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Kevin Lahm

Block 4B

Classic Movie Summary


Saving Private Ryan
The movie Saving Private Ryan took place during the Battle of Normandy in June of
1944. This Battle was set in Normandy, France where the allied forces attacked Germany who
currently had controlled the territory. The movie started out on June 6th, 1944 which is also
known as D- day when the allied forces stormed Omaha beach by boats attacking the
Germans. Captain John Miller who was played by Tom Hanks led a group of Rangers to attack
Omaha beach where the Nazis gunned down many of the allied troops but the allied forces
continued to push the Nazis back. It was one of the bloodiest if not the bloodiest battles of World
War II. During the attack Captain John Miller gets assigned to a different kind of mission. He
gets sent to find and bring home Private James Ryan because he was the last of the four Ryan
brothers still alive. Private James Ryans 3 other brothers were all killed in the war within days
and General Marshall wanted him to return home to his family before all four sons of the Ryan
family got killed in action. Captain Miller chooses several men to join him on the mission.
Private James Ryan was somewhere behind enemy lines and it was their job to save him. The
squad fights its way through a few skirmishes with the German troops losing a couple of the
troops put of the roughly 7 person squad sent to save Private Ryan. They has no idea where Ryan
was located. They located a Private James Frederick Ryan but soon realized it was not one of the
brothers. They keep looking and eventually locate a friend of Ryans who revealed where he was
located. Ryan was defending bridge on a German counter attack when the squad found him.
They inform him on his brothers deaths and the mission they were on to save him. Ryan refuses

to leave his unit, and remains to help defend the bridge against the German counter attack. Miller
agrees with Ryans decision to stay and orders his unit to also help defend the bridge. There were
only about 20 American soldiers in the town. The Germans stormed the bridge with tanks and
powerful guns. Millers unit ended up inflicting lots of Damage on the German counterattack but
most of the unit ended up being killed. They were struggling but backup was on the way. Before
backup arrived Captain Miller got shot and killed. Private and Ryan who was played my Matt
Damon and only 2 other main characters ended up getting out safe and surviving. Private Ryan
returned home safely and the mission was successful. This movie showed and accurate
representation of how brutal the warfare was in WWII. An estimate of 500,000 soldiers were
either killed or wounded during the Battle of Normandy. I think that it is a good movie to watch
to try to see what it would be like to actually have to fight in the war. The beginning of the movie
when the Allied forces charged Omaha beach was an extremely accurate scene of D-Day which
was which was the start of the battle. I really enjoyed this movie and it was a great representation
of what it was like to be in that battle of WWII. I recommend watching this movie to see the
experiences the troops went through in WWII.

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