SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
Corned beef, swiss cheese, white bread, hot coffee.
Saving Private Ryan is, to put it bluntly, a meat-grinder. And not in the sandwich kind of way of a hoagie/grinder (badabing!). While I’ve seen the film a handful of times, each viewing is shocking and brutal in a “feels like the first time” kind of way. It’s rough. It’s really, really rough. To the point that I question “why am I watching this again?” (and IYKYK which scene breaks me, really twisting the proverbial knife).
So when I decided to create “War & Sandwiches,” I initially was inspired by the sandwich scene in SPR, and to be honest, it’s the reason for the season. I wanted it to be the first post, and it’s naturally the easiest. The other posts will be about sandwiches inspired by the film, whereas this one is a damn-straight-taken-from-the-movie-as-is.
It’s also a pretty poignant, significant scene, and throughout my research I discovered that it hit home in a way that anyone could understand the heartache — especially juxtaposed with the slaughter of D-Day. I mean, can you imagine going through absolute hell only to return (if you were lucky) and see fellow soldiers who aren’t on the frontlines, who have hot coffee, who won’t be overdosing on morphine in a battlefield; they’ve got clean plates, clean hands, and good grub. Let’s take a look:
Of course, in my research, I discovered multiple hot takes, each one worthy of quoting. For example, James Clark of Task and Purpose writes:
At the command tent, the battle-weary Miller briefs his commander on a recent mission — they went to clear a sector of enemy troops and to destroy several smaller minefields, only to discover that they were walking through one massive minefield littered with every form of explosive death imaginable.
As Miller finishes the debrief, his eyes wander around the tent, and the camera pans with his gaze: There’s hot water for shaving and freshly brewed coffee poured into clean mugs by soldiers in neat uniforms. Miller by comparison looks exhausted and stands there in tattered fatigues. He has a five-o’clock shadow, bags under his eyes, and his face is streaked with dirt and grime.
Then, his thousand-yard stare lands on a stack of sandwiches: High-end corned beef and cheese on fresh sourdough bread, sitting neatly on a clean plate, not resting on a GI’s leg, or held in a grubby hand, but sitting there waiting to be eaten.The look that crosses over his face is one of disdain and no small measure of envy. That passing glance is immediately recognizable to frontline soldiers of any war and era, who’ve returned to the headquarters area, among those derisively referred to as POGs (person other than grunt) and the “rear echelon mother fuckers,” far removed from the fighting, where the creature comforts aren’t in short supply, and the dangers are often far less.
Miller’s reaction is telling: He doesn’t disparage those soldiers just because they get to enjoy a nice meal and a hot cup of coffee in safety, while his men sit in the dirt eating canned rations and choke down bad coffee brewed in a dented canteen cup. They have a job to do, same as him.
Still, it is a brief and telling moment that lays out the disparities between those who support the infantry and other frontline troops, and the grunts themselves.
It seems kinda obvious to applaud Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks for this particularly devastating and thoughtful moment, because of course — of course! — they’re masters of their craft. But the attention to detail; the little “creature comforts” and wry glances (yes, I almost wrote “rye” as a pun, and no, I will not do that again) are absolutely chef’s kiss.
When going through what the ingredients could be, Reddit provided what I assumed: corned beef and swiss. I don’t eat meat, so I have gathered the following ingredients:
Hometown hero sourdough (meaning, wherever you get a great loaf of bread)
Swiss cheese (again, dealer’s choice; I like Organic Valley slices)
Literally, that’s it. You can always dress it up, but in keeping with SPR, I doubt there was much left to add to it and you kinda take what you can get. Okay, let’s face it — at that point, it would have tasted like heaven. If you’re a carnivore, break out the real corned beef!
Resources:
Youtube of SPR sandwich scene
Task and Purpose Blog on the SPR sandwich
Reddit thread about the SPR sandwich
