Don't sell yourself short Buck. The Army Air Corp now known as the USAF was vital on both fronts during WWII.
You know, after watching the next two parts, I thought how about Hanks and Spielberg doing one of these series on the Air Corps. I did notice one thing in these two parts and there was always a couple of airplanes flying overhead. I'm sure that was done for a purpose, but I'm sure there wasn't always fighters flying overhead like this. I'd bet the USMC would have loved to have seen a fighter now and then.
On a side note, speaking of the USMC and flyboys, I was sitting in a bar in Koza, Okinawa in early 1970, having a cold beer when all of a sudden, a bunch of gyrenes, fresh from Vietnam waltzed in. I didn't think much of it until two of them sit down beside me, one on either side of me. I thought "oh sh$t, these guys are ready to rumble. I just looked at them and asked how they were, trying to be friendly. One of the guys patted me on the back and asked if I was in the Air Force. I said reluctantly yes, and took a sip of my beer. Then the biggest surprise of my life happened when the guy who patted me on the back hollered at the bartender and told him to set me up as long as I wanted and the tab was on him!
I was totally surprise but wondered what was going on. Was this guy going to beat me to a pulp for the fun of it, or what. He then turns to me and said that if it weren't for the Air Force's B52s and Operation Archangle, that he and his buddies wouldn't be around. I smiled and toasted the entire bunch. A totally different reception than what I got when I whisked a little huchie girl out of a bar just outside Camp Hansen a few weeks before.
Buck to The Pacific, the next two parts are more on a par with the Band of Brothers in that they are full of combat, and the emotions that come with it. It's nice to finally recognize the main characters and feel like I know them better.
