entry 5 - "The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II (1984) Peggy Terry, “hillbilly” E. B. (Sledgehammer) Sledge, Marine

When Peggy Terry said, "Now we'd have money to buy shoes and a dress..." it reminded me of when i got my first job. I was able to live normally before i got my job, but when i got it i was able to buy myself thinks that i desired. But, i certainly dont have a job that works with Tetryl, explosives, or detonators. i found it interesting, yet incredibally wrong that companys threatened workers that if they quit they would "blacklist" them and no other companys would hire them.
i love how E.B Sledge puts the war as two parts, "There was the war of the guys on the fronts lines... Then there was the support personnel." The men that we dont hear from are the ones in the front lines because most of them don't live to tell their stories. The men who died on the front lines were the true heros, not saying that all the other men wern't heros because they were. E.B went to war "to get it over with, so we could go back home and do what we wanted to do with our lives." nobody was their for the long run or to mess around. The way that E.B put fighting the Japanese it would seem almost impossible to be able to go back to normal life.

“The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II (1984) Introduction + Bob Rasmus, rifleman

Bob Rasmus's war stories hit me as very exhilarating, compelling, and to me it showed bravery within him. He talked many times about going to battle or into enemy country's in the front line as a rifleman. He said that he knew they likeliness of him dying at battle and yet he still had to guts and man power to go to battle, fight, and survive. Many times when i read stories from war vets i think about whether i think i would be able to do what some of these men have done. While reading this interview, i knew that there would have been no chance that i would have been able to go to the front lines and try to defeat a well trained enemy. As i was reading, i was also emotionally hit when Rasmus said that he had to leave his platoon because he had the flu, and later on they were hit hard and died. For myself, knowing that the flu kept me from dying in battle would make me go crazy. Then i thought, would i rather die by in a platoon with my friends at the Battle of the Bulge, or die in a different platoon in a big battle such as D-Day? After pondering this question, i could not come up with an answer. But, i do know that im thankful for the soldiers who fought in the war becuase i would rather be safe, and alive at home.

Jane Yoder, daughter of a WPA worker and Tom Yoder, Jane’s son

These stories really made me think long and hard about what i have today, and how much i take all of it for granted. Its things like clothes, having a hot dinner every night cooked, having a safe home, having my own bedroom to myself, and being able to take vacations across the United States and sometimes outside of the country. In Jane Yoder's story, she talks about how much she wanted a blanket or a coat to stay warm. When she finally got her coat, she treated it like it was worth $1,000. She also said, "I can think of the WPA... my father immediately got employed in this WPA. This was a godsend." To Jane and her family, getting a job ment survival. Tom Yoder talked about how it sounded foolish when his mom told him that her brothers would go hunting with rifles in search for food. If no food was found, then they would not eat that night. Now, we would only think that happned centuries ago or it was just something that boy scouts would do. Sadly, this happened in our country's past not too long ago. I conclude this by asking, do you think we will ever need to go back to this kind of survival in the future? Near future?

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Children write to the First Lady

This website truly showed how harsh and different it was for kids to grow up during the depression. Kids wrote to the First Lady because they wanted to be able to wear good enough clothes so they could go to school, but they could not afford it. The parents wanted to be able to give their children what was necessary in their life like a good education and regular nutrition, but they could not afford that. Today, we do not value what we have. Some of us are lucky enough to get a top of the line education and go to the best schools in the nation. Others, on the other hand, are not always as lucky. We do not not fully understand how lucky we are because we do not see it in our day to day life. It's important to recognize whats going on with all citizens of the United States because, after all, we are a united nation that, in order to be successful, needs to come together. People of all classes, races, and different parts of America must help each other so we can all prosper.

