Entry #5: Peggy Terry and E.B. (Sledgehammer) Sledge

Peggy Terry's recollection of America during World War II paints a very clear image in my mind of how manipulative our government was to the innocent people in society. She talked about the women she worked with making shells for bullets in the war. They were treated with no respect and worked under inhumane conditions. They were exposed to toxic chemicals and fumes that turned their hair and skin and eyes orange and made it hard for them to breath. They worked with detonators and took the chance of being blown up in a massive explosion in their own work station. They were threatened by their bosses and treated with absolutely no respect. They weren't even allowed to drink water or take time off to spend with their dying mothers! It is disgusting to see how horribly the poor were taken advantage of at the time. But it was worse than that. The government took advantage of them as well. They warped their minds and provided them with false ideas of what this war would mean and who they were fighting exactly. Terry recalls the characters she saw in films during the war. The Germans were generally a very good looking group of people but the Japanese were hideous, yellow, little people who looked nothing like Americans. They were portrayed as a completely separate group of humans. They were made to seem scary and evil. People hosted bonfires in which the whole neighborhood was supposed to bring any belongings they possessed that had been made in Japan and throw them into the fire. When reflecting on these times of misinformation from the government, she realizes how much they contributed to the mass paranoia in the country. Americans were lead to believe that the bombing of Hiroshima was a terrible incident that simply had to happen, but they did not realize at the time exactly how horrible it was. She later learned that the bomb had not been dropped on the enemy at all. It had not hurt the Japanese leaders who were killing American soldiers. It did not bomb the men responsible for the war between Japan and America. It bombed innocent women and children just like her and her own kids. It bombed people who had absolutely nothing to do with their country's decision to go to war or not. It killed countless innocents and didn't even touch the men responsible. After years of being misinformed about the activity of the American government or about their Japanese immigrants, she was finally able to see how manipulated her perception of the war was. She was able to see how mistreated she was and how her rights were violated. She was able to see how her patriotism was taken advantage of by the American government and she was able to see how easily people can be manipulated.

This passage was very different than the previous passage. This was the memories of a man who fought in the war in Japan. He saw the violence and the gruesome acts inflicted from soldiers on each side to soldiers of the opposite side. But not only did he witness these monstrosities, he was right in the middle of them. He talked a lot about how savage the Japanese were. He tried to save a man's life one time, a Japanese soldier who was starving and almost immobile. He and his buddy carried this poor man until they could find medics to help him. Despite this being an enemy soldier, they took pity on him and tired to save his life. In return, this Japanese soldier pulled out a grenade and tried to kill them all. That's what they were up against every day. How can soldiers be faced with that cruel of an enemy and not turn savage themselves? Well, it turns out that many Americans did. It was not that they were brought up with the same corrupt ideas of war as the Japanese were. It was not that they had always been dangerous and angry men who enjoyed inflicting pain on their enemies. This was simply a matter of survival. In order to outlast such horrible conditions and fighting tactics of their enemies, they had to retaliate by showing this same cruelty and savage behavior. They ripped out the gold teeth of their Japanese enemies and they killed old women who got in their way. They shot at the bodies of already dead corpses and they took no mercy on helpless or dying Japanese soldiers they found. He struggled with this change of spirit, however. He had not been brought up to enjoy violence or to accept these cruel tactics. He knew that these were good men at one point, but now he saw the monstrous behavior that they showed towards the Japanese enemies and he had to question his involvement in the war. He had to question any American's involvement in such a horrible crime. This passage really shed light on the effect that war has on its soldiers. Whether it is the men who turn savage, or the men who struggle to resist this path of cruelty, all men involved were forever changed and scared from such horrible times.

Entry #4: Introduction and Bob Rasmus

World War II brought many changes to American society, many positive and many negative. As white men were leaving for the war, society was forced to become more leaniant and accepting of women and blacks. Women were hired into the work place and blacks were given opportunities previously reserved for whites. Women were freed from the role of a houswife and able to challenge themselves by accepting jobs in factories or buisnesses. While blacks were still able to participate in the army, they were often segregated into all black troups. Still, they gained respect and proved their loyalty to American society. Another possitive advancment in America was the development of a middle class. During the Great Depression, Americans were either very wealthy or severely underprivleged. With new job opportunities filling the nation, people were finally able to find work and many moved up on the economic ladder. Not everything about this war worked out for the benefit of the American people, however. A new generation of Americans had lost their innocence as a result of the country's involvment in this war. Young girls stopped spending  their days carelessly playing with dolls and spent their days fearing that bombs from Japan would be dropped on their hometowns. Young boys were going into battle and killing other young boys. One story in this section recalls the memery of a particular American Soldier who was fighting the Germans. He acknowledged the fact that these soldiers fighting each other to the death were nothing but young boys. They were still in their awkward, adolcent phases and now they were killing each other left and right. These boys were forced to become men and were robbed of their youthful innocence. A new grief filled the nation as these boys died over seas before they ever really had a chance to live. The war had its ups and its downs, but no matter which aspects you choose to focus on, the war had a lasting impact on American society.

