50 Fun Facts About The Pacific

Which battle is Eugene Sledge's last in The Pacific?

Okinawa was Sledge's second and last battle: he spent 82 days in combat there in 1945 and came through without a physical wound, though the war haunted him for years afterwards.

The Pacific is the second of three companion miniseries; which came first in 2001?

Band of Brothers followed a single unit, Easy Company, across Europe, whereas The Pacific splits its story among three Marines in different regiments.

Which 2024 series followed The Pacific as the third companion miniseries from Spielberg and Hanks?

Masters of the Air follows the 100th Bomb Group, a B-17 unit that other airmen nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth for its severe losses over Europe in 1943.

At which Marine base does Basilone meet his future wife in The Pacific?

Camp Pendleton is where Basilone was sent in late 1943 after asking again to return to the war; he met Lena Riggi there and they married seven months before he was killed.

Who plays PFC Robert Leckie?

He had played Chase Edmunds in 24 and later Eric Savin in Iron Man 3.

Who plays Cpl Eugene Sledge in The Pacific?

Joseph Mazzello tested as a boy for Steven Spielberg's Hook and was judged too young; the director promised him a part in another film, kept his word, and later worked with him again on The Pacific.

Who plays Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone in The Pacific?

Jon Seda was a Golden Gloves runner-up whose boxing led to his first film role, a fighter in Gladiator (1992); he later played Chris Pérez opposite Jennifer Lopez in Selena.

Which Eugene Sledge memoir is one of the two main sources for The Pacific?

With the Old Breed began as an account Sledge wrote only for his family; his wife persuaded him to publish it, and Ken Burns later drew on it for his documentary The War.

What is the title of Robert Leckie's 1957 memoir?

Helmet for My Pillow follows Leckie from enlisting weeks after Pearl Harbor through boot camp to the island battles, told from the ranks with the booze and brawling on liberty left in.

Which Marine does Rami Malek play in The Pacific?

Snafu Shelton was a real Marine, Merriell Shelton, whom Sledge wrote about in his memoir; playing him left Malek so drained that he quit Hollywood for a while.

Robert Leckie and John Basilone both grew up in which US state?

New Jersey: Leckie was raised in Rutherford and Basilone in Raritan, though each was born across the state line, Leckie in Philadelphia and Basilone in Buffalo.

Which Tom Hanks production company made The Pacific with DreamWorks?

Playtone takes its name from the fictional record label in That Thing You Do!, the 1996 film Tom Hanks wrote and directed.

In which country was The Pacific filmed?

Australia stood in for the Pacific islands: filming ran from Port Douglas in tropical Queensland to a sand quarry near Geelong and the streets of Melbourne.

The Pacific was the most expensive TV miniseries yet made in 2010; roughly what did it cost?

$200 million, and then some: first budgeted at $100 million, The Pacific ended up costing about $217 million, the kind of money usually spent on blockbuster films.

Which film composer co-wrote the series' score with Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely?

The soundtrack was released on March 9, 2010, five days before the premiere.

What is the subtitle of Hugh Ambrose's official tie-in book to The Pacific?

Hell Was an Ocean Away adds men the series left out, including Marine officer Austin Shofner, who escaped from a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines.

At which university did Eugene Sledge enrol after returning from World War II?

Auburn, then called Alabama Polytechnic Institute, gave Sledge a business degree in 1949; he tried insurance and real estate before going back to school.

In The Pacific, what does Sledge start to take from a dead Japanese soldier before a fellow Marine stops him?

Gold teeth: Sledge is about to dig them out when a fellow Marine pulls him back; the actor who played him said such moments snap Sledge back to humanity and remind him who he is.

The Pacific's opening titles show an artist's hand sketching Marines in which medium?

Charcoal: title studio Imaginary Forces filmed the sticks splintering across paper like shrapnel, inspired by a correspondent's memory that damp ruined camera film in the islands.

What weapon did Sledge crew in combat?

A 60 mm mortar was Sledge's weapon in both of his battles; when the fighting got too close to use it, he worked as a stretcher bearer and rifleman.

Where did Sledge keep the wartime notes that became his memoir?

In a pocket New Testament he had been issued in training: keeping a diary was against the rules, so Sledge slipped his notes between its pages.

What career did Eugene Sledge take up after World War II?

A biology professor: Sledge started out with a business degree and a try at insurance and real estate, then went back to school and retrained as a scientist.

Which Alabama city was Sledge's hometown?

Mobile is where Sledge was born in 1923 and where he came back after the war, struggling for years to settle back into peacetime.

Which posthumously published Eugene Sledge memoir covers his postwar posting to Beijing?

China Marine came out in 2002, a year after Sledge died; it follows him from occupation duty back home to Alabama and a slow return to peacetime.

After World War II, Eugene Sledge gave up hunting for which hobby at his father's suggestion?

Birdwatching: after a dove hunt left Sledge weeping over a wounded bird, he told his father he could no longer bear to see suffering, and his father suggested watching birds instead.

Robert Leckie decided to write his war memoir in 1951 after walking out of what?

