The Longest Day

In the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commander of operation D-day, “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.” This inspired people to not give up fighting for the world. Eisenhower was the commander of operation D-day where the troops would attack five beaches in France. The events of D-day were a major turning point in World War II. First, the state of conflict in Europe had significant effects on D-day. Second, most of D-day’s goals were accomplished during the attacks. Third, the events of D-day were very crucial for winning the war.

An expectation that is shattered on his very first night when during the operation he ends up killing two Taliban gunmen. He tells the story of that night, and then the next, and then goes on to tell stories of the more complex operations that he ended up being involved with throughout the deployment. Each of the stories is told from a very personal point of view which is what makes this book work and work very well. We are told of his feelings towards his comrades, his attitude and approach to the others, and those little anecdotes of daily life that are either humorous or poignant. He experiences his comrade’s deaths as well as various injuries and he also experiences plans that go awry and situations where nothing happens. I think that the author sat down with his co-author and relived each event in his own words. These recordings (probably) ended up being transcribed and then arranged and edited into this book. This approach works very well in this case. Because of the "war story" nature of the narratives and the naturalness of the writing, this book is a very quick read across its 310

A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe." (560) In this writing, Tim O’Brien explores what it means to have a “true war story.” He uses a contemporary style of writing, such as explaining ideas through stories, using frequent repetition, and having an informal tone, which helps the reader achieve a thorough understanding of a “True war story.” O’Brien is specific in saying that “was is hell,” (561) which simply has no impact because it is so general and clichéd. A true war story is not about valor, but is simply about the outrage a soldier faces during a

Beginning my love of reading an early age, I was never the type of child who was drawn to fictional stories. As an 8 year-old child in West Virginia, I was recognized by the local library for my love of biographies, autobiographies and recollections of world events. This love has continued throughout my adult life, desiring to read novels such as “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore rather than watch the major motion picture “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. Even though the motion picture received multiple awards, when reading the recollection of Mr. Moore’s accounts, the feeling of loss, distress, anxiety and fear can be felt in each word that he has written while reliving this horrendous war.

     According to the author Tim O’Brien, people tend to readily accept the ‘facts’ presented of what happened during a war. People do not consider the existence of fallacies regarding the actual stories of what happens in wars, few consider that the ‘facts’ of an incident often change through people’s words. The film ‘Saving the Private Ryan’ by Steven Spielberg features both facts and seemingness part of the war story. Since it is so difficult to fully describe a war using human language, Spielberg ended up revising his stories to make sense out of it. Spielberg included parts that did not occur or exclude parts that did occur in order to make their stories seem more credible. According

the beaches of Normandy. The order was given on the night of June 5, 1944

Britain and France desperately awaited the moment when the US would fully join in the fighting in Europe during World War II, and D-Day brought that full fledged involvement. If not for the efforts of the United States of America, its cooperation and planning with its allies, the invasion would not have been successful. It was successful, however, due to previous planning, the level of supplies and men from the US combined with the European allies, as well as the divided German forces. D-Day was the beginning of liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control. Hitler had known that in order for the Allies to be successful, there would have to be an invasion of mainland Europe - which his forces controlled most of - and that it would come from northwestern Europe, with Great Britain being the jumping off point. But if he was expecting the attack, why was he not better prepared? The planning that had gone into the invasion at the beaches of Normandy on the coast of France had been thorough and extensive, with a large part of that planning being the intentional disinformation about the location of the invasion, thus fooling the Nazi leader. These factors explain why Operation Overlord was successful, and thus became the turning point in the world war.

The short story that will be discussed, evaluated, and analyzed in this paper is a very emotionally and morally challenging short story to read. Michael Meyer, author of the college text The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, states that the author of How to Tell a True War Story, Tim O’Brien, “was drafted into the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart” (472). His experiences from the Vietnam War have stayed with him, and he writes about them in this short story. The purpose of this literary analysis is to critically analyze this short story by explaining O’Brien’s writing techniques, by discussing his intended message and how it is displayed, by providing my own reaction,

