WWII Roundtable Historical Context

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There Was a Time
By: Tom Brinkman

There was a time in the 1930s when the whole world, the whole developed world, tensed up over the likely outbreak of a large war, only two decades after World War I which was supposedly the "war to end all wars."

There was a time when the whole world, both developed and undeveloped countries, regions, oceans, and islands were caught up in the bloody hostilities of World War II, either as aggressors, defenders, or unfortunately, as innocent victims.

The earliest of this time was in 1931-37, when Japan bloodily attacked the much larger but less advanced country of China. This time in the life of our world continued with Fascist Italy's seizure of Ethiopia in 1936, and with Germany's suspenseful, mostly bloodless maneuvering to usurp control of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938. Then the time of war erupted more fully, and officially became World War II on September 1, 1939 with Adolph Hitler's invasion of Poland--the Blitzkrieg, or Lightning War--and quick conquest of Denmark and Norway, and of France in May, 1940. Britain was pushed out of France at this point--exiting through the embattled port of Dunkirk--and its initial time of bloodletting continued through the desperate Battle of Britain, the conclusion of which saw Britain's Royal Air Force outlasting Germany's Luftwaffe, thus avoiding a fatal end-time for Great Britain. Next, starting in June 1941, it was time for Russia's monumental bloodletting at the hands of Germany's Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Mother Russia.

And finally it became America's time of trial...on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941--the "Day of Infamy" in America's memory--when without warning, a large force of Emperor Tojo's Japanese naval warplanes swept out of the skies above Pearl Harbor Navy base and above other American Army and Marine bases on the island of Oahu in the Hawaiian islands. These Japanese forces sank many of the U.S. Navy's battleships, a number of other naval vessels, destroyed many Army and Navy aircraft on the ground, and killed nearly 2,400 American servicemen as well as a number of Hawaiian citizens.

So after over four years of growing brutal worldwide conflict, it now became time for many Americans--and southern Minnesotans--to be drafted or to volunteer, time to leave homes and families, jobs, farms, college, and time to begin the largest and most intense experiences of their lives. This time typically began with boot camp and initial military training, a time like no other up to that point in the lives of most of these young Americans from southern Minnesota. Some went on to serve stateside in America's rapidly growing citizen army--eventually 11.6 million strong--and many went, ultimately, down to the sea in ships, in order to be transported overseas under spartan and sometimes miserable conditions, to reach their assigned areas near or in combat zones. And a few were carried, unceremoniously and uncomfortably, in a variety of aircraft to their wartime duty areas around the world.

And now it was time for these young men to begin active operations and combat in the many war zones that comprised World War II. And to fully assume awesome responsibilities, carry out frightening duties, and to become more mature men very quickly, and in some cases, old men very quickly. For some of these young soldiers, sailors, and airmen this was the time of legendary, desperate, and bloody places in the many broad theaters of operation in WWII--the Mediterranean (MTO), China-Burma-India (CBI), mainland Europe (ETO), and the Pacific (PTO). The PTO, because of its immense geographic size, was viewed effectively, as being comprised of several theaters--the South Pacific, Southwest Pacific, Central Pacific, North Pacific, and Western Pacific theaters. Citizens from southern Minnesota served in all of these areas and campaigns:

• North Africa and the Mediterranean--initially a British struggle with significant US Navy support--but eventually this was the region where the green, untried American Army was initiated and first blooded, and where it began to gain its combat operational experience.
• Italy, the "soft underbelly of Europe"--which proved extremely hard--and was, among other reasons, intended to increase the 'second front' effort in order to help relieve pressure on the desperately hard pressed Russians.
• Britain and western Europe where General Eisenhower's "Great Crusade" of allied forces came ashore on D-Day--June 6, 1944--in Normandy, France after an immense build-up in the British Isles of American, Canadian, and British troops and of war material.
• The initial pivotal aircraft carrier clashes in the Coral Sea in May 1942, and near Midway Island in June 1942, with the accompanying diversionary invasion of Alaska's Aleutian Islands by Japan.
• The Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal, New Georgia / Munda, Bougainville....) the tip of Japan's spear, where the momentum of Japan's thrust south towards Australia and New Zealand was blunted and where the long push back in a miserable jungle climate against Japan's expansion continued.
• The New Guinea jungle, where General Douglas MacArthur's leap frogging strategy moved American, Australian, and New Zealand forces westward through Japan's south Pacific front.
• The terrible jungle experience in Burma in order to blunt the Japanese thrust into eastern India, and the struggle to supply by land and air, the under supported American effort in China.
• The Central Pacific efforts to grind down Japanese strongholds, with actions in the Gilbert Islands (Tarawa, Makin....), the Marshall Islands (Eniwetok, Kawajalein, Wotje, Maloeap....), the Marianas Islands (Guam, Saipan, Tinian....), and the Caroline Islands (Truk) among others.
• The Western Pacific region where Japan was finally pushed back to the point of her home island shores due to hard fighting in places such as Pelileu (part of the Carolines), the Philippines, off the coast of China, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and finally over Japan.
• And supporting this was the American home front--the "Arsenal of Democracy"--which was the fully harnessed American industrial and agricultural base, which proved to be the supply salvation for much of the allied war effort.

