CDR SALAMANDER: The Last 600 Meters: PBS’s 17 Year Disgrace. “The American people were not given the opportunity to see and understand — and honor — their Marines for the worst reasons by the worst people.”

2004 was 21 years ago.

That is the difference from the end of WWI to 1939, the start of WWII; from the end of WWII to 1966; and from the attacks of 9/11 to 2022.

What is an example of a great documentary about one of the above? Let’s take Victory at Sea. It came out in 1952, seven years after the end of WWII. The documentary was a long series about a very broad topic with about 13 hours’ run time.

What if you were going to focus on just a battle instead of the broad sweep like VaS took and wanted to keep it inside 90 minutes? Would it take half as long, 3 or 4 years?

Imagine a documentary of WWI, WWII, or 9/11, full of primary sources from the major players, and footage not seen anywhere else, but refusing to air it because you didn’t want Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, or George W. Bush to be seen in a good light…no, belay that.

You did not want the Doughboys, the US Navy, and FDNY to look good. That was your reason.

I’m talking about the documentary by Michael Peck, The Last 600 Meters: The Battles of Najaf and Fallujah that was played on the USMC’s Birthday Monday on PBS, and is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Read the whole thing.

And if you have Prime, maybe check out Peck’s work.