This is why I cherish my freedoms and way of life!

I watched this movie in a theater in San Diego and three older gentlemen, seated a few rows ahead of my ex-navy friends and myself, suddenly pull handkerchiefs out and discreetly were wiping their eyes during this scene. We kinda kept our eyes on them throughout the movie. When the movie was over and the lights came up, the three men were still sitting there. They slowly rose, each assisting the other. All three had medals on the clothes, on a flannel shirt, on a windbreaker, on a jean jacket. I'm an Air Force brat and a disabled Navy veteran, I know what those medals are. I waited with my group in the lobby of the theater for the men to exit. I went over to them, gentlemen, if you have no objections, my friends and I would like to buy you a round to thank you for your service. They immediately agreed though one man, flannel shirt, said he'd have a milkshake instead, meds don't allow alcohol. We talked with these men about everything but what we all just saw. Grandkids, hang gliding, doctor visits, surfing, getting old, suntanning, needing glasses, bad boyfriends, ex-wives, etc.  Finally after about 2 hours our group had to leave.  Six young women hugging three old men. The former officer in the group pulled me aside. "Thank you. It was so damn real again. I know what you did for us. How did you know?" I smiled, "sir, the medals on your chest tell the stories of what you went through. I recognized that you were in the invasion of Normandy and served with distinction. Thought maybe you guys could've used a distraction." He replied, "We three served together before D-day and every day since." He smiled, "My wife and his daughter are never gonna believe this when we get back. Ha!" I felt warm and fuzzy for days! ❤

Dale Dye just brings a ring of authenticity.

My father was at D. Day. My father said  "The thing that most of us talked about in my regiment before going into battle for the first time was could I stand in front of another man and take his life". Fortunately for my father it never came to that ❤

“I didn’t know they did that!” I’m so glad you said that, Pudge. The U.S. military is not a soulless machine. It is filled with average everyday people just like you and me. There are drummers, gamers, cowboys, high school star basketball players. There are artists, body builders, racing enthusiasts, engineers, and Alaskan fishermen/women. The organization is chock full of people from every different walk of life in America. That’s the beauty of it all. That you can be so different and yet at the same time realize that you are one and the same. So when a situation like this comes around, everyone knows what it is like or would feel like to have their family torn apart like this. They would understand it just as you and I would and what’s more, they would be ready and equipped to do something about it. I served for 8 years of my life and I have never in my life been part of a more loving, supportive, and overtly expressive family in my life and without a doubt I know that if I was lost, they would find me and bring me home. That is the trust and love the military offers. So yes, Pudge. They do do this! And they always will!

My dad and his 4 brothers all served in WWII.   My grandparents had 5 sons all serving at the same time.   2 were in the army, 2 in the navy and 1 in the air force.   ALL survived to come home only to have the youngest brother get killed on Christmas Eve shortly after returning home.

I have been that guy.  The one who knocks on the door to tell a wife & mother of three that she is now a widow.  It was - far and away - the toughest, most gut wrenching duty I ever performed in my 28 year career in the Marine Corps.

My grandpa enlisted in world war 2. While he was there he got the terrible news that his mom died in the Hartf😮ord Circus fire. Rest in peace Corporal Salvatore Pistorio Jr .

The Mother collapses on the front porch when she sees the minister emerge from the car; she knows this cannot be a good visit.

My Great Grandmother lost 3 of 4 sons in WWI, my Grandfather signed up in 1914 at 16, he fought through Gallipoli, the Somme, Messine, Passchendale and numerous other battles.

Most of the men and boys that fought in WW2 were volunteers, most were not drafted, especially after Pearl Harbour

24:36 did that woman ask why do we go to war?  Does she think the easy life with food and technology and comfort and convenience is the default?  It very much is not.  Starving, dying, disease, death and suffering are the default state.  Men are the ones that make you think that the other thing is the normal life.

As a combat soldier, Please always Show respect When cometing to war Movies. These movies depict soldiers Paying the ultimate sacrifice.

The country didn't have the resources to send a car with a driver, officer and priest for each soldier killed.  Such news would normally come by telegram.  The car pulling up with the officer and priest told her it was bad, worse than losing one of her children, before anything was even said.

Everytime I hear the Bixby letter, I shed a tear. 🥺

Steven Speilberg knows how to make a masterpiece of a film, and this is probably his best, I cried at this film, like a baby, just like a lot of you. I was in the army in the late 80's in the UK, and even when I heard some guys I served with who were elsewhere, were killed, it was hard to take, but D Day was terrible.

The movie is loosely inspired by the Sullivan brothers.  The Sullivan brothers, all 5 of them, were killed in WWII.  They all served on the same ship that was sunk on November 13, 1942 in the naval battle of Guadalcanal.  After this horrible incident happened, the US Military established “the Sole Survivor Policy” to protect families from suffering such a  loss.  Saving Private Ryan was  based on the Niland brothers.

There is a movie about the Sullivan brothers called “The Fighting Sullivans” that came out in 1944.

That lady in charcoal grey sweater who reacts at the end...I didn't catch her name.
Absolutely genuine!! A soul like hers, our country needs.

She doesn't know it's bad until the priest gets out of the car.

For anyone who cares, the Ryan's enlisted. They weren't drafted. After Pearl Harbor, most of the soldiers enlisted voluntarily.