No, this is not a video about cars. You’ll actually not see a single one in it. This is a video about the connection of man and machine, though. In this case the machine is Galmour Girl a 105mm howitzer at Iwo Jima being operated by a group of Marines. This film was made for the purposes of illustrating the brutal battle for the island off the coast of Japan and to (we think) show new Marines what they would be looking at in combat as artillerymen. The film follows the young men from the close of their training to the opening of their vital work in one of the most brutal battles the Marines have ever fought in.
For 28 days, it was a knock down, drag out, no hold barred fight for the rocky crag in the Pacific Ocean. Day and night they fought. They fought by knife, by rife, and by artillery. By flame throwing tank, by bazooka, and by rocket. By spotter plane and by any means necessary. You will see all of it here. You’ll see the gun being moved, set, fired, and being used in the heat of combat. You’ll see the guys who were kids while leaving training mature into full blown men as they worked as a team to get the best out of Glamour Girl.
We always talk about the connection between man and machine and one would not be too far out of line to assume that one generation’s connection to machines is the strongest of them all. That would be the Greatest Generation as they have come to be known because so many of their machines were the devices that kept them alive and stopped the bad guys in their tracks.
This is an amazing film.
I wonder if Mr. Forkner was in the background of that film. He was our Sunday school teacher. As meek and mild as he was, one would never know he island hopped across the South Pacific in 1945. He passed away about ten years ago and that’s all he ever said.
Bangshift, please show this video again on Veterans Day this Sunday.