Just kidding

the landing assault 'surprise' seemed like they took a cue out of the Thin Red Line.

Well, the Thin Red Line and the landing in the first episode were both on Guadalcanal.

From wikipedia (I know, not the greatest source, but its quick and generally close to right)

Combing through dead Japanese and finding tokens of things from back home- pictures family and so forth, suddenly the enemy has a human, recognizeable face- very cliche, this is likely something that can be taken from any story, in any conflict, in any battle in history. Saw it coming a mile away.

Potshots taken at the surviving Japanese fighter from the previous battle, some Americans laughing, some not, some reflecting, at any rate, the enemy is missed a few times and takes a couple of bullets and still has the sand to stand there and curse, one Marine takes out a .45 and single handedly finishes him off with one shot in a reverse angle, so as to hide the killing of the last Japanese offscreen, but show the resignation on the face of the American. I doubt I could make that shot too many times with one hand at that distance, particularly at a dramatic time like that to make it more profound. But that's the way it works in drama- everything happens at the right time. I thought it was corny, and again, I just saw it coming. Through this whole sequence, there's somber, dramatic background music going on. This sort of stuff kills it for me- I think in this particular scene, the music spoils any illusion and further adds to the effect that this is stylized drama.