In this essay, I will discuss how Tim O’Brien’s works “The Things They Carried” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” reveal the individual human stories that are lost in war. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien reveals the war stories of Alpha Company and shows how human each soldier is. In “If I Die in a Combat Zone” O’Brien tells his story with clarity, little of the dreamlike quality of “Things They Carried” is in this earlier work, which uses more blunt language that doesn’t hold back. In “If I Die” O’Brien reveals his own personal journey through war and what he experienced. O’Brien’s works prove a point that men, humans fight wars, not ideas. Phil Klay’s novel “Redeployment” is another novel that attempts to humanize soldiers in war. “Redeployment” is an anthology series, each chapter attempts to let us in the head of a new character – set in Afghanistan or in the United States – that is struggling with the current troubles of war. With the help of Phil Klay’s novel I will show how O’Brien’s works illustrate and highlight each story that make a war.

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 film directed by Steven Spielberg dealing with the World War II Battle of Normandy. During its intense first twenty minutes, the film depicts the brutal, gruesome realities of what happened on June 6, 1944 on Omaha Beach. The historically accurate portrayal of the D-Day invasion by Allied Forces is the background for the fictional plot of a rescue mission for a single soldier, Private Ryan. The story of Ryan, his family, and his rescue is not true but it is symbolic of the heroism and terrible losses suffered in this crucial military campaign. Historian Steven Ambrose was a consultant on the film and views this kind of fiction as “the kind that illuminates truth rather than diminishing it.”

The Americans started to prepare D-Day during WWII in December 1941. In 1942 the Americans and the British were planning to have an Allied invasion. In November 1943, Adolf Hitler put a man by the name Erwin Rommel in charge of defense operations in France’s Northern coast when he learned about an invasion that would be there. In January 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower became the commander of something called, “Operation Overlord”, which was a plan that was believed to be certain success. Not long after that, Allies tricked the Germans into believing certain locations were good places for invasions.

Combining all these serious themes into a very entertaining book should attract many readers. However, there was some confusion with the story line. Since this book is a collection of interviews, it wasn’t a conventional story. When I first started the book, I wasn’t sure why I was jumping from country to country and why each story was completely different. As I continued to read the book, I was able to understand that these were a collection of eyewitness accounts of the war. Also, Max Brooks uses a rife amount of vulgar language which I think could have been kept out. However, it made it real and that’s what this book is about.

For a long time, when anyone thought of a war movie, they immediately thought of Darryl F. Zanuck’s, The Longest Day. Cornelius Ryan, who was the author of the book by the same name, and happened to be a D-day veteran himself, wrote the movie. The book meticulously recreates the events preceding and during the invasion. It is filled with detailed descriptions of multiple occurrences during the invasion. It explains everything from mass attacks on beaches and towns to humorous anecdotes. The book wasn’t exactly a story involving characters, and neither was the film. The Longest Day is more a story of tragedy, glory, and courage surrounding one very important day. And even though mainly American and

Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan has been credited as being the most accurate war recreation film in history. It is the winner of five Academy Awards including Best Director for Steven Spielberg. Like Jaws, the opening scene has perfect equilibrium, calm at both the beginning and the end. Another thing this opening scene has in common with Jaws is the under water camera, and there are also shots from the killer’s point of view – in this case, the shooters’. In addition to this, they both end with calm water; a common theme in Spielberg’s openings. At the beginning of the scene, there is a long shot of a war cemetery; this drives home the seriousness of the war and just how many people died as it is very easy to forget the sheer number of people who were murdered during the war. The extreme close up on the eye of an old Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) gives the audience a feeling of connection with the character and lets them know he is going to have an important role within the film. During the fight scene the camera angles are wild movements and a handheld camera is used to give the effect of a person running as though it is from one of the soldiers’ point of view as this is likely to be something like what they would have seen and experienced. There are many visual effects such as one boat being set on fire with the soldiers still

"The Longest Day" was a mammoth project dramatizing D-day, the Allied invasion of France. It was nearly three hours in length and with an enormous ensemble cast, all playing supporting roles. The production was very conscientious about realism, the actors were always of the same nationality as their characters, and spoke in their native languages, leading to a lot of subtitles translating French and German dialogue. Although the movie was historically correct, it was also meant to be a blockbuster by starring John Wane, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery and Henry Fonda. But The American role in the invasion is not exaggerated, and the German soldiers and officers are not portrayed as brutal stereotypes.