Wouk’s ‘Winds of War’ and ‘War and Remembrance’ are two of my favorite novels of all time. They are constant ‘go to’s on my kindle when I need something to fill long hours at work, or what not. Like the Lord of the Rings, a part of me just dwells in that time and place, and tale- as if I belong there more than I do in my own life. Pug Henry, Byron, Pamela Tudsbury, the Jastrows, and many of the other characters in those novels are more real to me than people in the real world. For about the fourth or fifth time in my life, I’ve cycled back around to Wouk ‘s telling of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Despite all the works I’ve read on it from Morison to Costello to Hornfischer, nobody quite distills it down like Wouk in his narrative. When it gets to the Battle off Samar, the folks on my airline probably wonder what it is I’m reading that has the silent tears streaming down my face. What it is was one of the worst and finest mornings in American military history. October 25th, 1944. As Herman Wouk wrote in War and Remembrance, “The vision of Sprague’s three destroyers – the JOHNSTON, the HOEL, and the HEERMANN – charging out of the smoke and the rain straight toward the main batteries of Kurita’s battleships and cruisers, can endure as a picture of the way Americans fight when they don’t have superiority. Our schoolchildren should know about that incident, and our enemies should ponder it.” In the modern world, I'm sure Lieutenant Michael Murphy and his 4-man SEAL team on a lone mountain top in Afghanistan could totally relate. Lest we Forget.
I'm not ashamed to admit it; after reading those in high school, then in college in NROTC, I tried to model myself after Victor 'Pug' Henry as a naval officer in terms of my demeanor and professionalism, if not my warfare specialty. Wouk was a WWII naval officer; 'The Caine Mutiny' draws heavily on his experience as a junior officer in DMS's during the war. Between Pug Henry and Captain Kirk, the way I conduct myself at work as a captain in terms of professionalism and looking out for my crew, respectively, is a direct reflection on those characters. (No red shirts!!!)
On a side note: Victoria Tennant played the role of Pam Tudsbury in the original two mini-series. Since I saw WOW on TV back in Jr. High before I ever read the book, she was forever cemented in my mind as Pamela. Watching the extras on the DVDs (I paid more than $100 for the War and Remembrance mini-series; when I ordered it, there were only 2 available on Amazon!) , they said that they had just about despaired of casting the role when Tennant showed up, and it was one of those casting slam dunks. The very first thing I thought of when I checked out the new Magnum P.I. was that Perdita Weeks could also, very easily, pull off Pam Tudsbury. If they ever have a mind to remake these two miniseries (blasphemy!), Perdita Weeks needs to be Pam. No comment on the Magnum reboot. Taken along with the Hawaii 5-0 reboot, I can sort of accept it as its own thing. Compared to the original, there's just no comparison. (Now we need a Magnum-mustache emoji...)
NuMagnum returned tonight, and Perdita Weeks is hotter than ever. Not only that, during the break they decided to bridge the gap and give her some of old Higgins characteristics. We got our first: "Oh my God!" moment tonight, along with a long-winded reminiscence of the past. Perdita Weeks is no John Hillerman, but she is stacked like a pro-athlete and can totally make the new role her own. Actually, I think I'm in lust love.
