Combat tv series question

[jchodur]

I to remember the story of Sgt. Saunders wearing the USMC helmet camo because of his MC brother. I either read it on the web or it was included as trivia information on the DVD's. In addition, there were several instances of the squad members reloading but I think the film editors keyed in on the more "action packed" footage. Pierre Jalbert (Caje) did an interview for one of the DVD extras and he said practiced loading his M1 until he was very fast, the fastest in the squad. The other war program that I remember was called Men At War, I believe. It may be the one Acorn remembers also. It did not follow one squad or theater. It jumped between European and Asian theaters each week.

 

[Bat Guano]

Watched it faithfully my first two years of college; then transferred and no TV available. A few years ago Amazon had the entire series for about $50, so I finally got to watch it all. 152 episodes, as I recall. Some excellent ones, too.

 

[Evil Dog]

I could be wrong on this but the M1 carbine Lt Hanley carries is a bit ahead of it's time. I believe they didn't have the bayonet lug until after WW2.

 

[pmhayden]

A friend from my high school days wrote this about his “Combat” days:

orange chair pictures: boys and wars




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[jack the toad]

While only a wee kid, Combat, Rat Patrol and McHale's Navy were regularly watched at our house.

 

[Texas Star]

I, too, detested the reversed bayonet points in the interlude and title sequences. Figured it was some pompous Hollywood director's taking artistic license with reality.Like the way modern singers usually render the national anthem...

I was in HS ROTC. I knew what Garand bayonets looked like.

Hans Gudegast, who played the German captain on, Rat Patrol, had difficulties in Hollywood because he really WAS German and that didn't sit well in Tinseltown. Can't say more here.

Eventually, he changed his name to Eric Braeden and played for decades on some major soap opera. For all I know, he's still there. Good actor.

Combat had its flaws, but was among the better TV shows then.

 

[Old Corp]

As a kid, my buddies in the neighborhood all watched 'Combat' and we'd often go out and 'play' Combat. My first 'gun collection' was all Mattel and similar plastic guns.
Lots of woods in the area that became battlegrounds, ditches were foxholes. Tree blow-downs were Field HQ's etc.
I was really proud to have the best gun collection and often loaned out a plastic 1911 or Thompson to keep the troops armed.

That was until a kinda new kid from another nearby neighborhood showed up to play in our scenario and he was carrying a genuine M1 Carbine his Dad had removed the bolt from. Said he'd been playing Army with it for a few years.

Can you imagine any of that now?
Gonna quit now - I feel old.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Never cared much for rat patrol........But THE Gallant Men was a close second to Combat.

 

[DWalt]

Somewhere I have a picture of me with Rick Jason from sometime in the late 1960s. He played Lt. Hanley. I think he committed suicide, don't remember details.

 

[JackM]

I grew up watching the same shows: Twelve O'Clock High, Combat, the Rat Patrol, etc. I also watched Hogan's Heroes and could never understand why it took America (and our allies) so long to win World War II since the Germans were so stupid? Yeah, I was the the kid in class that always asked the weird questions.

Regards,

Dave[/QUOTE]

I once read a review of one of Alistair Maclean's novels (Where Eagles Dare, Guns Of Navarone, Force Ten From Navarone, etc, etc). The reviewer suggested the same thing: that if Maclean's leading characters were typical of the Allies, World War II would have lasted six weeks, not six years.

 

[klondike]

I had a customer once who was from Germany. He was in the US visiting the site where he had been interned as a POW. He HATED picking cotton and really did not like Texas at all. But what was funny was his telling of how he was "Ze bad guy who fought against ze Rat Patrol."
He loved the series.

 

[mtgianni]

I remember John D McDonald writing about a nurse in the opening scene of Mash. She was never shown in anything but the opening scene and he went on about the concern shown on her face and the small moment of her life frozen in time forever repeating it's self.
Still didn't care for the show, bunch of people whining about what they couldn't change.

 

[Simson-Suhl]

6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945, I remember Sgt. Sanders being wounded so many times he had to have a super human body to heal so fast. Still I did enjoy the show. As far as the "Rat Patrol", I worked with an older English Gentleman, a WW2 Vet. and the show the night before had the good guys driving by in a jeep giving the German Officer who was on his knees a salute. My english friend had also watched the show, Stated, "Salute my a**! I'd gave him a burst with my Bren Gun!

 

[DWalt]

I had a customer once who was from Germany. He was in the US visiting the site where he had been interned as a POW. He HATED picking cotton and really did not like Texas at all. But what was funny was his telling of how he was "Ze bad guy who fought against ze Rat Patrol."
He loved the series.

Could well be the case. Most of the German POWs were from the Afrika Corps who were sent to POW camps in the USA, many of which were located in Texas. For me, picking cotton in Texas would be vastly preferable to being on the Eastern Front, and many of the German POWs loved being out of the fight. They had it far better here than Allied POWs did in German camps.

BTW, some interesting American WWII escape tales can be found here: World War II Escape From Enemy Territory Reports - Do

 

[Golddollar]

Could well be the case. Most of the German POWs were from the Afrika Corps who were sent to POW camps in the USA, many of which were located in Texas. For me, picking cotton in Texas would be vastly preferable to being on the Eastern Front, and many of the German POWs loved being out of the fight. They had it far better here than Allied POWs did in German camps.

I had a professor in college who was in the Luftwaffe, not because he wanted to be. He said avoiding military service was a capital offense. Probably the happiest day in his life was when he was shot down in North Africa and was captured by the Americans. He was sent to a POW camp in Lubbock, Texas and while he was there took correspondence courses from the University of Texas.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I had a professor in college who was in the Luftwaffe, not because he wanted to be. He said avoiding military service was a capital offense. Probably the happiest day in his life was when he was shot down in North Africa and was captured by the Americans. He was sent to a POW camp in Lubbock, Texas and while he was there took correspondence courses from the University of Texas.

Many Axis POW's were detained in Colorado. German and Italian enlisted men housed in small tent camps around agricultural communities, frequently sent out to help farmers work their fields. Lots of those men returned during the 1950's, having seen that life here was so much better than anything they knew in Germany or Italy either before or after WW2. Every one of them I have known have been solid citizens and raised good families here.

 

[wbraswell]

I remember Combat bubble gum cards. There was something not "official" about them. They would have a little writing on the back about the scene depicted on the card, and they would refer to the character by rank and his real name, Sgt. Morrow, Lt. Jason, etc.

 

[Old Corp]

Wow. Just realized this thread uncovered a mental file that was WAY back in unused recesses (wife says alot of my mind is that...)
I had a 'Combat' metal school lunch box.

Imagine how un-PC that'd be now.

 

[BigBoy99]

I too, loved Combat, 12 o'clock High, and Rat Patrol. But hey, where's the love for The Gallant Men. I always remember "erryjas in the ucktras."

I heard that exact same phrase an few months ago while visiting my old college room mate from the 1960's!

 

[rubiranch]

These were great shows. There's nothing but garbage on TV these days.
At least that how it was the last time I watched TV.