(no subject)
I think all of these entries express an image of war that opposes the glorified media images of war. War is not simply about heroic acts. The way that Betty Basye describes the injuries she saw and the people's reaction towards injured soilders shows the ill effects that this media hype on war has had on us. When we are discusted by the very people who risked thier lives to protect us. E.b. Sledge described the treatourous acts that happen in a war atmosphere when he told of the chunks of coral being thrown into the skull of a Japanese corpse, the smae dehumanization happens with any enemy. More recently, the tourture of P.O.W.s by American Soilders come to the forefront and such things are anything but honerable. The media can make an opposing country at war out to be an evil thing, when in reality we are all human. As Victor Trolly
shows in his description of a Japanese family he met in Nagasaki after the bomb, they felt lost just the same as we did,
and they did not want to be at war any more than we did. This media golrification is a problem that arises when the war is
never on your home front, and maybe if people realised the gruesome truth of war, we could work harder towards peace.
American women, as any Women faced with war, were pushed into men's roles to replace the men at war. They were left trying
to find any way they could to help the war effort, rationing and working jobs previously held by men. Some,like Betty Basye
enlisted as nurses to help, but others could not do so much. Some, such as Jean Bartlett were left at home, but were still
effected by the war. For example, when the war broke out, Jean's father went out for the military and was not home a lot.
Her mother was left to run the household and was left lonely. When Jean started bringing sailors home, she thought of
herself as helping the war effort. For the sailors, I would imagine it was something to keep them going, as with any
soilder, their home to come back to. In an aftereffect, however, of Jean's antics of leading on countless soldiers who were
easily manipulated, she was not able to keep healthy realationships with men later in life. In many ways Women were effected
by the war, wether through the missing men in thier lives or through the economic changes war creates.
Perhaps it was important to read Victor Trolly's interview last. After hearing about the dirty Japs and how all they would
not fight fair I was devoping a biast against them. Despite having Japanese testimony before me, I still could not beleive
that the people who were in Japan, who would use everything they had, even their own life, as a weapon, could possibly be as
human as you or I. When I read "I realised that these people didn't want to fight us. What the civilians did and what the
military did were two different things" it hit me, they didnt like the idea of war any more than I do. They were just normal
people doing what they were told. I am glad I came to this realization, and I think it is important to keep that in mind when
thinking about any war.
shows in his description of a Japanese family he met in Nagasaki after the bomb, they felt lost just the same as we did,
and they did not want to be at war any more than we did. This media golrification is a problem that arises when the war is
never on your home front, and maybe if people realised the gruesome truth of war, we could work harder towards peace.
American women, as any Women faced with war, were pushed into men's roles to replace the men at war. They were left trying
to find any way they could to help the war effort, rationing and working jobs previously held by men. Some,like Betty Basye
enlisted as nurses to help, but others could not do so much. Some, such as Jean Bartlett were left at home, but were still
effected by the war. For example, when the war broke out, Jean's father went out for the military and was not home a lot.
Her mother was left to run the household and was left lonely. When Jean started bringing sailors home, she thought of
herself as helping the war effort. For the sailors, I would imagine it was something to keep them going, as with any
soilder, their home to come back to. In an aftereffect, however, of Jean's antics of leading on countless soldiers who were
easily manipulated, she was not able to keep healthy realationships with men later in life. In many ways Women were effected
by the war, wether through the missing men in thier lives or through the economic changes war creates.
Perhaps it was important to read Victor Trolly's interview last. After hearing about the dirty Japs and how all they would
not fight fair I was devoping a biast against them. Despite having Japanese testimony before me, I still could not beleive
that the people who were in Japan, who would use everything they had, even their own life, as a weapon, could possibly be as
human as you or I. When I read "I realised that these people didn't want to fight us. What the civilians did and what the
military did were two different things" it hit me, they didnt like the idea of war any more than I do. They were just normal
people doing what they were told. I am glad I came to this realization, and I think it is important to keep that in mind when
thinking about any war.