The Past Revealed
I've been
asked about the photograph of the family posed in the tank that I've used for
this blog. It is my own family, before I was born. The year would
have been 1945, and it looks like it was taken in late fall. In fact, my
parents used it on their Christmas card that year. That's my brother
David delightedly poking his head out of the gun turret; he was five years old,
or possibly had just turned six. There’s
another picture as well, with a second Army family with several young kids perched
on the tank along with mine.
I have no doubt, however, that it was my father who arranged to borrow the tank for a friendly photo shoot. That was definitely his sort of humor.
I found
the photograph as I rummaged through an old footlocker, where I came upon a
number of things I had never seen before. It’s an activity I highly
recommend. My own excavations produced a
tattered article that gave me a piece of information I’d long sought—a window
into what my father did in World War II.
Other military brats will know what I’m talking about here. Very few of our fathers would consent to
speak of their wartime service. Many of
us grew up knowing it was wiser not to ask the question which could provoke bad
moods, dark reveries, screaming nightmares, or binges with the bottle.
I’d
already known he’d fought at the battles of
On
The
battles were long horrendous, and the conditions daunting—the initial
amphibious assaults took place in seas with surf swelling to 15 feet, and the
Japanese troops held out in a warren of caves in the mountains.
Afterwards,
the strategic importance of the Allied victories was quickly demonstrated:
The
events at the Battle of Saipan have been depicted in at least two films: “From Here to Eternity” (1960) focuses on the
heroic acts of a young Mexican-American private from Los Angeles, Guy Gabaldon,
who personally captured nearly a thousand prisoners and later received the
Silver Star. “Windtalkers” (2002)
depicts the crucial role played by Navajo radio operators, who used their own
language as an unbreakable code to direct gunfire onto Japanese positions.
A
follow-up search on Google netted a previously classified Army document which
relates the actions of all the Army tractor and tank battalions in the Battle
of Saipan, in great detail. Many men,
including my father, are mentioned specifically. I urge all of you who want to know more about
what your fathers did in wartime to undertake this kind of search; enough time
has passed that your efforts may yield a rich result.
I found this entry immensely interesting.
My Dad was with AFRTS ( or AFN) and was embedded in Vietnam back in the early 70's.
I wonder if we could find any info about him out there.
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I'll bet you could turn up something. Start with Google and see where it leads...there must be many great sources to probe for information. It occurs to me that there is a very big need for an article that lays out some key resources and suggests strategies for digging up information about our parents' wartime service. If anyone reading this has suggestions, will you please write to me? I will include the suggestions in a future blog article for sure, and I'll think of other ways to get the word out as well.
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When I saw the photograph for your blog I was reminded of 4th of July celebrations when we lived in Germany (Frankfurt). The on base celebration included not only the requisite band, but various jeeps, ambulances,and other assorted military vehicles that we were allowed to "tour." Ha! We used those things like green jungle gym bars, racing up and down and in and out of various doors and ramps, perfectly at home on them. I imagine civilian parents of today would be just horrified that we "played" on equipment that they would never allow their children to interact with. A happy memory for me might be, I think, a fearful idea to them. Hmm.
Thank you for your book and for this blog. Keep writing and posting please.
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I have the same memories from the Canal Zone, Ft.Polk and Ft. Benning...I am continually amazed at the memories that come back after reading comments of, or talking to other brats. I am also struck, like Kiat, at how some of our fondest memories, and what seemed so normal to us, would be so strange and perhaps horrifying to the average civilian...
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I'm here for a selfish reason. I'm hoping someone can help me with this dilemma.
My husband and I are both military brats (Army).
Somehow, my father-in-law's dress uniform(s) were passed down to us. I have protected them as best I can from wear. I'd like to find a "home" for them. Of course, my husband has emotional ties to them and we may simply keep them and pass them down. However, if there is perhaps an obscure military museum or other place that would be glad to have these uniforms, I would encourage him to give them up.
Anyone else have this dilemma? How did you deal with it?
Thanks so much.
