Ray Stewart may be 91, but he still keenly remembers his combat experiences as a tank gunner with 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored “Hell on Wheels” Division in 1944.
He can describe in vivid detail his first contact with the enemy — Nazis who rained fire on his M4 Sherman tank from a concrete watchtower in Normandy, just after his unit landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day+3.
He recalls the trek across Europe toward Berlin as exhilarating and terrifying. At times, he felt like cowboy, riding high through the open country on a steel horse; during moments of intense engagement, he describes simply trying to focus on his job, ignoring the incoming rounds, the carnage and devastation of much of his unit.
Two tanks were destroyed from under him. “You just get out, but you better be moving pretty quick because you know there’s another round on the way,” he said.
At and at the Rhine River, he watched in horror as five British tanks burned, their crews still inside.
Still, even after watching the new film “Fury,” which features a fictional tank crew from Stewart’s unit in the waning days of World War II, he downplays his role as a member of the Greatest Generation.
“What did I think? It was a great movie. But movies are always more than what it really was. That’s Hollywood,” said Stewart, who attended the Washington, D.C., premier of the new film from writer-director David Ayer.
Service members and veterans, including World War II tankers Stewart, George Smilanich and Paul Andert, received the star treatment Wednesday in the nation’s capital as the Hollywood elite pulled an about-face, celebrating them and their families on the red carpet as the guests of honor at the rollout of “Fury.”
The choice of venue was intentional — the heart of American democracy — and the stars seemed restless, expressing hopes before the screening that the troops would appreciate their work and see it as an homage to their service.
“It’s big honor for us and the true test will be after the film,” actor Brad Pitt said before the event. “I hope they see something in it.”
“There’s a lot of love in it for those who wear the uniform and those who have worn it. There’s no greater honor than being able to tell their stories,” Ayer said.
They needn’t have worried. Although general reviews of the film so far have been mixed, the troops and combat veterans fortunate enough to have one of the hottest tickets in Washington for the week received the film — a harrowing, raw and graphically violent portrayal of war — with warm appreciation.
“Not everyone gets to see what soldiers do every day, what they are forced to do in combat and the sacrifices they make. I think they captured how tight a crew, a squad or a group of men who go through combat are, and it captured, obviously, the violence and how scared you can be in a combat situation,” said Maj. Gen. Piatt, deputy commander general of U.S. Army Europe.
“What I most liked about it was the focus on small-unit leadership. Wars are won by small-unit leaders taking initiative and carrying out the commanders intent. I think Brad Pitt really did a super job in bringing that alive,” Marine Col. Greg Douquet said.
“Fury” tells the story of a five-member Sherman tank crew led by Don “Wardaddy” Collier, played by Pitt, charging across Germany in “Fury,” a vehicle that is their “home, kitchen, bathroom, den and everything else,” according to Ayer.
Released today, “Fury” has seen mixed reviews, most notably for its violence, which reviewers have described as “celebrating rage and bloodshed to no clear end beyond ugly spectacle,” (Tom Long, Detroit News); and “an unrelentingly violent, visceral depiction of war, which is perhaps as it should be” (Steven Rea, the Philadelphia Inquirer).
Ayer, a former Navy sonar technician third class, said on the red carpet that the film is about family — “a family that loves each other, a family that hates each other, a family that will fight for each other. And this family happens to live in a tank and kill for a living.” He dismisses any notion that his portrayal of war, which includes grisly shots of body parts, mass carnage and violent death, is too graphic or over the top.
“I want people to know that in World War II, even though it was black and white, good versus evil, for the gentlemen who fought that war, it was just as physically threatening, as morally murky, as spiritually hazardous as anything our men and women are experiencing downrange today,” Ayer said.
At the screening, service members appeared to appreciate the often horrific scenes, from an intense battle between three Shermans and a truly terrifying German tank to horrendous post-battle cleanup scenes.
“I didn’t feel like the violence was gratuitous. It was realistic and sometimes ugly but it wasn’t over the top and unnecessary,” Douquet said.
“I appreciate the art and the work that goes into a movie that honors the soldiers who have fought in combat. I appreciate that people went through a lot of hard work to re-create what this greatest generation did to free a continent and free the world,” Piatt said.
To “get it right,” Ayer brought in World War II veterans to advise the cast and crew and put the core group of actors — Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Bernthal, Logan Lerman and Michael Pena — through a 10-day boot camp designed and run by former Navy SEAL Kevin Vance.
Vance said he worked with Pitt for three months on small-unit leadership and was impressed by all the actors’ research in developing their characters.
Lerman, for example, can’t drive a tank, but he did learn the duties of assistant driver, to include running the inspections and swapping out the 30-caliber machine gun when the barrel heated up.
“Like most people in the military, I had my skepticism of Hollywood,” Vance said. “People in the military have a deep-rooted value system and often look at Hollywood with some trepidation. But David [Ayer], who is also a veteran, is really close to the moral center. And he picked a cast that realized it’s not just making movies, it’s paying homage to those who serve.”
Vance, who saw the film in its entirety for the first time at the premier, said he was struck by its intensity, which brought him back to his combat experiences in Iraq as well as the emotional rigor of deployments.
“I tried to share my experiences with the actors as much as possible, to get them to understand how military members react to the wins and losses, what it’s like to lose friends who have newborns and young children and families,” Vance said.
Lt. Col. Chad Carroll, an Army engineer now stationed at the Pentagon, said the film really “demonstrated the bond we have as soldiers.”
“I think it accurately captured the intensity of combat,” Carroll said.
Yet like the critics, not everyone at the event was a big fan. Ray Stewart’s wife, Dottie, a retired nurse, said she admired the acting and art, but she is not a “war person.”
“It was hard to watch. I was a nurse for 30 years, so I’ve seen some gory things. I’m not scared of gore. But I don’t really need to see it. But if that’s the way war is ...” Stewart said.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed Ayer’s efforts and said more films like “Fury” are needed to shed light on troops, who make up less than 1 percent of the population.
“I don’t think [Hollywood] has done an adequate job. We’ve had many conflicts and things we’ve done over time. Maybe the filmmakers of America will come to realize that it’s very important to document the valor, document the sacrifice and document the horror of all wars, whether it’s World War II or the current conflicts,” Powell said.
Ray Stewart said he was grateful and honored to have played a role in bringing the stories of the Hell on Wheels Division to light. He participated, he said, so his friends would not be forgotten.
“I’m glad they did it. I didn’t really know who Brad Pitt was before all this, but I think he and the other young men did an outstanding job,” Stewart said.
“Fury” opens in theaters today.
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