The War

I listened to this excellent Ken Burns / Geoffrey Ward documentary on World War II in the car over the last few weeks. It does an excellent job of giving big picture and overarching plot, and diving into personal details and specific stories as well. The narrator has a very solumn and respectful voice but also brings the tension and excitement this story deserves. I am so amazed by the American heroes of WWII.

One of the most amazing anecdotes in this documentary happens during the Battle of the Bulge. A soldier's company's medic dies, and he himself gets shot, and digs the bullet out himself. His captain says "who fixed you up soldier?" and when he says he did it himself, his captain makes him the company medic. Later, this soldier is working on a prisoner, and the prisoner turns around in perfect English and asks him where he is from. The soldier says "the Northeast US", and the prisoner says "where in the northeast?". The soldier says the name of the state, and the prisoner asks what the name of the town is. The soldier names the town and the prisoner asks "is that between (such and so) rivers?". Which was an extremely specific location. The soldier says "how did you know that?". The prisoner explains that he had been training for the administration of the Americas. So, Hitler was so bold that he had his long term eyes on a US takeover! I had never heard that before. It also shows how desperate the Germans were by this time to send such a highly trained person into battle...

Anyway, highly recommended.