The Revisionist Attitude Towards The Pacific Theater

[Sailor Steve]

Not mine. Deaf, that is. I had two uncles at Pearl Harbor and it has been my regret since my thirties that I never got to hear all their stories.

When I saw World At War for the first time all those years ago I was offended by the lack of coverage given the PTO. Seeing it again more recently I realized that in some ways it really was a sideshow, at least where coverage is concerned. Given that there was constant fighting going on everywhere, the Pacific looks more like a patchwork - lots of planning and maneuvering leading to a handful of very bloody and vitally important battles.

I think that's the biggest problem in dealing with the Pacific war - most of the time not much was happening. Of course when things did happen, it was big big big!