Postwar Parallels

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air show us how we can learn from history.

Imagine, if you will, reading the paper today, and finding this:

It’s what our boys have been doing that worries me... Friend and foe alike, look you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are disappointed in you as an American... People never tire of telling you of the ignorance and rowdy-ism of American troops... They say that the theft and sale of Army supplies by our troops is the basis of their black market... The time has come, for our own future security, to give the best we have to the world instead of the worst.

Here's the thing. The above is not excerpted from an AP wire story about Iraq, but from a 1946 article in Life magazine entitled "Americans are Losing the Victory in Europe," written by John Dos Passos, concerning the Allied occupation of Germany." The piece was uncovered by Jessica's Well in a 2003 blog post. It also brought another American serviceman's tale to mind...

Dad was a payroll officer (1st Lt) with the US Air Force in 1952-53, during the occupation of Germany. Newly married before he left, and having no apologies for aspiring to a virtuous life, he generally avoided the company of his fellows. To hear him tell it, even the married men among them took to chasing anything German wearing a skirt. While he attempted to learn the language, he rarely fraternized with the locals; less for any regulations on the matter, than for the embarrassment he felt for the behavior of his fellow countrymen in their midst.

He even turned down a chance to visit Paris on leave. He knew he would have been the only officer on that transport, thus responsible for the behavior of every man there, who were unlikely to be visiting “the city of lights” to catch a view from the Eiffel Tower.

Fortunately, Dad found a sympathetic American couple, and he spent his leave time with them touring the German countryside, as well as that of Switzerland and the Netherlands. As I child I remember his slide shows, portraying beautiful color scenes of the mountains, the tulips, and the marketplaces, with life returning to normal. He had a natural eye for photography, and we were quite entertained as children by the images and his equally colorful commentary.

It was a rare opportunity for a young man to broaden his horizons, before returning to the States and starting a family. Now 82, he was never able to return. But he has his memories, and we have his slide show.
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