That’s a great story. We all live in our own times, but what I ponder most when I read these stories is, could I have done the same? You know what I was doing at 18-22, being a lazy *** college kid not giving much of a damn about anything but taking care of myself!
People are people. Of course they are melded by the times to some extent but the 15 million who served in world war II were as diverse then as we are now. Of course, they all grew up during the great depression and to some extent the "prospects" of war were actually an "opportunity". Real historians will point out that the terrors of war really wore on the soldiers, that the army was forced to take fairly drastic measures to keep the draftees fighting towards the end of the war, like recuperation camps in the rear areas, and constant rotation. The volunteers and most skilled soldiers were burned through pretty fast in Africa, Italy, the pacific, and France, and there was a serious shortage of well trained troops by 1945. Much like in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are people who are particularly suited for combat, but this is relatively rare, and they have pretty high burnout and casualty rates. The rest of us just try to survive until the end.
