The Pacific - Part 3: Melbourne

After two episodes fighting in the dark in the Pacific, the Marines moved to a much happier and beautiful climate, but that did not mean that their emotional situation improved much. The stresses of every day life are only made worse by being at war.

John Basilone (Jon Seda) was granted the medal he was put up for, while Bob Leckie (James Badge Dale) met an attractive Aussie girl, Stella. The experience wasn't what either expected, and certainly did not end as they had hoped.

Although Basilone started the episode as a normal soldier, in the company of his friend, J.P. (Joshua Biton), drinking himself into a stupor to the memory of their friend Manny, he could not stay there. When he was awarded the Medal of Honour, suddenly he became a role model. Any mischief he got into echoed loudly, any trouble was far worse. His new duties of being an example became more important that those he had had in the field. And to make matters worse, he also got the special honour of using his fame to go home and sell war bonds.

He had to leave behind the men he had come to know, leave behind J.P., and fly back to the USA where he would be safe to make money for the army. An important task to be sure, but for a man of action like John Basilone, the honour could only be taken as a demotion of sorts.

Leckie had it worse. Although his romance with Stella started hot and heavy, with her coming to his bedroom the first night, it could not last. Through him, we saw the pain of the folks left behind, those waiting to hear the news, to cry tears over men whose bodies might never be recovered. And Stella's family suffered the same. They were losing friends in Europe, while Bob was staying with them. And when Bob left, they would pray for him too.

But that was the problem, would Bob come home? The likelihood was not great, and Stella, claiming she could not put her mother through the pain, broke off the relationship. Imagine being dumped because you might die. Well, let's just say that your will to live, and therefore the likelihood you would end up dead, decrease and increase proportionately.

And then Bob, having got into a fight with a higher ranking officer, ended up also being separated from the men he fought with up until then.

So, although they did not lose any more friends through the course of this episode, they did end up getting spread out and getting hurt all the same