REVIEW: 'The Pacific' Episode 1 — "The Real Marines are Here!"

Every so often, my father-in-law, Angelo, will bust my chops saying, “Hey, Mike! I talked to a real Marine today!” Then he’ll clap me on the shoulder and chuckle in that Jersey City “you’re a good kid” kind of way.

Full disclosure: I served for four years as an enlisted man in a helicopter squadron at the tail end of the Cold War. My time was spent in the necessary but unglamorous world of logistics and embarkation. I never had to fire my weapon in anger and was never fired upon. Hence, the “real Marine” jab. Hell, with what the Marines today are doing, I sometimes don’t feel like a “real Marine.” I’m sure there are some other peacetime vets out there who know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, when Angelo hits me with the jab, it means he’s been talking to Uncle Pete. My wife’s great-uncle Pete Cavo joined the Marines in 1940. He served as a rifleman in 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. I called Uncle Pete Sunday afternoon to talk to him about his time in the Corps. He answered the phone and his thick, jovial Jersey accent triggered a sharp pang of longing for my old home state.

Uncle Pete was at Guadalcanal with John Basilone (“I knew him, y’know, to say ‘hello’… tawk to him an all dat, sure, but not pal around with him or nuttin'”) and Chesty Puller (“Every other word outta his mouth was a curse word”). In fact, Uncle Pete served as Chesty Puller’s jeep driver for a while.

I knew that the series was going to kick off with the events surrounding Guadalcanal. So, it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the first episode of “The Pacific.”

It started off a bit slow, as all grand-scale pieces must. There are settings and time-frames to establish, characters to introduce and the world’s most explosive charcoal pencil to marvel at. We get to know Bob Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge a little bit and enjoy the set up. The introductory speech by Chesty Puller, played by William Sadler, stirred my inner jarhead and made me sit up a little straighter. I’m pretty sure I’d walk over hot coals to get the small smiles that such moments elicit from my wife.

I’m reluctant to say too much about the episode because I know that there are some who still have yet to see it. I will say that, while there is some action in this first installment, the bulk of the action at Guadalcanal seems to happen in episode two, airing next Sunday. The fighting that is shown is rightly brutal.

If I have any real criticism of this first episode, it’s that it’s too short. Sixty minutes? Man, we were just getting started.

There’s a scene toward the end of the episode in which the 7th Marines, led by Chesty Puller, march by Leckie’s unit. One of them taunts, “The real Marines are here, now!” I thought of Uncle Pete Cavo and smiled.

I spoke to Uncle Pete again today and we plan to keep our phone date for, at least, the next Monday or two. Although Pete was not portrayed in “The Pacific,” he is part of this series. The Pacific is as much for him as it is for his grandchildren–to preserve the memory of what might be the greatest generation of Americans.