Article by Bonchie in RedState
I Regret to Inform You That WWII Veterans Are Canceled
We all knew this was day was coming. With the woke revolution overtaking the left and forcing its way into every part of American life, it was just a matter of time before they went after the Greatest Generation. Yes, I regret to inform you that WWII veterans have been canceled.
Apparently, their views during the 1940s simply don’t match up to the supreme moral authority of people who tell you men can become women and that the nuclear family shouldn’t exist.
“Greatest Generation” survey on race, sex and combat during World War II runs counter to its wholesome image https://t.co/VHeJWCya4w
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 22, 2021
In August 1944, an American soldier finishing up an Army survey was asked whether he had any further remarks. He did.
“White supremacy must be maintained,” he wrote.
“I’ll fight if necessary to prevent racial equality. I’ll never salute a negro officer and I’ll not take orders from a negroe. I’m sick of the army’s method of treating …[Black soldiers] as if they were human. Segregation of the races must continue.”
Another soldier wrote: “God has placed between us a barrier of color … We must accept this barrier and live, fight, and play separately.”
These harsh views, and others, from the segregated Army of World War II, emerge in a new project at Virginia Tech that presents the uncensored results of dozens of surveys the service administered to soldiers during the war…
…Some soldiers were hostile to women in the army, specifically in the Women’s Army Corps, where 150,000 women served during the war.
“A women’s place is in the home,” wrote one soldier. “She can do more there by writing letters or by doing war work than by being in the army. … There are too many immoral women in the service and I wouldn’t want my sister to live with such people nor would a self-respecting woman.”
Well, if some random soldiers in a military that totaled over 16 million people throughout the war said something, we better tarnish everyone just to be safe, right? And note, these truly are just random soldiers. The surveys are anonymous, and there were around 500,000 of them done. As most of you are aware, you can ask 500,000 people anything and you will always get some people saying bad things. That’s hardly newsworthy.
To be clear, my problem with this isn’t that I’m afraid to admit people held prejudicial views back in the 1940s. Rather, it’s that I simply don’t understand the point of any of this. To the extent that those views existed or were even widespread, they are gone. These surveys were a snapshot in time, mostly consisting of extremely young men who still had a lot to learn about life and respecting others.
Further, you have to judge people within the time and environment they were raised. America during WWII was still working through many issues dealing with race and sex. The same applies to harsh judgments of men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, given the time period in which they existed. That doesn’t make everything men did at those times right, but context matters when discussing anything in light of modern ideals.
Those that fought in WWII were great men, flaws and all. They stood up to absolute evil, sacrificing their bodies, and in many cases, their lives. With that in mind, they don’t deserve to be judged harshly by a bunch of academics and Washington “journalists” who don’t have a fraction of the courage the men who fought in Europe and the Pacific had.
Lastly, I just find this entire thing obscene. A sense of unearned superiority is pervasive among the modern left. They truly believe that if they were dropped into a different point in history with no preconditioning, that they would always make all the right choices. That’s just not how human nature works. So leave WWII veterans alone. They are truly the Greatest Generation, whether you find their image truly “wholesome” or not.