And this is just a brief description of the American (and southern Minnesota) involvement in WWII. The broad scope of World War II included many other nations, some even much more extensively involved and blooded than America. It has been said that the world was on fire with war, killing, maiming, and brutality....and indeed it was.

And then it was time for Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945. And finally it was time for the Nuclear Age--the single White Sands Proving Ground Test in July 1945, and the deathly and effective atomic bomb drops on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9 1945 respectively--and the Japanese surrender signing of September 2, 1945 onboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay (6 years and one day from the start of WWII). WWII had caused approximately 50 million deaths worldwide. This was equivalent to 37% (over 1/3) of America's complete 1940 population of 131.5 million people! The wounded, maimed, and missing worldwide were even greater in number. The United States suffered approximately 400,000 deaths, and many more wounded or maimed among its armed forces during its four years of participation in WWII.

At this point it was time for many of these veteran men and women to come home, some to a combination of the military reserves and civilian life, some fully to civilian life.

After all of this there was yet another time....a time in June 1950, when North Korea, without warning, attacked South Korea across the 38th Parallel of latitude which served as a common border between these two countries. Korea had been divided as a nation because of a split protectorate / political agreement between several victors of WWII, and this foretold a long stressful Cold War between Western Bloc democracies and Eastern Bloc communist countries. The Korean War has been viewed as a "Police Action" by those with a hopeful vision of a world managed more rationally and cooperatively under the umbrella of a participatory United Nations arrangement. But in fact and in the end, Korea was, plain and simply, a war in the same and ugly old fashioned sense of what war has always been.

And so again it was now time for many citizens of southern Minnesota to embark on yet another wartime tour of duty, this time fully across the pacific into Korea. As before, it was again the time for a mixture of disruption, excitement, boredom, chaos, privations, and mortal danger--all the experiences of war--as these men and women were hurriedly moved to Korea and Japan.

Looking back at the Korean War, this was the time that some have described as a frustrating advance and retreat experience....up and down the 650 mile Korean Peninsula:

• The rapid retreat into, and the desperate defense of the Pusan Perimeter.
• Back and forth advances across the 38th Parallel of latitude.
• General Douglas Macarthur's successful end-around amphibious landing at Inchon harbor, a classic move from the pages of Admiral William Halsey and General Macarthur in the South Pacific during WWII.
• The ensuing rapid advance of United Nations forces fully up the North Korean peninsula to the Yalu River (China's border with North Korea).
• The entry of communist China into the war with an overwhelming number of troops moving south into North Korea and forcing a major retreat by United Nations forces.
• The frozen desperate fighting retreat by the 1st Division of United States Marines from the Chosen Reservoir to relief on the Korean coast.
• And eventually the lengthy, frustrating peace negotiations at Panmunjon near the 38th Parallel, while full combat continued.

The Korean War raged in all of its ferocity for three years (1950-53). It resulted in re-establishing approximately the original border region between North and South Korea. American casualties included 34,000 killed, and much larger number wounded or maimed. And then national memories faded, regardless of the higher motives and urgencies that drove the United Nations and the United States to commit troops to the defense of South Korea, and Korea became, unfairly, the "Forgotten War."

And finally, it was time, for the second time, for these veteran men and women of southern Minnesota to come home. For those who came back--and all did not--from the immense WWII conflict of 1941-45 and from the bitter Korean War of 1950-53, it was time to begin building (or re-building) their peace time lives, careers, and families. Some stayed in military service, and some fully joined civilian life.

Many kept with them their memories of intense war time experiences and events, these of a magnitude larger than life for most people who were not there, and larger than anything many of these veteran men and women--soldiers, sailors, merchant marine sailors, coast guardsmen, airmen, combat reporters, medical corpsmen, nurses, and doctors--were to experience in their post war lives. And many, after all of this time, carry still, the pain of missing friends, acquaintance, and comrades who did not return, or who were maimed and disabled, or of bitter POW experiences, and of exciting or violent scenes branded into their memories.

Now, after all of these historic events of the 1940s and 1950s, after all of this time has past, we are at a time where many of these fine veteran men and women are passing into history before our very eyes. Their sacrifices, experiences, triumphs, losses, and their dedicated contributions from these timeframes were made a long time ago....but this is not the time when our society should be unaware of, or forget these veterans and their experiences.

Our WWII Round Table meeting....these are their stories, they lived them, struggled through them, and survived them. This collection of veterans' experiences are the most personal of all accounts.

For the rest of us it is now our time....to listen to their stories, to appreciate and honor, to learn, and to remember!