I have recently written some diaries encouraging people to publish personal stories that counter the cynicism of right-wing dystopian narratives and critiques.
If you succumb to a number of the resentments and grievances pervasive in right-wing media, you will likely join the Republican ranks.
There is a large basket of resentments followed by an explanation of those who are at fault: Illegal immigrants, young people, old people, black people, poor people, people who benefit from DEI programs, the “lamestream media”, women who wish to control their own bodies, college educated people, gays, Muslims, secular people, people on welfare, urban people, Democrats, big government, the deep state, etc. The basket seems to include almost everyone except rich people, big corporations, and the President who are all apparently blameless.
Since everyone has one or more grievances that they can blame on some outside group, everyone is potentially a loyal Republican.
But if you do not allow these resentments to control your life and dictate your world view, you can see an enormous number of positive elements in your country, your family, and your fellow citizens.
So, here are some stories of relatives who made great sacrifices and who refused to make victimhood and hatred of other groups a major force in their lives.
These are stories of former soldiers who were able to live normal, productive lives after encountering the horrors of war. They saw so much death that they wanted to affirm life and to build up their families, their community, and their country instead of complaining about them and tearing them down.
While these are stories of war heroes, there are also plenty of examples of heroes in medicine, non-profits, government, religious institutions, education, business, engineering, etc.
It was rare for the WW II generation to talk about their experiences in war, but I was able to collect a few of their stories. Here are some of the fragments.
One Uncle was a combat engineer who did civil engineering in the war. He and his troops built roads, bridges, and other infrastructure to support the troops in battles in the South Pacific.
But he was also a Master Sergeant leading his men to rid the islands of the Japanese who had invaded them early in the war. These were some of the bloodiest and longest-running battles of the war which required incredible strength and resolve from U. S. soldiers.
He led his men to land on these islands to attack the Japanese who were dug in with fortifications of pill boxes, machine guns, trenches, and tunnels. This involved hand-to-hand combat and attacks of these beach fortifications with the use of guns and grenades to destroy them and kill the Japanese soldiers in them.
Known as "island hopping," U.S. forces moved from island to island, using each as a base for capturing the next. So, he and his men attacked a series of islands such as Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and finally Okinawa.
Anyone who knows about tropical medicine is aware of its diseases – cholera, dysentery, malaria, dengue fever, parasites, and a whole host of other diseases to which the troops were exposed. These diseases along with the tropical heat and humidity made fighting all the more difficult. It is hard to imagine the strength it took to participate in battle after battle to win the war in the South Pacific. But my uncle, like many of his generation, grew up on a farm where survival depended on daily hard work and determination. It was excellent training for his future military service.
The Japanese were tenacious fighters, and they believed that capture was dishonorable. This was based on a variation of the old Samurai’s Bushido code of war. They would almost always fight to the death even when the battle was lost. Though these islands were declared secure, hundreds of Japanese held out and evaded capture in the jungles and caves for months and even years.
A second uncle who was also in the South Pacific described the experience of him and his fellow soldiers killing “thousands of them” (the Japanese holed up in caves and fortifications) with flame throwers and explosives. These were grisly deaths that could traumatize even the most hardened soldier.
This uncle was wounded in WW II and told me he spent a full year in a VA hospital after returning from the war. But then he was drafted and got pulled back into the Korean War some years later.
He had had experience as a naval landing craft operator and was tasked with bringing spies and saboteurs to the North Korean mainland for short operations. He said he would drop a soldier off on the coast at night and make an appointment to pick him up at a specified time (usually a day or two later).
He said that he could only wait a short time for the soldier to appear at the rendezvous point. Every extra minute he waited held the potential for him being captured or killed by the North Koreans. He would wait as long as possible (give them extra minutes) knowing that the failure to meet the soldier would mean that he would likely never return and be killed or imprisoned by the enemy.
These “life and death” decisions are difficult to imagine unless you actually had to make them in wartime, but they were commonplace for these men and women.
My father said little about the war except that he was in intelligence and artillery usually supporting the front-line troops by bombarding areas in Europe before the troops advanced. He did say he was in the Battle of the Bulge, among the last battles of the war in Europe.
I once suggested that he go camping but he said he had had years of camping during WW II, and that he had no desire to repeat the activity. But despite not being directly on the front lines, few soldiers escaped danger and the fear of death in wartime where there were so many unknowns as the war unfolded.
My father’s brother was an experienced seaman. He had gone to work on ships in the Great Lakes (mostly oil tankers) during the great depression when he was about twelve. He left school so he could send money back to support his family (his mother, two brothers and two sisters). He became a chief mate in the merchant marine during WW II. The merchant marines were critical to the war effort hauling food, fuel, armaments, and troops. But the danger of German U-boats was always present.
He said the fear on those ships was “so thick that you could cut it with a knife”. People think of PTSD as something that results from a specific trauma or event. But sailing hour after hour, week after week with the knowledge that your ship could be attacked and sunk by an invisible enemy in a submarine at any moment no doubt resulted in a long, drawn-out kind of PTSD for these sailors. They were likely never the same after such agonizing experience.
This uncle told me that he had a friend who said there was a newly commissioned ship that he wanted to transfer to, and he wanted him to come with him to the new boat. My uncle thought about it and decided to stay on the boat he was already on. Months later, he heard that that ship was attacked and sunk, with all hands lost. He had made a lucky choice, but his friend had not.
These and other stories made me realize how incredibly fortunate I was to avoid war in my lifetime although many who were just a few years older than me got pulled into Vietnam and a newer, younger generation got pulled into the Iraq war. Many also carried the scars of war after those conflicts. These more modern-day soldiers had the added burden of fighting in a war that was lost almost from its beginning (the secret Pentagon Papers outlined this assessment in 1968) or one that was based on false claims of threats from WMDs.
But no war is perfect and almost all lead to some anguish and tragedy for those who survive them.
Now hearing these stories sometimes makes me see the incessant complaining and claims of victimhood of today’s Republicans as trivial and even childish.
Virtually none of these WW II vets got much counseling or psychotherapy after their experience in war. They probably all lived with some degree of PTSD, but their faith in God and their sheer determination made them able to cope and become productive citizens and parents.
And I never heard any of them complain that they got a raw deal. This is true even though many lived a working-class life because they spent their youth in war instead of in college or learning high-paid, skilled trades.
One criticism of the modern world of media is that there are no heroes as role models except perhaps the cartoonish superheroes in films. Without heroes and ideals, people can become confused and directionless.
Then, when they encounter difficulties in life, they can become cynical, depressed, angry, and overwhelmed.
I believe that many of these people have become the base of the Republican party as they seek out some group to blame for their misery.
As an antidote, it is helpful to look to the past and listen to family stories that are sometimes full of heroes and their strength and determination in the face of sometimes impossible odds.
I encourage people to inquire about past relatives and tell their stories of iron will and sacrifice to both their children and to others on social media to create a more upbeat and positive media environment.
We have seemingly heard endlessly about grievances from the complainers and victims. Let’s hear from those with a positive and optimistic view of the past – one that will inspire citizens to have pride in their family histories and give people faith in a positive collective future.