Post your questions here for Part Eight of "The Pacific" after it airs Sunday, May 2nd at 9:00pm, only on HBO.

Bruce: another amazing episode of one of the best things I've ever watched in any media - I hope you and the entire team are really proud of the show and the reception so far. I'm sure the appreciation will grow over time just like it did for Band of Brothers; hopefully the Blu-Rays will outsell that little Avatar movie as well.

Was there a conscious decision to return to the States and feature 35 minutes or so of relatively quiet action after the terror of Peleliu?

I've read differing opinions on how Basilone actually died - mortar or bullets. Did you try to find the definitive truth or use what worked best for the scene?

Thank you.

As a Marine Corps Veteran i would like to say thank you for finally bringing some justice to the Pacific theater.

I would like to know why you didnt choose to show the raising of the flag on Suribachi to honor all the vets who died on Iwo Jima?

I understand that this episode was meant to honor John Basilone, and he deserves the respect that was shown to him, and Lena, but i'm just curious why you guys chose not to show the 1 thing the Corps is most associated with (The Suribachi flag raisings).

I fealt a little let down by that because there were a whole lot more people who died on Iwo To with John Basilone that could have been honored by simply showing the flag raising.

Fantastic series, and i would like to thank everyone for doing this for us. Please consider doing a mini series about the Marine Corps in WW1 next, and then Korea. WW1 is a forgotten conflict in modern film, and Korea is a forgotten war as a whole, and both could stand to be told in the way The Pacific is being done.

thank you

First off, just want to say thanks for creating the series in general. The Pacific theater of WWII was one of the first areas of history I began studying when I first decided to become a history teacher and I was always hoping a Band of Brothers type project would eventually come to fruition so that I might be able to let students in on the knowledge and images of the conflict.

For my question on the episode, it is similar to Mike's above. Was there any thoughts and/or discussions about doing a more in depth look into the Battle of Iwo Jima rather than just Basilone's story up until his death? I was hoping we might follow his company through to the end of the battle or something close to that. Basically, I realize the story was only meant to follow the 3 marines, but on a personal level, after seeing Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, I thought they only did an OK job depicting the battle, both still felt incomplete to me and I was looking forward to this episode for years now hoping it might get into more detail of that month long struggle on the island after taking Suribachi. Still a very powerful episode nonetheless so kudos.

Also, do we ever find out what JP Morgan's fate? Unfortunately I only know of John's war story and was curious about Morgan since John first left back for the states

Edit: I see now after reading through the previous discussions that the episode durations were discussed a bunch. On that note, I have deleted that question and I will just thank you for aiding the creation of this series as I have been looking forward to it since I first heard rumors of it some 4 years ago.

And to echo Mike's sentiments, by all means, keep creating as many projects as you possibly can on any conflicts throughout history. They're simply incredible to take in and are a great tribute to all those who have sacrificed past and present.

Bruce, hi. I've told you elsewhere how much I enjoyed the John-Lena portrayal, and how awestruck I was by the Iwo action. Question: historical sources differ on Basilone at the bunker, Basilone and the tank attack, and Basilone's death. You seem largely to have departed from the conventional wisdom. Was that based on additional research? Driven by narrative? I'm most curious.

In any case, terrific job. My respects, Doug

PBJ --

Thanks. It's pretty damn good, ain't it? Yes, we intentionally spent some time away from Hell so that the audience could breath. Otherwise people would just turn off their tvs.

As for Basilone's death. I've interviewed dozens of guys who claim they saw him die...and all of them are suspect as witnesses. We relied on the offical medical report -- unseen by anyone until Hugh Ambrose dug it out of the archives. It clearly states that he died from GUNSHOT WOUNDS. So that's why we went with bullets instead of mortars.

Modus

You're welcome! Thank you for watching.

Mike --

Thank you for your service. I'm really glad so many vets, marine corps and otherwise, have responded so positively to the Series.

As for the flag raising, we felt very strongly that the audience's pov should be that of the men we were depicting at all times. This made it impossible to show the flag raising at it happens a few days after John's death on D Day. Remember that the power of the Series derives from its intensely personal pov of war, and that if we violated that, it would weaken the dramatic integrity of the piece. Now, having said that, I will reveal that we tried to do an entire episode on Iwo (very early in the script writing process), in which we followed the two men, Tatum and Evanson, who fought with Basilone. They did see the Flag Raising, but from a decidedly unheroic vantage point: they were frantically digging a foxhole to get out of a phosphorous attack by the Japanese when they heard ship horns, turned around, saw a glimpse of red white and blue atop Suribachi, then went right back to digging as fast as they could to get out of the white hot rain. I wished we could have kept that, but again, it violated our mandate to follow the three leads as closely as possible.

LTS --

Thanks. Read my reply above for the Iwo aspect. Even if we had followed Tatum and Evanson, we wouldn't have gone behind day ten on Iwo as Evanson is killed and Tatum taken off the island after suffering severe combat fatigue. One of the reasons we spend so much time on Peleliu is because it closely resembled Iwo in terms of carnage. The casualty rates, as a percentage of men who fought, are almost identical to Iwo Jima. And dramatists are loathe to explore something that other dramatists have plowed, so to speak. One interesting fact about Iwo that I do wish we could have explored is the VAST number of marines who broke on the line and had to be taken off (thousands). Iwo really was bad, and the marines victory there is a great testament to the corps. But, alas, we just couldn't make it work dramatically for the Series.