The story of Robert Rasmus tells the experiences of an eighteen year old American boy who fought in World War II. Before he entered the war, he was filled with a burning desire to be one of the brave soldiers he always saw in the newspapers who were fighting for a cause bigger than themselves. He thought it was admireable and wanted so desperately to join the army. This wish was not one worth fulfilling, however, which he quickly learned once he was actually enlisted. He saw his best friends in the war die in battles that he had merely missed out on because of the flu. He received reports of his fellow soldiers dying in battle or going missing in action. What had once been a fantasy full of adventure and courageous men, was rapidly becoming a nightmare full of tragedy and dead buddies. Despite the fact that he was tought to fight and kill as if the Germans were animals and not people, Rasmus was still strongly effected by the devistating actions he was forced to take part in during battle. One story that stood out particularly, was the story he told about the day he saw a Russian soldier trying to strangle a German soldier to death with his bare hands. He had been told that the Germans were the enemies and the Russians were the allies. Nonetheless, he saw this scene as one of corruption and vengence and felt obligated to step in and stop the murder from taking place. This could not have been an easy decision. He was killing Germans and capturing German towns everyday in battle, but he was witnessing a man strangle another to death and this resinated deep inside him as a horrible sin. He forced the Russian to release the German soldier and let him live. This must have been very confussing to him at the time. The Russian was supposedly his allie and he was obligated to assist in the victory of Russia and the destruction of Germany, but he could not bare to watch this young boy strangle the life out of another young boy with his own hands. He was in the middle of a bloody and devistating battle, but he still knew where to draw the line and recognized what was beyond the actions of an honorable soldier. The experiences of Robert Rasmus clearly illustrate the confusing and misleading impressions set in the minds of the American soldiers both before and during the war. They were originally told that the war was a glorious place where a boy became a man, but when they were finally in battle, they learned that the war was a horrifying death trap that would ruin their lives for good, if they were even fortunate enough to live.

Entry #3: Jane Yoder and Tom Yoder, and Peggy Terry and Mary Owsley

Jane Yoder's story not only makes a statement about the hardships for Americans during the Great Depression, but makes a statement about an issue facing modern day American society as well. Jane grew up in a family struggling to make ends meet. All she wanted when she was young was the guarantee of warmth. She wanted a coat or a blanket and even that was difficult to afford. She went on talk about her current lifestyle when it comes to saving money verse spending it. She talks about people who own thirty blouses and that she could never bring herself to own so many. She grew up grateful to have one or two shirts to wear, and even though she could afford it now, she could never bring herself to spend money on owning so many unnecessary clothes. In our modern society, owning thirty blouses is nothing. I would bet that my friends and each have over a hundred shirts each in our closets, and too us this still doesn't seem to be enough. Americans have become greedy, never satisfied with what we have and always wanting more. Jane did not grow up with that outlook on life. Her father worked tirelessly to earn enough money to provide food for his children, but even that seemed an impossible task at times. In her interview, Jane spoke of how her and her other three siblings would quietly suffer through the hunger, never asking their father to go to the grocery store because they were aware of their father's financial struggle and knew that if there was not already food at home that day, they were not going to afford anything at the store. Her son spoke about this subject as well. He brought up the fact that he and his siblings have never had to go to bed hungry, and they probably never will. They can never truly understand the struggle that his mother, along with millions of other Americans, endured. Our society is incredibly blest to have been exempt from experiencing this kind of lifestyle, but it would greatly benefit each and every one of us to learn these lessons of learning to be grateful for what we are fortunate enough to have, and resist the temptation to spend frivolously on what we do not need.

