Tomorrow, yours truly, the Academic Redneck, embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime historical study adventure, “Iwo Jima and the War in the Pacific,” through Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours. My trip will begin in Honolulu, Hawaii, where I’ll tour the USS Arizona and other relevant Pearl Harbor landmarks. Then it’s on to Guam, Saipan, and Tinian before climbing Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
The late Stephen Ambrose was a professor of history at the University of New Orleans who consulted on Saving Private Ryan and served as executive producer on the Band of Brothers miniseries, based on a book he authored in 1992. In his lifetime, Ambrose achieved something akin to historian rock star status. Perhaps only David McCullough, who penned best-selling biographies of Harry Truman and John Adams, and Wilbur Kurtz, who consulted on the film Gone with the Wind, even come close to Ambrose’s popular following. The Ambrose tour excursions are par excellence.
Two years ago, I traveled to Europe with the Ambrose group on the Band of Brothers tour that retraced the route of “Easy Company,” the second battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, as they fought from Normandy all the way to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in 1944 and 1945. I made new friends on that excursion–my own little band of brothers and sisters–who will also travel on this trip. We are looking forward to a reunion.
Twenty-seven years ago, I traveled across the Pacific on my way to teach in China. Even then I thought about the vastness of the largest body of water on earth. Yesterday, I asked Mike whether there are any islands between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii for a jumbo jet to make an emergency landing. “I don’t think so,” he said. “So you’re saying I’m shark meat if the plane crashes? What about that island where Gilligan and his compatriots were?” I replied. He just stared at me.
I do enjoy contemplating which one of the Gilligan’s Island characters I’d be if I were ship…er, planewrecked. I’m not glamorous enough (Read: at all) to be Ginger. I’m too old to be Mary Ann. I won’t have Mike along this trip, so I couldn’t be Lovey Howell. Gilligan and Skipper? No way. I guess the Professor would be okay, but I daresay I’m not handy enough to construct a bamboo bike that my fellow castaways and I could use to generate electricity.
Today my friend Emily told me to forget about experiencing anything harrowing like a plane crash or a Gilligan’s Island scenario. “You know that’s not your fate. Your destiny is to return after spring break and grade synthesis argument essays. Don’t even think about using the old “lost at sea” excuse to try and get out of it, either.”
Please stay tuned to US Represented and the Academic Redneck page for regular updates on my Pacific tour.
