War Makes Men of Boys: A Soldier's World War II

Epilogue: A Reluctant Member of the Greatest

“The Greatest Generation is more invention than truth, and the consequences of such an invention, even one as attractive as this one, are far from harmless.” Kenneth D. Rose, Myth and the Greatest Generation According to Publisher’s Weekly, Tom Brokaw’s book The Greatest Generationwasthenumbertwononfictionbestsellerin1998 (bestedonlybySuze Orman’s The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom).1 In 1999, The Greatest Generation again made the number two spot on the list (this time bested by Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie), and Brokaw’s follow up to it, The Greatest Generation Speaks, was in the number seven spot. His third book, An Album of Memories, came along two years later. In these books, which have “essentially become a branded item,”2 Brokaw argues that the World War II generation can rightfully be called the greatest generation that America has ever seen.3 In his introduction to the first book, Brokaw describes the hallmarks of that generation: These men and women came of age in the Great Depression, when economic despair hovered over the land like a plague. . . . They had learned to accept a future that played out one day at a time. Then, just as there was a glimmer of economic recovery, war exploded across Europe and Asia. . . . They answered the call to help save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled. . . . They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. At a time in their lives when their days and nights should have been filled with innocent adventure, love, and the lessons of the workaday world, they were fighting, often hand to hand, in the most primitive conditions possible. . . . When the war was over, the men and women who had been involved, in uniform and in civilian capacities, joined in joyous and short-lived celebrations, then immediately began the task of rebuilding their lives and the Epilogue A Reluctant Member of the Greatest Generation H 126 H Epilogue world they wanted. They were mature beyond their years, tempered by what they had been through, disciplined by their military training and sacrifices.4 In the years since those books were published, Brokaw’s concept of the Greatest Generation has gained wide cultural acceptance and considerable political potency. Rod Gragg echoes Brokaw’s sentiments in a 2002 compilation of letters sent home by soldiers during the war. He raises a paean to their service and their willingness to render it: “Fueled by the patriotism, discipline , and sense of duty that typified their generation, they put aside their civilian lives and put on their country’s uniform.”5 Tom Mathews considered the challenges of the Baby Boom generation in his book Our Fathers’ War: Growing Up in the Shadow of the Greatest Generation,6 and, not surprisingly, when the World War II memorial was opened, the ceremony was entitled “The Greatest Dedication.” The term has fueled much political discourse in recent years. Denise Bostdorff commented on the comparisons that were made between World War II and terrorism in the days following September 11, 2001: “When the attacks came, parallels were immediately drawn between the threats faced by the World War II generation and the younger generations . Television commentators talked about the attacks as another Pearl Harbor, as did political figures interviewed by the press. Repeatedly, news stories quoted young people referring to September 11 as ‘our’ Pearl Harbor or‘ourdefiningday.’”7 GeorgeW.Bushappreciatedthisjuxtaposition,andhis address to the UN General Assembly in November 2001 provided parallels betweencontemporarytimes andthose ofWorldWarII:“Wedidnotaskfor this mission, yet there is honor in history’s call. We have a chance to write the story of our times, a story of courage defeating cruelty and light overcoming darkness.”8 The romance of the Greatest Generation clearly infected the generalpublicaswell ,anditcontinuestoholdsway.Indeed,onseveraloccasions when I told people about the book I was writing, their immediate response was, “Oh, you’re writing something like Tom Brokaw and the Greatest Generation .” Some commentators have argued, however, that the concept of a “Greatest Generation” mythologizes both World War II combat veterans and those who persevered on the home front. Even in the first book, Brokaw cites Andy Rooney—a reporter for Stars and Stripes during the war and longtime curmudgeon on 60 Minutes—as objecting that there was nothing special about those born in the 1920s—that instead, through the vagaries of history, “his generation had a Depression, World War II, and a Cold War against which to test their character.”9 Scholars have also...