War is a term that is perceived differently by every individual depending on his or her experiences. To a nation, it is defined as a moment of showing solidarity and fighting for the safety and rights of its people. To the ordinary citizen, it is a time of fear and anxiety with the thought of how the outcome will be and how it will affect them as individuals and as a nation. To a soldier participating in the war, it is all about life and death. The chances of dying are usually higher, compared to those of staying alive. Everyday they get into the battle field, the thought of shattered dreams, hopeless lives for their families and having to do something they probably do not wish brings a lot of anxiety within them. In his book, ‘the Deadly Brotherhood: The American Combat Soldier in World War II’ John McManus describes some of the challenges that war veterans go through during and after the war (McManus 43). He takes us through journals and memoirs of soldiers who had to fight to the end to ensure that their people were safe.
Despite the fact that war veterans are considered to be trained men who are well capable of handling war scenes, the scenario changes when they have to face the enemy head on. This is very different from the training they had received. They are now in the real war zone and are obliged to not only keep themselves safe but also keep the enemy at bay. History books on WW II tell us very little about the real participants of the war (Bradford 84). In most cases, credit goes to national leaders and commanders whose main role was to send the men to the filed to fight. It rarely occurs to them that there are certain individuals who are faced with the risk of dying in the forests and seas unarmed just to rescue a land. According to McManus, the real fighters are infantry soldiers who have to use their natural weapons to fight. They are deployed in areas where machine guns cannot penetrate and are not able to carry any weapon. They live in lonely caves where they had to survive on anything edible they could get.
In such lonely places, all they could see is their fellow soldiers who gave them moral support. They were found in situations where they could communicate and talk to no one except their colleges in the war. In most cases, strong relationships are founded in tough situations. They are these war scenarios that made the soldiers to be strong together. They knew they had to be there for each other as this was the only way they could support each other in fighting their enemies. They had a lot in common, more frequently, they would observe their colleagues die of bullet wounds, thirst or even fatigue, this was a scenario they had to deal with each day. They had no time to even mourn for their colleagues who they witnessed dying as they had to keep fighting to protect themselves and their nation. The hardest part of the war was the memories that keep lingering in the minds of the soldiers. Time is never enough for the survivors to erase the memories of what happened in the war. Most of them are even amazed at the fact that they survived when most of their colleagues perished.
After the war has subsided and they are back to their homes, they are met with excitement from the leaders, fellow citizens and more significantly their family members. Even though they are always delighted to be home at last, the memories of the war never leave them. To them, the war is never over with the physical end of it (Arn 86). They still have a lot in their mind, which they have to fight to overcome. It is never an easy thing; they realize that they are not the same way they left their homes to participate in the war. The love of their families is what actually keeps them strong, to see them make it in life and the fact that they feel delighted to have them back. However, it becomes even worse to them when their family members realize that they have changed a great deal. They are not as relaxed as they used to be before they went out fighting. What runs through their mind overwhelms them that they can no longer pretend they are okay. They are outwardly celebrated as heroes who overcame the war, but deep within them, they realize what it coasted them.
There is a feeling of guilt and shame, which they try to drive away by thinking they had to do it for their nation after all. The fact that most of their colleagues are actually not alive to offer them the consolation they desperately need, makes life worse for them. People who have no idea of what it takes to be in the war field surround them (Virginia Military Institute 15). What is mostly presented in the media is a shadow of what actually happens. Some of the moments are too embarrassing or rather too deep for them to share with their friends and families. Most of them wish they could completely erase such memories from their minds yet they keep sticking. The victory that is celebrated by others remains to be a stumbling block towards their future. They are no longer at ease and have to be stronger to face their challenges.
The unity that the soldiers had and the memories of their life in the battlefield is what has stood out in the novel. Most of the times when they had to cry and probably wish they would surrender, the bond that kept them going, the mission they had to fulfill for the sake of their country and the few moments they had to laugh together were both significant. To them, it was all about the assignment that was before them. Each day was an opportunity to show solidarity to their nation. No matter how they felt, they knew they had to fight on. Life mattered less to them more than the assignment that was set before them. They were trained to win, to keep winning until when they loose. Loosing to them was not about surrender but rather death, which was the only hindrance to their war. They felt sick and weak and at times dint just feel like fighting, but the war was not about how they felt but rather what they had to accomplish. It was all about what lay before them in a day, the rest would definitely take care of itself. They definitely thought of their families and friends, and probably it was one of the motivating features. They however knew that as long as they were in the battlefield, they had no control.
Works cited
Arn, Edward. Arn's war: memoirs of a World War II infantryman, 1940-1946. London: The University of Akron Press, 2006.
Bradford, James. A companion to American military history, Volume 1. California: John Wiley and Sons, 2010.
McManus, John. The Deadly Brotherhood: The American Combat Soldier in World War II. New York: Ballantine Books, 2003.
Virginia Military Institute. The Journal of military history, Volume 69, Issues 3-4. New York: Virginia Military Institute and the George C. Marshall Foundation for the American Military Institute, 2005.
