This second episode, D-Day, still had some of the negatives I pointed out in Episode One, but more things that I liked.
The negatives, quickly: money spent/wasted on having re-enactors act out several of the scenes. This was a real waste here, because we have photos and even film of the D-Day and subsequent landings on the five Normandy beaches. It's also aggravating, because in an attempt to make the re-enactments look real, they leave the audience wondering, sometimes, what was actually filmed in 1944 and what is "just acting." That's important here, because much is made of the very real fact that the Army didn't want the efforts of our Black soldiers filmed or photoed for reproduction in the American press and newsreels. It's confusing to hear that, and then to see what appears to be film footage of Black GIs on the Normandy beaches. There is also no coverage of how the Black press here in this country reacted to being almost shut out of covering the war in Europe. That's all been documented in readily available books that someone should have read. See for example Patrick Washburn's A Question of Sedition: The Federal Government's Investigation of the Black Press During World War II
Also negative: again, though not as much in the Pearl Harbor episode, too much time is spent recounting the general history of the war at that point, whereas specifics having to do with the few Black soldiers there are not followed up on. For example: at one point, the family of one of the three Black GIs covered in this episode-all members of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion-says something about his ancestor's "photos from France." What photos? From where? What do they depict? When, as the episode rightly announces, we have so little visual reporting of the contributions of Black GIs to the Normandy invasion, the producers should have spent time tracking down whatever little might exist. Less acting, less re-enactment of scenes we already know well. More time devoted to the specifics of Black GIs there in Normandy in 1944.
There is, for example, Alice Mills's wonderful "Black GIs: Normandy 1944," which focuses specifically on meetings between Black GIs and French civilians in Normandy at that time period. NO MENTION of that crucial book here, much less interview footage with her. She's quite alive, and speaks fine English. I just interviewed her myself a few weeks ago for a forthcoming documentary. Ägain, lots of money for CGI, but nothing for good research.
And so on.
But there are real positives here as well, moreso than in the first episode. Because this episode limits itself-more or less-to the Black presence on that one day, June 6th, it does a better job of focusing on its three cases, three Black GIs who came over as part of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion. It has first-person recollections from at least two of them. It is very moving to hear them speak. Again, as in the first episode, more time should have been devoted to that. They are an essential link to the Black experience there that day, and radically more important than the unsubstantiated generalizations of the purple-dressed journalist who is given far too much screen time instead.
But screen time is also given to two very qualified historians. Matthew Delmont, whose Half-American is the best book I have read on the Black experience, both for our fighting men and for those here on the home front, gets real screen time here, and never wastes a moment of it with generalizations. Ditto for Linda Herveux (sp?), whose Forgotten is THE book on the 320th. I believe that such documentaries should center on witnesses' recollections. But if you want academic commentary as well, they both do a highly qualified job.
As do the descendants of the three soldiers under study here. They're intelligent, and they have some very pointed remarks to make. They are another real plus this time.
But I wouldn't want to forget one of the more striking moments in this documentary: while the Black GIs are in England waiting to be shipped to France, the English do take pictures and even films of them. (On their time in England, see Graham Smith's When Jim Crow Met John Bull: Black American Soldiers in World War II Britain.) At one moment, we get to see a unit of Black GIs march through the streets of a small time. These men do not just march. They parade. And it is a performance not to be missed!
Finally, I would say that the script writers, since they filled this with unnecessary filler anyway, should instead have gone beyond D-Day in France to cover Black GIs in France at least through the end of August. This mini-series' focus on certain days is not a good framework, and I imagine they will have to abandon it anyway when they get to the Battle of the Bulge. There were other Black GIs in Normandy who arrived in the days that followed, and they played important roles. It's all well and good to honor the 320th, but it shouldn't be at the expense of those Black soldiers who arrived in the days immediately following D-Day.