A hit musical: Leckie walked out of South Pacific midway through, telling his wife 'I have to let people know the war wasn't a musical'; his memoir followed six years later.

What was Robert Leckie's profession after World War II?

Newspaperman: Leckie had been a sports writer at 16, and after the war he reported for the Associated Press and several big-city papers before turning to books.

Whom did Robert Leckie marry after returning from World War II?

Vera Keller was the girl next door; in The Pacific's finale Leckie tells her he wrote her many letters during the war but never sent them, sure he would not survive.

Which of Sledge's childhood friends served in Leckie's H Company?

Sidney Phillips enlisted at 17, the day after Pearl Harbor, and later wrote to Sledge from the front urging him not to follow; after the war he became a family doctor.

Basilone received the Medal of Honor for his actions in which campaign?

Guadalcanal: defending Henderson Field in October 1942, Basilone kept his machine guns firing against a far larger Japanese force and fought through enemy lines to fetch ammunition.

In which battle was Basilone killed on the first day of the invasion?

Iwo Jima: Basilone knocked out a Japanese blockhouse and guided a trapped tank out of a minefield before he was killed near the edge of an airfield.

Which decoration was Basilone awarded posthumously for his heroism on the day he died?

The Navy Cross made Basilone the only enlisted Marine of World War II to hold both it and the Medal of Honor.

By what nickname was Medal of Honor Marine John Basilone known?

Manila John came from Basilone's posting in the Philippines, where he served for about two years before he ever became a Marine.

After receiving the Medal of Honor, Basilone was sent home in 1943 to do what?

Sell war bonds: Basilone toured the country on the 'Back the Attack!' drive, but he felt out of place, turned down a commission and kept asking to go back to the war.

Basilone's 1943 homecoming parade made national news in which magazine?

Life ran the story as 'Life Goes to a Hero's Homecoming'; the fame sat badly with Basilone, who called himself 'a plain soldier' and asked to rejoin his unit.

Before joining the Marines, Basilone spent three years in which service?

The US Army came first for Basilone: he served as a soldier in the 1930s, went home to drive a truck in Maryland, then joined the Marines in 1940.

Where was Basilone reburied in 1948?

Arlington National Cemetery received Basilone's remains at his family's request; decades later his widow Lena turned down a plot there, saying she 'didn't want to cause trouble for anyone'.

What was Lena Riggi's wartime job when she met John Basilone?

A Marine sergeant: Lena Riggi served in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve as a field cook, and after seven months of marriage and Basilone's death she never remarried.

Which actor plays Marine commander Lewis 'Chesty' Puller in The Pacific?

William Sadler, once Death in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, plays Puller, who put Basilone forward for the Medal of Honor and became the most decorated Marine in American history.

How was Captain Andrew 'Ack-Ack' Haldane killed in The Pacific?

By a sniper: Haldane was shot as he peered over a ridge to get his bearings, and Sledge later called him 'the finest Marine officer I ever knew'.

What type of warship has twice been named after John Basilone?

A destroyer: his widow Lena christened the first USS Basilone in December 1945, and a second ship bearing his name was commissioned in 2024.

What did Tom Hanks write about Rami Malek after his audition for The Pacific?

'This guy's got haunting eyes' was Hanks's verdict in a typed letter to the producer; Malek joked that at least his odd-looking eyes were compelling enough to earn a callback.

Where did Rami Malek briefly move after the intense shoot of The Pacific?

Argentina was meant to be permanent: Malek said he planned to stay 'until I fix my head again', though he later called the move unsuccessful.

Which child role did Sledge's actor play in Jurassic Park?

Tim Murphy is in the tour car when the T. rex attacks; during filming the mechanical dinosaur hit the car's plexiglass roof harder than intended, a scare the actor still talked about years later.

Which character did Leckie's actor play in the Fox series 24?

Chase Edmunds ends the third season of 24 with a virus device locked to his wrist; when it cannot be defused, his partner Jack Bauer chops off his hand with an axe to get it clear.

What is the subject of He Has Seen War, HBO's 2011 companion documentary to The Pacific?

Veterans' lives after combat: the film follows men of the 1st Marine Division and Easy Company home, with the Sledge and Leckie families describing the war's lasting toll.

In which battle does Eugene Sledge first see combat in The Pacific?

Peleliu, in September 1944, was Sledge's baptism: he arrived as a replacement after the division's veterans had already fought two campaigns, and the experience never left him.

In The Pacific, what condition first keeps Eugene Sledge from enlisting?

A heart murmur, left by childhood rheumatic fever, kept Sledge home while his best friend shipped out; he enlisted once it had cleared, a year after Pearl Harbor.

What was Eugene Sledge's father's profession?

Physician: Dr. Edward Sledge taught his frail, bookish son to hunt and fish in the woods on the edge of town.

Why did Sledge deliberately flunk out of the V-12 officer program at Georgia Tech?

To get into combat sooner: half his detachment flunked out on purpose as well, so they could enlist at once and not 'miss the war'.