A Personal Perspective Through Film

By Pete Bracco

In commemoration with 3 key days in the Army calendar: Memorial Day, D-Day, and the Army’s Birthday, I wanted to share their significance in my life.

Growing up in a family of 10 kids in suburban Chicago in the 60’s and 70’s, Memorial Day simply meant a parade route through town that passed 2 blocks from our house. My father, a WWII veteran, never mentioned his service experience to me. When he died suddenly in 1975, I was just 10 years old and received one of 2 US flags that were draped on his casket and presented to us.

It was not until 20-some years later, when a more graphic image of his time in service became known to me: WWII depicted in film. I first saw Saving Private Ryan, then Band of Brothers, and more recently Hacksaw Ridge. Nothing prepared me for the intensity, realism, but more importantly the selfless heroism as portrayed in these films as well as others.

I watched Saving Private Ryan for the first time at a theater in Peoria, Illinois by myself. When I walked out of the theater and got in my car, in shock for what I had seen, I immediately called my mother to share my awakening to a sliver of understanding for what my father had experienced in battle. One of the co-stars, Tom Sizemore (Sgt Horvath), actually looked remarkably like my father’s Army photo and had the same first name in the movie – Mike.

My mother shared with me that like many of that greatest generation, he virtually never spoke of his war experience. But she sent to me a cluttered file that was, in fact, my father’s war records.

What I came to learn was that Michael Bracco, Army Tec5, was a rifleman in the 357th Regiment, B Co, part of the 90th Division, and eventually came under the command of Patton’s 3rd Army. Through an internet search, I came across a copy of the Regimental History of the 357th Regiment, compiled by SSgt George von Roeder. http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thDivisionFolders/357thbook/357hist.pdf

This compendium became incredibly important to me because it contained a daily diary of the whereabouts and battles experienced by the 357th from D-Day until the end of the war.

With my father’s war records, I discovered that he was a “replacement” – thrown into the 357th on 25JAN1945 right after his unit fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I could trace his steps through the Campaign of Rhineland: through Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany; crossing the Rhine and back through Central Europe.

Between watching Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, and reading this detailed account, I could gain perspective and match the type of battles that were written in such a matter-of-fact way by SSgt von Roeder.

My father’s battalion was famously assigned the mission to watch over the Merkers Mine, that contained huge portions of the 3rd Reich’s gold, riches, and art reserves. Watching Monument’s Men allowed me to further appreciate this experience. It also gave me a twist of perspective from my childhood, watching Kelly’s Heroes with my father – his laughs echoed now in my mind.

As the war was moving towards its eventual end, my father’s unit fought in Czechoslovakia against Hitler’s hardened fanatics, Germany’s 7th Army; the last to capitulate and surrender.

After V-E Day, his battalion moved back into Germany. It was here that even greater horrors were thrust upon him and the world, as they were part of the forces who freed the Flossenburg Concentration Camp.

For me, these travesties were visualized in Band of Brothers and Schindler’s List, and in person having visited the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and locally at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills. [At the latter, where I am proud to say that my oldest son is employed]

There is nothing that can replace the physical, mental, and emotional horrors of war; the bravery and heroism that the men and women of our fighting forces have experienced since the US Army’s formation on June 14, 1775; through battles and conflicts throughout the globe as well as here at home; on D-Day June 6, 1944; and in honor of all of those heroes who gave the greatest sacrifice that we commemorate on Memorial Day each May.

I sincerely appreciate all of these heroes, and to my father, whose sacrifice and heartaches were gallantly displayed in film; so that we can better understand and hopefully never have to repeat, for as long as we all shall live.