You will find out what happened to JP Morgan.

Doug --

You're spending WAY too much time on line! ; )

The conventional wisdom for a lot of the Series is wrong. Particularly when it comes to Basilone. (He listed Golf as his preferred sport, not boxing, when he filled out his Marine Corps papers, for instance). The bunker attack was a bit different from Chuck Tatum's depiction, which we were utilizing: the bunker had steel doors, but we couldn't find any visual reference to this and so used a more standard open bunker. Also, the back of the bunker drained out into kind of a swale and not so much of a trench. Having said that, Chuck was pretty awestruck by what we portrayed. We also didn't have enough SET to show the full extent of BAsilone's push to the airfield. Because of this, we put him into a trench so that we could get a sense of passage and movement that was realistic; otherwise, you'd go, huh? he just ran twenty yards... The tank attack was a bit different because we filmed Iwo in the middle of a quarry in Australia with kangaroos hopping in the b.g. We were SEVERELY limited on what we could show and how long we could stay on any given shot on the beach. You'll notice that the Iwo sequence is the one battle sequence that most heavily relies on Special Effects. Therefore a lot of things -- like the Tanks coming up the beach -- had to be truncated and abbreviated and shot in ways that protected us from seeing Melbourne in the b.g. As for Basilone's death...see my answer above. According to the medical record of the day (prepared on Iwo), we got it right.

Semper Fi!

Hello Bruce,
I've just watched the episode. Thank you. It's been fantastic. You guys made an outstanding job. Enough said.

My question is not related to characters or historic dramatization: above, there are some really interesting comments and inquiries.
Since I pretend to be a screenwriter myself, what I would like to ask you has to do with technical aspects of writing for television.

How did you organize the writing tasks for the series? I reckon you were on board (and at the helm, I would say) from the get go, if not responsible for the whole development, so how did you worked with the writing staff (Laurence Andries, Robert Schenkken, Michelle Ashford, George Pelecanos and Graham Yost)? Were there brainstorming sessions before everyone closed themselves into their secret retreat or was it a more collaborative endeavour?

Barley --

It's great to have a "making of" question! I was hired to create the Series structure and characters, etc. by Hanks and Spielberg. Then when we had a "Series Outline" (which at the time was 13 episodes and Five Main Characters), we hired a writing staff: Robert, George, and Larry. They worked closely with me (And me with them -- they're all pretty damn good writers), to crank out the first drafts. We talked regularly about the scripts...and then everyone came in to discuss them with Hanks -- which is when we decided to cut the Series to 10 Eps and Three Main Characters. We went back to our respective "secret retreats" and rewrote the scripts again -- always under my supervision. Then...as we got close to production, HBO hired Graham to get the scripts into production shape. At the time, I had no production experience, so my job was to help Graham and make sure that what he did hewed close to the facts and characters. Then...Graham brought in Michelle (I had asked her to work on the Series early on, but she had a scheduling conflict). As the Series went into production, Graham decided to direct an episode, so I came back as the "showrunner" to manage the scripts through production. Tom Hanks also acted as the "supreme commander" and rewrote scenes throughout the scripts. So, all in all, it was pretty collaborative. We all tried to keep each other honest.

Hi, Bruce.

I really enjoy the Pacific, and think it's well made. Even though you don't grow as attached to the secondary characters as you did in BoB, I still think it works just fine, and I will definitely buy the DVD once it's released.

This episode was better than I expected, and it worked really well. The Iwo Jima part was amazing.

Anyways, to my first question; I watched an interview with Charles Womack some time prior to the airing of the first Pacific episode. I'm fairly interested in flamethrowers, and the Marines whom operated them. There hasn't really been many movies or TV shows with actors portraying real life flamethrower operator. The only one that comes to mind is Charles W. Lindberg in "Flags of Our Fathers", so I was surprised when Womack turned up in episode 7, even though i'd wish we would see more of him. So, my question being; Will we see more of Womack in episode 9?

And to my second and last question; For some time, i've tried to find real life pictures of Snafu, but could only find one of him taken back in the 80's. You wouldn't happen to know if there's any sites, or books where I can see more of him? I checked his character profile on HBO.com, but there wasn't much.

- Jonas/Carne

Thanks a ton for the response Bruce. Very interesting stuff.

Carne --

Thanks. As for Womack, we may see him or someone like him in Ep. 9. I honestly don't remember. As for Snafu, you're not alone. We had a hard time finding pictures of him. But if you watch Ep 10, I think we may show a picture of him then. And the DVD will have shots of him, I'm sure.

LTS --

You're welcome. Enjoy the rest of the show.