Susan
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Hi Susan....Saving Private Ryan was produced by Steven Speiberg and Tom Hanks and a good portion of the proceeds from the movie have gone to a museum that may be able to use your father-in-laws uniforms. The dvd has a note in it about the museum. Best regards...carl
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Mary, an absolute delight to find your blog and the BP website. This topic is the first one I read which prompted me to respond.
I never got the chance to hear my father talk in anything nearing specifics of what he did in WWII, aside from the generic surface comments. Remarks like "That was some mission, flak so thick you could put your wheels down and land on it." Which I really didn't understand until I grew up a bit.
When my father passed on in '01 (thankfully he missed 9/11) I had the chance along with my brother to review his service record and the citations for his decorations, all of which were kept neatly preserved in a felt lined box he kept in his closet. I didn't know what he had done, I didn't understand how good a soldier he was, nor did I even remotely understand that he'd been in some very terrifying situations, one of which netted him a medal for his "bravery in the face of great danger in the air." I still shake my head regarding that.
What he always told me, and which I took to heart, was that he never considered himself a hero, primarily because he had been in the Army Air Corps since 1932, so he didn't "run to the sound of the guns" as it were, he simply went where he was ordered to go and "did my duty."
The only time he would open up about the war was when he talked about the difficulties his younger brother Ralph had. My uncle Ralph spent a considerable amount of time in a psychiatric ward after coming home with a bronze star, a silver star, and a DSM, and a purple heart with three clusters. When pushed, my dad always said "You want to talk to a hero, talk to your Uncle Ralph."
In any case. I found a man here in California who served with my dad in England from '43-'45. He showed me a picture of the two of them at their base, just two young guys like a million others on the surface. What they did, and endured is unreal.
And I find myself, on those nights when sleep won't come, wondering if I could have lived up to that example had I been so tested. I fear it's a question that will trouble me for a long time to come.
Thanks you Mary. As always, I remain, your friend.
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Hi Ken! I'm glad you found it, too. What you've written about your father and uncle is deeply moving. And you are right on target with the questions that come to the minds of all of us whose relatives served in combat. Would we have measured up? Would we have lost our sanity? What did they learn about war and heroism that those of us who have not seen combat can never really know? And when our society, like any other, chooses to remember its victorious wars with a selective memory, painting them as we want them to be seen and remembered, what passes through the minds of those honored and decorated warriors? I wonder if they think we can ever understand what war does to those who fight.
All warriors returning to our country have a huge challenge before them in reintegrating themselves into society. How, after what they endured, and knowing what they know, can they pick up where they left off? And what can we do to make it somehow easier for them? I think there must be more ways than putting stickers on our vehicles, or attending ceremonies and parades, meaningful as those may be. I wish there were newspaper articles and television programs aimed at educating civilian America about the needs of our veteran warriors--what we might see in their behavior, and the best ways for us to respond. That would be a way to underscore that we are all in this together, and we owe one another respect and succor. It does seem to me that concerning the current war in Iraq, civilian and military America are far too isolated from one another. Civilian America seems at times to barely remember there is a war going on. I want to see us as a nation focus more on the effects of war, here as well as abroad, and respond in a more loving and supportive way toward warriors, their families, and the widening circles of those beyond them, all of whom are affected.
Mary
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Mary, one more item to note. I think the movie you're referring to about Guy Gabaldon is "Hell to Eternity", starring Jeff Hunter, David Janssen and Vic Damone, rather than "From Here to Eternity" which was the 1953 file with Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift, and Deborah Kerr.
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there isn't enough out there about military brats, offspring whatever you want to call us. i just read the one article by a FL paper and wished it was longer as there are so many of us out there and i wonder, of my generation or so, what happened to them as adults? what jobs did they go into? especially if they were in higher education or "out there" when their parent retired. there is so much that we have to contribute and bring to the table with all that we have seen as well and experienced. i'm not feeling my best otherwise this would be a longer more detailed position "paper" of sorts. i hope to see more about us and find a way to connect with it online or whatever should it spring up. ive got some huge things and some things that will always be uniquely mine.
