The Good War

While reading about firsthand experiences of World War II, I was very surprised to learn how many soldiers were appreciative of it and how it truly benefited the country. I always thought fighting in a war was a regretful experience with seeing so many horrors and one of the things soldiers would want to change about their lives if they could go back. But, several veterans view it as a positive experience. Robert Rasmus believes, "World War Two has affected me in many ways ever since. In a short period of time I had the most tremendous experiences of all of life: of fear, of jubilance, of misery, of hope, of comradeship, and of endless excitement. I honestly fell grateful for having been a witness to an event as monumental as anything in history and, in a very small way, a participant". War brought upon all sorts of emotions and forever changed the lives of many. I can understand some of the positives like being able to travel and view the world but reading about piles of dead bodies or heads half blown off just does not justify it for me.

I love reading documents like, learning from people who actually lived through history instead of reading a textbook. For examples there are little things that cannot be learned in a textbook. An interesting part for me was when Rasmus recalled, "But you have to accept the fact that in a cross section of people- in civilian life, too -you've got cowards and quitters. Our radio man shot up his radio: he thought we were going to be captured. Panic. I became a bazooka man because our bazooka man threw his weapon away and I picked it up. He ran off". There are small occurrences that a textbook would never teach us. Its easy to forget that soldiers are normal men and not all are heroes, some actually did run away. Reading through a veterans perspective makes the biggest difference in the world. It is much easier to understand the impact of an event.