The fictional and historical documentary series, The War, created by Ken Burns, follows the deep and engrossing stories of soldiers who fought in WWII along with their family struggles back at home. The documentary portrays perspectives and emotions of chosen veterans who fought in WWII and grew up in the four small towns of Luverne, Minnesota, and Waterbury, Connecticut, along with Sacramento, California, and Mobile, Alabama. In the first episode of the series, A Necessary War, life before the beginning of the war is shown in glimpses of each of these towns, such as the places to eat, certain types of jobs, the demographics of the population, and the overall livelihood in every town. Nearly all of the soldiers the documentary follows are shown
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The stories of Sidney Phillips and Glenn Frazier are primarily portrayed throughout the episode. Phillips, a young man out of Mobile, Alabama, was one of the many soldiers who enlisted, left his family behind, and fought in gruesome battles. Phillips was involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign, fighting Japanese soldiers in terrible conditions, with low ammunition and food. He and his fellow soldiers suffered without the help of an American fleet, and was consistently bombarded and ambushed my Japanese planes and troops. Frazier, also from Alabama, signed up to the Army at age 16, hoping for a new exciting life. Soon, Frazier next found himself in the middle of World War II surrounded by Japanese soldiers in Bataan. When forced to surrender to the Japanese troops, Frazier and thousands of his fellow soldiers were sent to a POW Camp called Camp O’Donnell on a very tenuous march without any food where many American soldiers died, which later became known as the Bataan Death March. Frazier went 6 days without any food and any sleep, yet somehow managed to reach Camp O’Donnell alive, where he remained as a prisoner of war for 3 years. Frazier and his soldiers experienced a glimpse of what the Jews in Europe suffered through, as they were sent to crowded concentration camps with little to no food and were forced into hard
The stories of Sidney Phillips and Glenn Frazier are primarily portrayed throughout the episode. Phillips, a young man out of Mobile, Alabama, was one of the many soldiers who enlisted, left his family behind, and fought in gruesome battles. Phillips was involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign, fighting Japanese soldiers in terrible conditions, with low ammunition and food. He and his fellow soldiers suffered without the help of an American fleet, and was consistently bombarded and ambushed my Japanese planes and troops. Frazier, also from Alabama, signed up to the Army at age 16, hoping for a new exciting life. Soon, Frazier next found himself in the middle of World War II surrounded by Japanese soldiers in Bataan. When forced to surrender to the Japanese troops, Frazier and thousands of his fellow soldiers were sent to a POW Camp called Camp O’Donnell on a very tenuous march without any food where many American soldiers died, which later became known as the Bataan Death March. Frazier went 6 days without any food and any sleep, yet somehow managed to reach Camp O’Donnell alive, where he remained as a prisoner of war for 3 years. Frazier and his soldiers experienced a glimpse of what the Jews in Europe suffered through, as they were sent to crowded concentration camps with little to no food and were forced into hard