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Michelle, I hope you feel better soon and that you will follow up. What all of us brats need is more of us who are passionate enough to take these thoughts out into the public to reach other brats. I suspect there are a great many of us who feel as you do and also very much want to see more about us in the media, but I also suspect that the urge passes and they move on to other things, just as we always have. That is the great tragedy of our "tribe": we were trained to keep on trudging forward, never looking back--even though it is the looking back, together, that will make us whole.
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My Dad was in WW2 and when I was 7 or 8 I asked him what it was like to be in the war. We were living in England where he has served for part of the time and there were still pill boxes and things around from the war. So I was curious--yet really at that age had no idea of what war was.
My Dad said, "When you see your best buddy shot next to you, it is something you never want to talk about." And he never did. Oh yes, he has his favorite military stories but they are of funny things they did or interesting people he met.
That photo is perfect for this blog! I didn't realize this was your family. I love it!
Candyce
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I retired from the Air Force in 2000 but stayed close as a contractor for the military. I also became a father late in my military career so at 13 years old my daughter has never known any other life. I've been deployed more as a civilian contractor than when I was in the Air Force to places of conflict. After military service I was also divorced which would be a major blow to my daughter had it not been for my military background. As the custodial parent I'm working now as a contractor in Okinawa Japan and she made the adjustment with ease. Recently, while she was visiting her mother, my daughter came across a box of stuff I'd left behind. When she returned to Okinawa she brought my flight cap and was wearing my dog tags around her neck. As a matter of fact she wore those dog tags constantly for most of the year. She told me she would sit in the closet where she found the box and read stuff about me from all the documents I'd left. I can't know what goes on in her mind but some fo the things you describe here help me understand as the parent of a military brat. Thanks, I'll be looking for your book.
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hi Mary,
Very interesting blog. I came to it via a comment on my own blog. My book THE SOUVENIR: A Daughter Discovers Her Father's War chronicles my father's service in the Pacific War and my own journey to return a war souvenir to a Japanese soldier. Thanks for your good work! Louise
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Hello Mary - I got your book from the library and want to buy it. I'm taking a class through Columbia College, MO, "Counseling Military Families" and read your foreward. Is your book out of print? Where can I buy my own copy? I think this is a great book and am suprised I didn't hear about it through my FRG. I will spread the word. Thank you!
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Thank you! It would be a useful book to read when you are studying how to counsel military families, I think. I'm glad you think so too. Military Brats is still in print. For the last several years, in fact, I have been the publisher. Sadly, I am not fond of running a business, so it has languished. I have not been marketing the book, although I do give talks, workshops, etc. The principal place to buy it is Amazon.com.
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try www.abebooks.com
great site for used books, found 24 copies available on 3/1/10
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G'day Mary, Any guesses where this is coming from? Yup, Australia. Have come across this blog thanks to my sister mentioning that our lives have been indeed somewhat shaped by our Canadian Air Force bratdom. So typed it in as a syndrome and voila. It's exciting to see how contemporary some of the postings are. The first ones I read were from 2006. I could relate to Michael Flahtery (sic). I feel for us. My story of getaway and lack of commitment includes the death of my mother when I was 20. Boy did that retrigger the getaway impulse big time. And now I've lived a lifetime (28 years in July)in Australia away from every reminder of family. My comfort zone ever having been as the leave-er not the leave-ee. Finally I could admit this when my sister said she could hardly bear people leaving...she lives in Canada and has 2 daughters minus a happy, settled relationship. There is certainly a sense of grief attached to the lack of attachment but on the other hand spiritual teaching will indicate that PRIMARILY for a sense of peace one needs to establsh a sense of place between you and God before you can begin to love your neighbour or partner for that matter. I always appreciated Lily Tomlins observation: 'We're all in this together alone.' So I guess we all get handed experience to make us Let Go. And for us brats, you could say we were given quite a rich experience to do it. This feels like a bit of a scattered letter but rather than not actually send it, I will. I'd like to write to Michael sometime in understanding and comiseration. So hi to him if he's still looking in on your blog . All the Best,
Judy L.
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