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Article: Private Ryan saves war. (criticism for film 'Saving Private Ryan' which fails to speak out against the horrors of war)
- Article from:
- The Progressive
- Article date:
- October 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 The Progressive, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Like so many World War II veterans (I could see them all around me in the theater audience), I was drawn to see Saving Private Ryan. I had volunteered for the Air Force at the age of twenty. After training as a bombardier, I went overseas with my crew to fly some of the last bombing missions of the European war.
My pilot was nineteen. My tailgunner was eighteen. Every death in Saving Private Ryan reminded me, as it must have reminded other veterans, of how lucky we were, we who survived. My two closest Air Force buddies who went through training with me and then on to other theaters (what a word, "theaters"!)--Joe Perry to Italy, Ed Plotkin to the Pacific--were ...