It would be hard to say what
exactly drove Ray to join the Marine Corps.
I am going to take a guess and from what my aunt (Butler) said was that my dad
did not want to be drafted, being a senior in high school, so by enlisting
early as a marine, he got his choice of branches. It was a patriotic thing to do. The war was going on and those at that age
knew it was the right thing to do. The
draft was not really as negative during WWII than what we observed during the
Vietnam Era. There were no one going to
Canada and other places to avoid the military.
It was a whole different world than what we see now. Even with a total volunteer military force of
today, the attitude back then was to force you to become a team player so that
you instinctly knew what to do without hesitation. Not the case today. Today it is an economical decision with
education assistance as part of the deal.
What is in it for me attitude? There
are some exceptions for today’s youth, but the youth of the 1940-1950’s were
true patriots and were willing to die for their country. They had a negative attitude towards both Germany and Japan.
America was just peachy keen with
everyone home from WWI and trying to regroup as families and communities again,
now knowing who did make it back and who did not. They did not want to get involved with
another war anytime soon. Before we knew
what was going on, we had gotten ourselves in a pickle and were waiting for the
outcome, however it may be. The outcome
was inevitable, but may have been different if we had allowed some leniency with Japan as
we had with Germany. When you freeze
financial accounts, someone is going to be upset. They were and responded in a manner they
thought would provide a timed event that gave them the advantage in the Pacific
region. Either way, Japan needed more
commodities than what we would have supplied to them. We were headed down a path we had been a part
of the decision making process. Even if
we had discovered the Japanese fleet earlier, we did not have the superior
naval advantage with only two aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet. The Yorktown and Enterprise were not at
Hawaii, only by sheer luck or by divine inspiration. If anyone has been to Pearl Harbor, they will
remember seeing the oil seeping out of the USS Arizona, some 50 years later. It is a sobering experience. It was just a normal Sunday morning to all
there. The impact of learning that Pearl
Harbor had been attacked, unprovoked, and “December 7th, 1941 … a
day that will live in infamy” is what we all learned at an early age. Propaganda had instilled a negative attitude
in soldiers and women that enlisted or were drafted into the armed forces. City dwellers or farm boys … the message was
the same. Stomp them Nazis! Kill them
slant-eyed bastards for what they did!
The whole truth is not learned until a later date when we learn that we
had allowed Germany to slowly rebuild its empire and invoked a blockade of
commerce and established an oil embargo on Japan as a result of their
aggression on China.
The attitudes were the same on all
fronts. Instill attitudes that will keep
morale high and promote our best interests.
Japan needed oil and resources in order to survive. The Allied Powers did not agree with Japan's
approach of obtaining these commodities.
(Bentley) Learning of the brutality and attitudes of
the Japanese military actions to both civilian and military captives did not
go well with the expected attitudes of our civilized society. This
would incite a riot attitude against the Japanese. Having learned what atrocities had been
committed by the Japanese to the Chinese, the world could say ... Is this any
different than the Auschwitz concentration camp of Germany or the Trail of
Tears of America? Russia cannot come out
of this unscathed. It too committed sins
against German troops as POWs, especially those leaving Moscow. Japanese
soldiers were instilled to obey the Emperor and become cold hardened killers (Reilly) and considered it a
part of their “duty”. To the Japanese soldier, it was the greatest honor to die
for the Emperor. Japanese ground troops
or air plane pilots had the same attitudes.
The white scarfs with family member names written on them gave the
necessary incentive to give all in a glorious death. Kamikaze pilots they were called. The death
charges with bayonets and/or swords. Death was more honorable than capture. It was just the opposite for our troops. We probably suffered more deaths as prisoners
of war (POWs) from the conditions presented.
Germany or Japan; they both were merciless captors. We do not want to start talking about Vietnam POW's and Russia.
