutional segregation of black Americans, and the story of the American Indian code talkers, and the Japanese Neisi. It has some relevance in those cases.
I have Mexican blood, and a Mexican great uncle who fought at Tarawa. I know he would have been disgusted at the transparent manner those activists try to inject modern politics into history.
He (that great uncle) did by the way tell me often when I was a young boy that he had nothing but contempt for Mexico and wouldn't consider living in that country as a king. He also had a brother (who I never knew) who was severely wounded at the Remagen Bridge.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901013/posts
I guess some these groups just have to have their special recognition! as for the rest, well I guess that they have to settle for being AMERICANS.
What do you expect from Minnesota, anyway?
Wrong on two counts. I just don't buy the 500,000 number. Approximately 16 million Americans served in uniform during WWII. Hispanics made up around 1.5% of the 130 million Americans, which equates to 1,950,000. When you take into account that half of the number were women and then allow for age, i.e., the number of men between the ages of 18-30, there is no way 500,000 served even if some women are added who could have served in the WACs, WAVEs, etc.
Irish-Ameicans claim that they had more MOH winners. Irish Dominate Medal of Honor List
To the credit of the men in the field, none of that mattered.
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