Arthur A. Robertson, mogul and Oscar Heline, farmer

These two articles showed me how far people would go, during the depression, to show their opinion that was not being heard. The farmers were burning their crops, the thing that they worked so hard to grow. The big business men were losing money as if they were constantly being robbed. Each group of people did what was smart, the farmers came together and helped out other farmers, and big business men came together to help each other. What i found to be impressive, was that these men who were so independent, had the guts to ask each other for help. men who own businesses and who work for themselves can be stubborn and turn down any help. But, every farmer and business owner was in a time of major help. Farmers needed to know how to make simple things like clothing from supplies around their house and land. Millionaires who lost all of their money, had to ask other millionaires for money just so they could survive and hopefully get back on their feet. As i read Arthur Robertson's interview, he told of countless amounts of times where men had asked him to barrow money. he had to turn the men down. it was too risky to lose the money, and he did not want to endanger himself even more. From how he spoke of the people, it was easy to tell that it was hard to tell the other men that he would not be able to help them. I could tell that him seeing other men fall deep and quickly in the depression affected him dramatically. The farmers, on the other hand, could not bring each other back up because non of them had money. One by one, each farmer was losing their house and their land to the banks. The loses led to insanity. The economic depression caused these men to have depression. A big time Millionaire business man shot himself because all of what he once had was gone. Farmers went so insane (and a bit tipsy) that they killed a court judge! These men could not believe what their lives had come to, and they did not want to. This shows that working men can not stand being put to shame. not being able to bring home steak dinners made these men feel worthless. Not being able to live their normal lives made them feel that their families did not have hope in them and they felt like less of a man. When business men go from being with the wealthy and high class, to the middle or low class, it makes them feel as if they have not just failed in their business but at life. The violence and problems in the public that happened during the economic depression happened because these men could not stand the feeling that they have failed and would have, and in some cases did, done drastic matters to get their pride back.

C. P. Ellis & Andy Johnson Entry 1

I found C. P. Ellis's story very compelling. The signs of harsh racism in the beggining shocked and in a way disgusted me. When he says, "I didn't want to associate with 'em. Blacks, Jews, or Catholics," i figured this was going to be a harsh interview, of just hearing of the pure rasicm for other ethnicities in the early 1900's. But, that focus was quickly changed when C. P. said, "I didn't until I met a Black person and talked with him, eyeball to eyeball, and met a jewish person and talking to him, eyeball to eyeball. I found out they're people just like me. They cried, they cussed, they prayed, they had desires."  In todays world, most people see each other as equivilant human beings, as equals. Everyone is a person and is similar in many ways, yet also different. I believe that C. P. Ellis's true turning point in his life was when he saw a black man walking down the street, and the man reminded him of his father and himself as a young boy. The clothes that the man wore were beat up and raggedy, just like his own years before and like his fathers. At that very moment, C. P. Ellis realized that being in the Klan was wrong, but he stayed in the class because it made him feel important. But, this also rises the question of what was more important to Ellis, stopping problems betweens blacks and whites? Or, did he think that it was more important for himself to be known and liked as a high ranking Klan member. I think that to himself it was more important to stop the racial problems. A true Klan member would not "listen to tapes of Martin Luther King. i listen to it and tears come to my eyes 'cause I know what he's sayin' now." A man who is strongly against African Americans and everything that has to do with the race, would not cry when he listens to the most famous and powerful Civil Rights leader make a speech.
-In Andy Johnson's interview, he shows what racism was like from an immigrants stand point. the stories of the travel from Finland to America were not pleasant. But when Johnson says, "I saw the first black man in my life on the platform at the Union Station in Duluth. i couldn't figure out why his face was black. I thought he didn't wash it or something. It didn't dawn on me at that time that people were different." Andy Johnson saying this shows the diversity in entire countries in the early 1900's. He was then introduced to racism when he saw the picture of the slaves. But besides for the racial problems, Johnson tells of the problems where people were cheated of jobs, and their rights. "When you're once fired for your political views, you're automatically blackballed with the mining companies, even if you never worked for a mining company." the lower class were being gypped of their rights and opportunities because they had to abide by the rich high class who owned businesses and companies. Andy Johnson brings up the point of "If we continue this present trend, we're gonna go straight to hell, we're gonna blow ourselves right off this earth, or we'll poison ourselves off." This is an extremely good point in which i completely agree with. If the problems back then still occurred now, there would be so much fighting on between so many different groups of people, that the existence of people in America could be questioned.