Tales from the battlefield…Sad Sam talks about his Dad
Well, the TM has been on me to write up something profound about my Dad and WW2, but I’m reluctant to say much since my Dad never said much. But last week was the 65 anniversary of VE day, and I’ve been watching The Pacific on HBO, which is great so maybe I can say a few non-controversial things.
My Dad didn’t talk much about WW2 because it was “hell” and the guys who saw action didn’t talk much, but I picked up a few lessons along the way.
#1) While there is no excuse for those guys who raped that girl in Iraq, everyone should back off those Marines that wiped out that family in that house that they said fire was coming from. You can’t judge soldiers in combat by any experience from civilian life. There are issues like the fog of battle, and the need to make decisions in the stresses of combat that we non-combat veterans can’t appreciate. I found out at my Dad’s wake that he shot a prisoner. The guy was a sniper and he shot my Dad’s best friend who was a medic (and therefore technically a non-combatant). They captured the sniper and apparently he pulled out a set of Rosary beads to show that he was a Catholic, and I guess my Dad (a Catholic) lost it and shot the guy. Today he would probably be pilloried on 60 Minutes and be in the brig, but the only ones who can judge him are his fellow WW2 vets, and I haven’t met one yet that wouldn’t have done the same thing.
#2) We should leave the TV cameras at home, and let the professionals fight the way think it should be fought. My dad told me that when they crossed into Germany they would come to small towns and send in a guy with a white flag with the following message, “Surrender the town and you will be ok, put up any resistance – so much as one bullet fired, and we will call in the artillery and level the town.” He said they leveled a few villages in the first weeks, and then after that the white flags were flying as they approached the towns. Imagine the outcry had we leveled Fallujah?
#3) Don’t compare Bush, or Obama, to the Nazi’s. We weren’t allowed to watch “Hogan’s Heroes” growing up – my Dad wouldn’t let us. He said, “The Germans weren’t funny and they weren’t stupid.” He didn’t want us to get the wrong impression. My Dad liberated Dachau sub-camps and said that, “The Germans knew what was going on, and it was really horrible.” Hitler and the Nazi’s were really, really bad, so don’t equate liberalism with Hitler, or even water boarding a few terrorists. I’m not taking sides on any political issue just Rush, Hannity, Beck, and Michael Moore shut up already about “worse than Hitler or just like Hitler.”
#4) Don’t say one war was better/worse than another unless you’ve been in all of them. My Dad’s grave at Arlington says “WW2, Korea, Vietnam” so take it from him, a direct quote. “The worst of war is seeing your buddies get killed, and being in constant fear of your own death. And that is something that all soldiers in all wars share. So trying to say one war is better or worse than another is bullshit.”
#5) And a final quote from my dad when asked about is less warlike actions: “The French women were very grateful and the German women were so hungry that they would do anything for a C-ration; those weren’t some of my prouder moments.” Go Dad!
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Sad Sam, thanks for the post. I know we disagree on many things, but you wont get a single arguement on any of this from me.
1I remember VE day (Victory in Europe)as a kid I was 9 years old at the time and they had parties in the streets to celebrate the end of the war. Some of our family members did not return until months later so we had another celebration. Britain in those days was a poor place to live as was all of Europe. We have to give thanks to all who served during those war years, and saved us from Hitlers rule.
2Bubba you didn’t mention where you were at during that time. Did you live in England during the war years? Must have been scary times.
3And here’s also to Winston Churchil, the greatest person (warts and all) of the 20th Century. Had he not stood firm against Hitler in the dark days of summer of 1940 the world would be a different place today.
4So, I wonder if Sad Sam likes our nominated, military hating supreme court nominee.
5I don’t think of her as military hating. As the dean of the law school she was defending the position that Harvard took. #1) that was her job. #2) The position of Harvard wasn’t military hating, it was in protest of what if viewed as a discriminatory policy by the military regarding gays.
My father’s division, the 14th AD (http://www.14tharmoreddivision.org/) was one of the first to have African American soldiers in combat, and he had respect for them. Because my dad was transferred to the Air Force in 1950 and stayed in for a career, I was fortunate to get to know two Tuskegee Airman and when we lived in Virginia I was several times called “n-word lover” while playing with their kids. Some of us feel that the ban on gays is akin to the discrimination showed to African Americans.
I knew this couldn’t stay non-confrontational for long….
6Sam:
Brokaw was right about your dad and mine’s generation. They were truly the greatest generation. I don’t know if one will ever top it, but I hope one does. It was a generation that didn’t brag about their accomplishments. It was a generation that knew how to separate fact from bullshit. It was a generation that was plain spoken and respectful. It was a generation that would sacrifice anything for their families.
What a terrific tribute. I’m sure you dad is enjoying it wherever he is now.
7Thanks Jeff.
8Agreed with Jeff 100 percent. We will take the Supreme Court justice argument, (and we will) to another post!
9Twisted Muser to answer your question, I lived in England at the time of the 2nd world war. I have had family members who lost ther lives in both world wars,
10fighting for what they believed in just as many Americans have, fighting alongside the British to stop world domination by so called world rulers.
Henjoy I cant even imagine how bad that must have been. America has been lucky that wars have not been waged on our land in over 100 years.
11You just do not know if you have not been a mile in those shoes.
12You are correct Charles, and thank God I have not had to do that. I admire, respect, and thank those who walked in those shoes so I didnt have to.
13Amen to that Charles and TM, veterans deserve the upmost respect, 100%, ALL of the time, they make the ultimate sacrifice. A salute to SAD SAM’s father, and a thank you.
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