Posted on 12/12/2004 8:58:43 AM PST by knighthawk
When your dad is 88 and doesn't offer a lot about the war, it's very difficult to press him.
True..
http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/History/By_Time_Period/20th_Century/Military_History/World_War_II/Units/United_States/Army/
I just google and find things..Then I read and the dishes pile up!
Dad was strange in his own way, enlisted in 1940, college grad, refused to become an officer, life long absolutely Conservitive Republican, in a way that doesn't exist anymore but he had this gift of looking at a maze and being first out, You would never ever want to play poker or bridge with him.
I know an old guy who was out east of Bastogne on the day it all started, with the 28th Division. He says that he'll always believe that Ike and Bradley knew it was coming.
No he wasn't. Hitler was a back-alley thug and cheap intimidator, loathed by the German staff officers. In that, he lucked into a pacificism and failure to secure the national borders so prevalent on the continent. He didn't technically even take all of France at once, but settled with a captive Vichy government for part of it. He betrayed his natural allies and competitors, the Soviets. But he ran into a problem with England. They held the line. And theirs and American technology slowly helped win the war at sea, and slowly the battle for territory, starting in North Africa. Never mind that the Commies made much of that possible in holding the line themselves, thanks to the worst winter in ages.
It is interesting to remember Hitler's nation. He wasn't worthy of Germany, to say the least. But once the Germans allowed for thousands of thugs in the early brownshirts, there wasn't much they could do with the next generation, Gestapo. But this was one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, at the time, where nuclear weapons hadn't ruled certain countries out of conflict with each other. Heisenberg only failed in the bomb program because he completely overestimated the difficulties, not because he was otherwise unwilling. Hitler's rocket scientists gave rise to a new term in the language, and gave birth to both the US and Soviet missile and space programs. Even with the brain drain created by Nazi thuggery, those left behind in that nation were among some of the most brilliant minds in the world. So when people say - the Nazis flourished in Germany because the people were stupid, or unlike people in the rest of the civilized world, that they were all petty thugs themselves - that's an argument without merit as Leo Alexander and many others pointed out. That's the frightening aspect of Naziism, then, liberalism/socialism today, and whatever else tomorrow. There's that 'better way', that 'new age' rebellion, that falling away to occultism and brutality, a growing distrust of 'western civ', and civilization itself, that does seem to appeal to those who like to imagine, falsely or not, that they are somehow 'enlightened' and smarter than the rest of us schmoes (and referring to a recent thread here on, mensa). Think about it. This is literally the Soviet view. They're the 'brains'. They're smarter. It's the German view, even today. Guess what - it's how the French look at us, too.
More likely to have been the case with Ernie Pyle, and others. I understand Edward R started getting political very quickly, after the war.
ping
I'm a googleholic also, I'm looking for a specific book-like description of the 137th during the war. If I ever see it again, I'll send you the url. Thanx.
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