WWII VET DOESN'T NEED MOVIE; HE LIVED IT.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The former coach has never seen a war movie. When you've seen the real thing, why would you want to? He doesn't need to sit in a darkened dark·en v. dark·ened, dark·en·ing, dark·ens v.tr. 1. a. To make dark or darker. b. To give a darker hue to. 2. To fill with sadness; make gloomy. 3. movie theater to be reminded of the buddies he lost in World War II and Korea, Jack McCaffrey says. Guys who never got to raise a family, have a career, retire and go fishing. Guys who never got the chance to grow old. No, when you've seen the real thing, you don't need to see a war movie. ``But I'm thinking about going to see this one,'' the 83-year-old Woodland Hills resident said Wednesday. ``I've read excerpts from the book. This one is different.'' The movie he's talking about is ``Flags of Our Fathers,'' a best-selling best·sell·er also best seller n. A product, such as a book, that is among those sold in the largest numbers. best book that has been made into a movie directed by Oscar-winner Clint Eastwood. It depicts the lives of the six Marines who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (ē`wō jē`mə, ē`wô), Jap. Io-jima, volcanic island, c.8 sq mi (21 sq km), W Pacific, largest and most important of the Volcano Islands. Mt. , a moment captured by Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. photographer Joe Rosenthal Joe Rosenthal (October 9 1911 – August 20 2006) was an American photographer who received the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic World War II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima. and recorded forever in history. From what he's read, the movie is not so much about death and war as it is about life and the curse of forced fame, McCaffrey says. Not exactly a war movie. More a human tragedy. He was there that day in 1945 -- a 21-year-old 2nd lieutenant sitting in a foxhole, a quarter-mile from where Easy Company erected the flag on Mount Suribachi. ``You could feel everyone's spirits rise, and a surge of pride come out of every foxhole,'' says McCaffrey, who coached football and track at Van Nuys, Canoga Park and Taft High schools before he retired in 1980. ``Everyone cheered, and the battleships The list of battleships includes all battleships since 1859, listed alphabetically. The list also contains battlecruisers which share most of the characteristics of a battleship or have otherwise been referred to as battleships. at sea blew their horns. We were all filled with pride, but none of us thought it would be such a monumental moment in history.'' During his 30-year career as an educator, he never talked about war with the boys he coached, McCaffrey said. He just couldn't. ``What was to talk about?'' McCaffrey asked. ``How you survived and your friends didn't? How you got lucky, and they didn't? A lot of us have carried that guilt around.'' The history books say that more than 6,800 Americans died in the 36-day battle for that eight-square-mile island in February and March 1945. In less than a week on Iwo Jima, McCaffrey went from a rookie rookie a novice; often an athlete playing his first season as a member of a professional sports team. [Sports: Misc.] See : Inexperience replacement officer to commander of Dog Company, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines. It wasn't that he was so good. It was that he was still alive. ``There were nine or 10 officers in the company,'' he says. ``I was the last one who hadn't been killed or wounded. My command lasted exactly one day.'' With his gunnery sergeant standing next to him, company commander McCaffrey looked through a pair of binoculars on a dark night when a shell exploded in the sky above, silhouetting his body to a sniper See sniping software. . ``The bullet went through my hand, shattered shat·ter v. shat·tered, shat·ter·ing, shat·ters v.tr. 1. To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. 2. a. the binoculars, and it went into my left eye,'' McCaffrey says. At dawn, he was airlifted to a hospital on Guam before being sent home to a naval hospital in Long Beach. World War II was over for McCaffrey, but he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves and was later sent to Korea for a year. Two wars in a span of eight years. McCaffrey had seen enough of the real thing. He didn't need to see the movie. dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3749 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2) Jack McCaffrey sits in the living room of his Woodland Hills home Wednesday remembering his time as a young Marine, above left, during World War ll and his experience on Iwo Jima. A film by Clint Eastwood depicting the fierce fighting in the Pacific is soon to be released. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion