From: Jim Gilmore (jgilmore@ptd.net)
Date: Sat Oct 30 2004 - 11:07:59 PDT
Everette wrote:
>".........I am a skeptic and I cannot bring myself to believe everything some fellow
>in a made up military uniform and stands in front of a set purported to be a
>military camp and shouts at me.
>
>I had much rather be questioned as to why I did not take every thing he said
>as 100% truth; than to be laughed at for believing everything he said............."
Everette, You are judging the information by the person delivering it..........
Because the Gunny says the information..........you are questioning it..........
Perhaps I should give you (and others) some background on how this TV show was filmed.......
R. Lee Ermey is the star of the show.........he is an actor and as such he is given the information that he tells in the segment. You are assuming that what he said about the jeep was information that he knows. While R. Lee may know some on the jeep most of the data that he related on the show came from other sources......much of it from me.
While my interview shown on the show was very brief......it was compiled from over three hours of filming. Part of the filming I did was to walk around the jeep shown in the background (a Ford GP owned by my friend John Headley from New Jersey) and explain the features and workings of the 1/4 ton truck. They filmed me opening the hood, pointing out the features of the motor compartment, lowering and raising the windshield, explaining the function of the shift levers and such.
When you see R. Lee doing the same thing on the show with the GPW, it was done by using the tape of me and having him use the information given by me to show the viewers the features of the jeep. It was much like a script, which is the usual for these shows.
The producer of Mail Call, my friend Rob Lahini, was very concerned to make sure that all the statements and information given by R. Lee were as correct as possible. (Rob is a MVPA member and the GPW that R. Lee uses in the show is his) Rob went as far as to send me a transcript of R. Lee's speaking part so that I could check it for accuracy before the show would air.
So.......when R. Lee Ermey says that those little "F's" stamped on all those Ford parts are because of warranty concerns by Ford, it's not because he just thought it sounded good..... it's because of the data that I presented in my interview (which came from my years of research in the Ford Motor Company Archives). So......if you think something R. Lee said was incorrect......I may be the guy you want blame.
The value of information should be judged on itself and not by who is presenting it..............
As an aside.............the segment with my interview was filmed in the Military Vehicle restoration shop of Combat Vehicles in Easton, PA. The next time the episode airs take a look behind me, past the Ford GP, and you will see one of the rarest WW II tanks. It's a M-36-B1 Tank Destroyer. Only 187 of them were made using a Sherman M-4 chassis with a 90mm main gun in a larger open turret.
There are more photos of it (and the Combat Vehicles shop) in the Mail Call episode on the "M-18, the fastest tank of WW II" This is the episode where we drag race the M-18 against a M-36 TD. It was a lot of fun filming that one!
Jim Gilmore
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