'Pacific' portrait

Navy veteran Avery "Lucky" Howard doesn't know how a TV miniseries can accurately portray the fighting he went through during 26 hot months in the Pacific.

"To see all those people die and get shot up," the 84-year-old West Ashley resident said, thinking back to when he was in the Navy's amphibious landing corps shuttling men to beaches under blistering enemy fire.

"Some people wouldn't believe it if you told them," he said. "They wouldn't believe how bad it was."

Starting Sunday, Hollywood will try.

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg look to repeat the success of their European theater series "Band of Brothers" and film "Saving Private Ryan" with their widely acclaimed "The Pacific," a 10-part, $195 million effort that begins at 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO.

Some local World War II Pacific vets said they had no idea their story was coming to TV. Howard doesn't subscribe to HBO and is trying to find someone to tape the series for him.

Howard was assigned to various landing craft, watching soldiers and Marines hit beaches from New Guinea to the Philippines, sometimes reaching islands so remote he doesn't remember them and still can't pronounce their names.

"Your life is at stake," he said of his position as a machine-gunner on one landing vessel. He recalled Japanese planes overhead, including one that dropped a torpedo in his direction. "You're doing your best to shoot them down before they shoot you."

The story of "The Pacific" focuses on the lives of three men who leave America and join the island-hopping across the ocean toward Japan: Eugene B. Sledge; Robert Leckie, who wrote about their experiences; and Sgt. John Basilone, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service. Iwo Jima and Okinawa are two of the focal battlefields.

Interest is coming from the highest ranks. Hanks and Spielberg were to attend a White House viewing Thursday with President Barack Obama and the first lady in the White House screening room. Earlier in the day, the two Hollywood stars and Elizabeth Dole welcomed 250 veterans to the National World War II Memorial in Washington. "We did it because all of you are the greatest stories ever told," Spielberg told the group.

Several local veterans contacted this week said they hadn't heard about the series. One said that, even if he did know, he probably wouldn't watch it.

Additional coverage
Military news and events

"I kind of steer clear of war," said 85-year-old Russell Bennett of Bonneau Beach. "I guess I had enough of it."

Bennett served on a destroyer in the Atlantic and the Pacific and saw a Japanese admiral surrender on his ship at war's end. The former torpedoman said the war is not something he dwells on, and it wasn't until recently that his family knew what he'd experienced during the war.

Bennett and Howard are part of the Honor Flight Lowcountry group that is heading to Washington on April 24 for what will be Charleston's second trip to the World War II Memorial. The flight is filled, but organizers are planning a third trip this fall.

Pacific Tribute Campaign

In conjunction with HBO's release of "The Pacific," visitors to the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum can record a video "thank you" message that will become part of a national tribute.

The museum is one of several sites around the country where the public can film 30-second video clips that will be distributed to U.S. troops through partnerships with various military and veterans organizations.

The HBO Pacific Tribute Campaign Kiosk is located at the museum's main entrance aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown. The touch-screen kiosk is as easy to use as an ATM.

Users also can e-mail a copy to themselves and send the message on to a friend.

All videos recorded at Patriots Point will go directly to HBO, where select videos will be included in the national montage. The HBO Pacific Tribute Campaign kiosk is at Patriots Point through May.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551 or skropf@postandcourier.com.