BCM

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for taking the time to answer all of these questions and giving us some insight into the making of this incredible mini-series. I knew nothing about John Basilone or what he did for his country, but after watching episode 8 I will never forget his name and what he did.
I cannot comprehend the courage displayed by this man and the sacrifice he made by returning to action after receiving the Medal of Honor. It was a privilege to see the series dedicate this episode to the memory of John and it was indeed a well timed break from the constant battles.

I also wanted to ask you if there were any instances of continuity mistakes that you guys missed and whether you could point them out? Also, since you've had ample time to reflect on the project, are they're any scenes you would have portrayed differently? And finally, were there any regrets after you wrapped production?

Xenon --

There are occasional continuity gaffes, but they are very slight. My favorite is the DUKW that drives behind Captain Haldane in Episode Seven. It keeps passing him as we cut back and forth between Sledge and Haldane. There are many many things I would have done differently, now that I can step back and view the Series from a distance. Nothing major. I would have liked some of the editing to be different on occasion. But regrets? No.

bruce,

I hope you read this because I have confusion over the Lena/John relationship. You guys masterfully developed the relationship and Annie just grows on you during the episode. Everyone I know loved her as Lena. Recently, I have read an article in the Orange County Register by Keith Sharon which quotes Lena's friend Barbara Garner that Lena died inlove with john in 1999. Clint Watters also speaks well of her and apprently kept in touch with her over the years. In contrast, in James Brady's book he claims that John almost married a girl lolita years earlier and that Lena only met the Basilone family once and they didnt like her. He does make the point John and Lena were perfect for each other. He also claims she gave the basilones the 10k from his death. However, recently multiple pictures have shown up on the internet with her and his family. There was a rumor that Dora asked her to move to Raritan. All Don Basilone says is, "He didnt know that girl very long before they got married." What was the deal there? She lived to 86 but never remarried. Did she live a full life or an unhappy widow? It is as if she disappeared from the public eye never wanting to exploit John's name. Did she ever do an interview? Unfortuntely, I think John dying made his legend grow. If he lived, he would have been more forgotten, he is like a martyar now.

Also, I was glad to see alot of the guys are still alive or lived long lives. The one characther everyone talks about to me if Snafu. Is Merriel Shelton still alive?

M --

We focused very hard on John and Lena's relationship. You will see a bit of how she interacts with the Basilone family in Ten. We fudged, frankly. They weren't very happy with her and weren't very nice to her. And although Lena says she never kept the 10 grand, the Basilone family says they never kept it either. So, who knows? No one is sure about the girl Lolita from Manila. The source for this is a long series of newspaper articles from 1960 that are themselves suspect. We certainly didn't depend on them as Basilone's Boxing has always been emphasized, but may not have been true. He was a golfer.
Lena never remarried. I think she said that once you have the best, what's the point afterwards, or something to that effect. She never wanted to share in any limelight with John, which is why he probably married her.
Keep watching: you will find out what happens to Shelton.

Not trying to beat a dead horse but where does the info on their resentment towards her? Don Basilone was interviewed in a paper recently and said, "He didnt know her that long before they got married." But Clint Waters seemed to think very highly of her.
did anyone ever interview lena when she was alive? It seems the family couldnt be to resentful considering she didnt seem to try and use his name for publicity. Her neice Fiddle who has had a good career on broadway seems set on defending her honor. I also seen a few pictures recently of her with John's parents. I guess they met more than the one time Brady claimed. What kind of life did she live after he died? To me, it seems weird that in a few months they could fall so crazy in love. I actually knew a basilone a few years back that is where the interest comes from. It seems everything is hearsey. Were they actually in love or was it one of those rush to get married before you get deployed that alot of guys did back then?
Being Italian from NJ/NY his parents probably didnt like the fact she was from the west coast and preferred a girl from Raritan. LOL. (I was shocked there was italians in portland)

On a side note, I know alot of people have complained that this is not good as band of brothers but I love it and understand what you were trying to do. It is a story of 3 individuals and not a squadron of guys. BOB we grew a connection to Easy Company. The Pacific we grow a connection to individuals.
Also, you casted phenomanal. Joe Mazzello, Rami Malek (A breakthough performance), James Badge Dale, Annie Parisse, etc. were really great.

M --

Get a copy of Hugh Ambrose's companion book. He does a good job of teasing out the facts of Lena and John's relationship. To some degree these things will always be gray...but the fact of the matter is, I believe Lena only met the family twice. She was buried wearing her wedding ring and never remarried, which ought to tell you how she felt about John. We really don't know the full extent of it, but the family and Lena were never close.

TP and BOB have very different intentions and themes. I respect the view that Band is better. I respect those who think the Pacific is better. They are good compliments to each other.

I guess we will never know. I was curious because back then alot of people just rushed and got married because they were deploying. I was surprised the family would be mean considering she was a ghost after his death. Clint Watters seemed to have kept in contact. Either way, thanks for the response. I know it was hard to answer.

Did you find Chuck Tatum to be accurate? When I read his accounts, it seems that he idolized John. Also, How many of the guys are still alive?

I like both tp and bob. they are different and meant to be that way.

Part 8 of the series was simply fabulous. I love the pacific.
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