The interview with Peggy Terry brought up another issue in modern society of how differently Americans think and behave towards the poor or the homeless. During the Great Depression, people understood that being poor did not mean that you were lazy, but it meant that you had suffered a great lost and were struggling to get by. Peggy and her husband would hitch rides from town to town. Along the way, people would offer them a place to sleep or a real mean which was scarce to come by. American's who were wealthy enough to afford their own food and maintain a respectable home, would often share their excess food with their neighbors. People when out of their way to help strangers and understood that it is the duty of every human being to lend a helping hand to anyone who is less fortunate than they are. In her interview, Peggy told the story of a woman who brought Peggy and her husband into her home, gave them a place to sleep, and provided them with a feast. She gave the pregnant Peggy milk to drink and even filled a bucket full of milk for Peggy when she and her husband were ready to leave. Peggy and her husband begged the woman to let them clean her rugs or at least do some form of work to repay the woman’s kindness. This woman wanted nothing from them except to let her help them. Still, she allowed them to clean her rugs because she knew they wanted to prove that they were not asking for charity and allow them to show their gratitude. This story reminds a bit of Sandra Bullock’s movie, The Blind Side, when she brought a poor high school boy into her home and took care of him as if her were her own son. She did not want anything from him in return, but only wanted to provide him with a better life in any way that she could. That story was incredibly touching, but unfortunately, that kind of selfless act does not happen very often. Now days, people pass judgments on poor and homeless men and women. People assume that because they are out of work that they must be lazy and unwilling to go out and look for a job. Of course there are some Americans who still make an effort to help the poor. People will give a dollar to homeless man on the sidewalk or give their leftovers from dinner to a woman sitting on the side of the road, but even these acts are nothing in comparison to the selflessness shown by some Americans during the depression. Americans were understanding and sympathetic then, showing a level of care that you just do not see in the average American anymore.

Entry #2: Arthur A. Robertson and Oscar Heline

These two men both lived in America during the time of the Great Depression and while both were affected by the economic crash, their experiences were vastly different. Arthur A. Robertson was an incredibly successful businessman before the stock market crash. He was making seven figures by the age of twenty-four and was living large with friends of equally successful and powerful positions. He was suspicious of the market's booming success and decided to withdraw all of his money from the bank just a couple of weeks before the crash which enabled him to take care of his family through the crisis. Through the nationwide crisis, he tried to help others and act selflessly with his money and while I believe he could have done a great deal more to help suffering Americans, I think what he did was still wonderful. While he had been a multi-millionaire before the economy crashed, he still had hundreds of thousands of dollars afterwards. This was far more money than he and his loved ones needed to get by, but he tried to hold on to the majority of it for their security. Nonetheless, he tried to help those around him by spending a portion of his own money on them or giving out lends. Every day, Robertson would take a line of seventy-five hungry Americans to lunch and pay for their meals. This was a very kind act that helped suffering citizens survive at such a desperate time. He loaned thousands of dollars to other Wall Street business men that he knew he could trust. He even gave small loans to department stores he was familiar with to help their businesses survive. It is true that with as much money as Robertson possessed, he could have done a great deal more to help the millions of people suffering after the stock market crash, but what he did was still incredibly kind and benefitted many otherwise helpless citizens.
Oscar Heline was on the other side of the spectrum during this horrible point in American history. He was a farmer at the time and agriculture suffered immensely from the economic crash. Nobody was buying vegetables or livestock or crops. It was more profitable to burn corn than to attempt to sell it to others. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have to resort to literally burning my family's source of income because that was more profitable than trying to make any more money off of it anymore. This was a tragic time in the lives of many Americans. Heline, along with most other farmers in the country, felt hopeless and powerless in the face of such terrible economic losses. Farmers were destroying their dairy, fresh vegetables, and even murdering their pigs and chickens on the side of the road. Their hope was that by making crops or meat more scarce, the prices that they could sell these crops or animals for would increase. Unfortunately, this plan was useless and farmers ended up destroying their goods without receiving any economic benefits for doing so. Like Robertson, Heline made an effort to help himself and other suffering Americans. A number of farmers joined together to write a farm-legislation and create new laws for gaining support and aid from the American government. The sad truth of the matter is that even with all of the effort these farmers put into this legislation and the immense suffering that was spreading trough the country, their efforts were wasted and they received very little help from the government. I cannot even imagine enduring the kind of hardships that citizens were suffering through. People had to resort to making clothes out of seat covers in automobiles and sleeping on homemade mattresses made from cotton. For Heline and millions of others in the country, it was a struggle to survive. The Great Depression was a terrible point in American history and everyone suffered. Some endured far worse troubles than others, but everyone was faced with the horrifying devastation that filled the country and people, both rich and poor, did everything they could to survive.