Communication during this time was
by three sources: 1) Newspapers, 2) Radio and 3) Theaters/Movies. The newspapers were censored to only allow
what the government wanted you to know, the same for the radio, and the movie
clips watched before and during intermission of movies. We were fed no more or
less than what we are today, except the media today is more bias towards their
own agendas than what was allowed in the 1950’s. Economic woes impacted everyone leading up to
WWII. It took years to recover from the
“Depression” and some never did. With
everyone in everyone else’s pocket, most of the whole world was affected by the crash
of Wall Street Market. Japan saw no
other choice than to eliminate the naval threat in Pearl Harbor in order to
establish a foothold on the commodities it sought (Bentley)
. The sinking of the ship RMS Lusitania by Germany did not go well with either
Great Britain or America. People did not
know of the cargo it was carrying was to support the war efforts, but there
were so many innocent lives lost. (Bentley) The same effect was
recorded after the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia accidents. Public input is most powerful under the right
situations.
Even though some women were forced
to go and work, in a lot of cases, it was necessary in order to make ends
meet. It was a golden opportunity for
some as it provided a job to them. We
see that more today than then when military deployment takes away finances,
especially with the reserves. There were
more women that volunteered, which to me is nothing more than slave labor to support
the greater good. For those that did get
paid, the money women made was less than half what a man would have to be paid
for the same type of work (some employers really did not want the men to return
to the work force). Women had proven their worth during the wars, but most men DID have a problem with women working. There were many marriages that did not survive post WWII. Ray did not have a problem with that.
Eva was a Naval Medical Officer and had an education to get there. His new wife Liz worked also. My dad saw no problem with my mom working. The income was about $127.00 every 2-weeks. I remember making $127.00 every week. You have to pay the bills. Military retirement pay is about half of
active duty pay. You have to make ends
meet in order to survive.
The Cold War meant that Ray was on alert everyday. Hard to have a life when you are living day-by-day, not knowing what to expect. North Korea was supported by the Chinese and Russia, South Korea was supported by the US. Going to Korea was not the issue ... When was! NATO was born as was the Warsaw Pact to balance the powers to be. Asia countered with the SEATO. This was just a pissing match between stubborn men in power, too afraid of the "what if" scenario played out every day. Someone ordered something to happen, but when the time to be accounted for the commands, no one had the guts to stand up and be truthful. When the day came, Ray went in support of the United States to defend South Korean territory from North Korean aggression into the DMZ. It was the communists against everyone else. The final result was the 38th parallel DMZ as it sits today. We lost many good men during this time and some Ray knew. They were with him from the beginning of boot camp and AIT. Ray retired before the end of the Cold War, but saw the downfall of the Berlin Wall.
The Cold War meant that Ray was on alert everyday. Hard to have a life when you are living day-by-day, not knowing what to expect. North Korea was supported by the Chinese and Russia, South Korea was supported by the US. Going to Korea was not the issue ... When was! NATO was born as was the Warsaw Pact to balance the powers to be. Asia countered with the SEATO. This was just a pissing match between stubborn men in power, too afraid of the "what if" scenario played out every day. Someone ordered something to happen, but when the time to be accounted for the commands, no one had the guts to stand up and be truthful. When the day came, Ray went in support of the United States to defend South Korean territory from North Korean aggression into the DMZ. It was the communists against everyone else. The final result was the 38th parallel DMZ as it sits today. We lost many good men during this time and some Ray knew. They were with him from the beginning of boot camp and AIT. Ray retired before the end of the Cold War, but saw the downfall of the Berlin Wall.
Works Cited
"Chapter 36." Bentley, Jerry H. / Ziegler,
Herbertt F. Traditions & Encounters, 5th Ed. Boston, MA: McGrawHill
Learning Solutions, 2011. 835-861.
Butler, Deloris. Interview. 10 April 2013.
Rielly, Kevin. "Worlds of History, Vol II."
Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking. Boston/NY: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2010.
969-973.
No comments:
Post a Comment