Slap a Jap. Well how about it boys? I thought you all want to do more than "slap a Jap". Slap a Jap. That's what the enemy is to you, huh? A fucking buck-toothed cartoon dreamed up by some asshole from Madison Avenue! Well let me tell you something: the Jap I know - the Japanese soldier - he has been in war since you were in fucking diapers! He's a combat veteran. An expert with his weapon. He can live off a maggoty rice and muddy water for weeks and endure misery you couldn't dream of in your worst nightmare! The Japanese soldier doesn't care if he gets hurt or killed - as long as he kills you. You can call 'em whatever you want. But never ever fail to respect their desire to put you and your buddies into an early grave! Is that clear?!
- John Basilone
The initial parts were given to Sledge who, back in Pavuvu and while in the midst of brushing his teeth, spots a Marine throwing a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s Men at War into the waste basket. Sledge later gets a hold of this book and finds out that it actually was Ack-Ack’s property. I think this incident must have placed him in quite a bad mood, because if that wasn’t dire enough, Jay appears with the announcement that he’s been moved to another company. Sledge also gets momentarily annoyed with Snafu, who frequently asks if his eyes have turned yellow; freaked about the “heeby-geebiz” or the “yellow john” (hepatitis). I can never really tell if whether Snafu was serious when he said, “I’m dying”, or if he has only turned pessimistic from the war.
From there, we were taken to the life of one John Basilone – looking (and sounding) a bit bored on a radio show. I myself felt his irritation towards his brothers and people who have been taking him for granted. He quickly states, “I don’t want everyone to know me”, which his family deeply begged to differ from. He later lists as a mentor in Camp Pendleton USMC, training; keeping his body in shape until he can’t lift himself from a push-up any longer. The Camp Pendleton days really were amusing with Jon Seda playing the daunting John Basilone. He would especially play this persona towards two Private First Class students, who ironically were witnesses to his very death. Fortunately, before the battle at Iwo Jima, Basilone gets a little genuine and sincere with all his learners. The “slap-a-Jap” scene really owned! :)
When John Basilone first met Lena Riggi (portrayed by Annie Parisse), not to sound cheesy, but it was a wonderful match. Here is a popular, obnoxious Marine going head over heels about a sarcastic yet equally-respected NCO. I liked Lena’s derogatory remarks and worship her indifference towards Basilone. At some point, I thought she was already going to pass John to her friend Lucy, who appears to be the more interested one. But persistence does pay off for the Gunnery Sergeant (“when you get shot down, you keep coming back”). Lena narrating the story of when she first met the famous (and rather ignorant) “Hero of Guadalcanal” definitely fascinated me. I was already starting to have doubts if Lena was really going to be Basilone’s wife when she finally invites him to breakfast - wherein they got to know each other a little better. Basilone telling Lena that she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen (one which Lena admitted she had never heard very often from anyone before) became the turning point in their love lives. After running by the beach and John confessing about his Marine enlistment, the two finally get married, laid (“we’ve done respectable”), and bid each other goodbye. It was the last time they ever saw each other again.
It definitely wasn’t the way I had imagined Basilone’s death would be. As much as I wanted to change my opinion regarding the battle at Iwo Jima, I still keep ending up with the same conclusion: that I wasn’t interested. I’ve watched this episode twice, tbh. It was chaotic, of course. But at the end of the day, I never really recalled much about Iwo Jima and appreciated the John-Lena scenes far more. Of course, I can never really defy John Basilone in his final moments, but I think he died rather quickly and sadly. Even then – and furthermore, when Lena was showed alone, crying by the beach – I was thinking of Basilone’s wife, their new home, the promise of having six kids (one which Lena believed would have happened if Basilone had come along ten years earlier), and the necklace Lena gave her husband before parting. It was sad because Basilone hasn’t seen JP after Melbourne, and the war he fought on his last day didn’t exactly consist of any of his friends. The episode ran by too quickly, I might add. I was expecting Sledge and his buddies to make another appearance but the credits rolled instead. Still not my favorite episode, but it did keep me excited for Part Nine.
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