World War II Veteran POW
From OHA Wiki
The end of World War II was a celebrated event for those men who came home. Many of the men who had fought and been wounded became the subjects of oral histories. However the story was different when the men from Vietnam came home. As history has shown, the men came home to an indifferent society. Missing from the World War II oral histories were interviews with men who were captured as well as those who refused to fight in the war. One author stated that society was not prepared for the POWs that returned home after the war.1
It was the Vietnam War veterans who returned to tell their stories that opened the door for acceptance of WWII POWs and others. It was these oral histories that “greatly affected the willingness of World War II soldiers to talk openly about their experiences in graphic and candid terms. To do so, they had to overcome the popular and military stigma against surrendering and becoming prisoners of war.” Donald Ritchie also notes the contribution of the Civil Rights movement, in addition to the Vietnam War, allowed for the stories of conscientious objectors to be told.2
Key Works
One key work, which is a part of the Twayne’s Oral History Series, We Have Just Begun To Not Fight: An Oral History of Conscientious Objectors in Civilian Public Service during World War II, tells the story of conscientious objectors during the war. Written by Heather T. Frazer and John O’Sullivan, the book aims to capture and record the stories of over one hundred conscientious objectors. During the war there were about 12,000 objectors that spent time in the Civilian Public Service Program. The work adds to the historical record of conscientious objectors and the peace movement.3
One reviewer states his displeasure with the lack of provenance of the interviews. Other questions arise concerning how heavily edited the textswere and whether or not the interviewee had an opportunity to edit their statements. Also, no criteria were listed in the book letting the reader know how the work was edited.4 Lew Carlson uses oral history as a “liberating force” to tell the story of American POWs. Carlson interviewed approximately 150 prisoners of war. However, he did not just interview American POWs, rather, he also interviewed Germans to help paint a broader picture.5
Another key work is Invisible Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier, World War II, written by Mary Penick Motley. This work explores the Afircan American soldiers' contributions in World War II using oral history and letters from the soldiers. The author explains her purpose of writing compiling the book, stating that up until the time the book was published, there was not much written on the black soldiers in American History. She also notes that she wanted get the word out to young Africam Americans that there was black history before 1965.6
Related Pages
California State Military Museum
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
"The Good War": An Oral History of World War II
References
(1) Tom Bird, American POWs of World War II: Forgotten Men Tell Their Stories (Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1992), IX.
(2) Lewis H. Carlson, We Were Each Other’s Prisoners: An Oral History of World War II American and German Prisoners of War (New York: Basic Books, 1997), XVI.
(3) Edgar F. Raines Jr, “We Have Just Begun To Not Fight: An Oral History of Conscientious Objectors in Civilian Public Service during World War II Review,” Political Science Quarterly, Fall 1996, http://www.ebscohost.com (accessed May 24, 2009), 561.
(4) Ibid,.
(5) Lewis Carlson, We Were Each Other’s Prisoners (New York: BasicBooks, 1997), xvi.
(6) Mary Penick Motley, The Invisible Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier, World War II (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1975), 17.
