I haven’t watched it yet. I’m a little suspicious of it because of HBO, Spielberg, Hanks and Goetzman. Not really your average patriotic Americans. My father was in the 1st Marine Division, 1bn 7 Marines during WWII and new John Basilone. I’ll catch it sooner or later. I hope it’s not as bad as you say but I don’t have any reason not to believe you.
If you are talking about mutilation of Japanese bodies and attitudes about no quarter from the enemy, you are wrong. Read With The Old Breed on Peleliu and Okinawa, by E.B. Sledge. Sledge’s account and commentary about the Pacific campaign fit pretty well with the movie. Sledge was an ordinary grunt on the ground and his account parallels very closely with what I was told by several WWII Marines I knew as a teenager and several of those veterans I served with as a Marine. In the book Sledge acknowledges that there were unrecognized heros and that the ferocity and casualty rate of the island fighting set up conditions where those who witnessed the acts of heroism did not survive. There was also a concept among those Marines that each was doing their duty and there were many individual acts of heroism on a daily basis but many of those who were part of those acts including the officers did not survive. The one recognized hero of the series was John Basilone and there was also a good bit of coverage of Chesty Puller who won five Navy Crosses over his career. It is recognized that Puller was nominated for but never won the MOH because he was despised by the Army brass. Remember that the Army under Dugout Doug MacArthur had much of the operational control over the Marines in the Pacific.
Semper Fi!
Contrary to marine mythology, marines are men; subject to all the noble and savage impulses of men like all other men.