You wrote that the country was divided before our entry into WWII. I'm surprised because the evil from Germany and Japan was so apparent that I sure thought we were united.

Ah!  We just can't get away from WWII.   I love a question that brings out the history teacher in me.
How important that we study history to learn from the lessons of the past. The above question comes those young people who did not realize that our country was not totally united in its eagerness to resist the Axis Powers in  the late 1930's.  I well remember the many, Keep US out of War: Be Neutral, signs that were on (real) bumpers, in store fronts and homes.  And there were a variety of organized groups proclaiming, American First!   Surely the leadership of Americas' newly crowned hero Charles Lindbergh, who became enamored with the industrial progress of Germany, also added to the opposition.  Of course the opposition also grew from the experience of World War I and the view that entering the wars of Europe (which were virtually a constant throughout history) was folly and America should stay free of any foreign entanglements.

All this changed of course with the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor.   However America's fascination with conspiracy theories continued as the hostility toward Roosevelt was so entrenched that many believed that attack was actually orchestrated by him and his administration in order to silence opposition to our support of the allied powers.. Lynne Olson's recently published book, "Those Angry Days" refers not to our present time, but to the time before WWII.  I highly recommend it.

I wonder how present day events might be changed had there been an opportunity for more enlightened discussion of the issues present before the war in Iraq began. In some ways it appears that war and the threat of war brings out the best and the worst in our country.

Next week I'll respond to a very frequently asked question, "What do you consider to be the most important/dramatic/events for both good and ill during your lifetime?  And I'll tackle it from both a worldwide and personal perspective.  I hope you will give it some thought to it as well.

Ron

What is one trend or device from your generation you would bring back?

Blog readers Stephanie's answer to this query was "I ofttimes wish I had a day or week without the Internet, smart phone and laptop." Amazingly this first (and only) response to the question was very similar to mine, "I'd bring back Sunday as a day of rest, almost all stores were closed, no work was done (except for mother preparing the big Sunday dinner) and children's play was to be on the quiet side."

And while it may have started from a religious tradition, I doubt that a majority of people went to church  even then. And as a child I often rebelled at having to stay indoors and play pickup sticks or Parcheesi. But the wisdom of this lifestyle was underscored for me by my grandson who spent a year in Germany. As a soccer aficionado he went to see if he could make his mark in a country where soccer rules. While he enjoyed his modest success at soccer, he totally fell in love with a more relaxed lifestyle in Germany, particularly the fact that Sunday was a much more relaxed day with very few stores open.  I'm afraid in America where individuality, capitalism and freedom rules, there is little likelihood of returning to those halcyon days. But there's nothing to keep individual families from doing things that make sense to them to improve their quality of life.  I well remember that as Regina and I were bringing up our four children (during what we thought were busy times) we held Friday night almost sacred as a FAMILY TIME.  I wonder how much that may have contributed tomy continuing joy of having a close knit family?

And once again disclosing my Germanic heritage and recent trips there and having visitors here from Germany, let me close with a few things I've gained recently from German insights and lifestyle.

• I'm told that the practice in German elections is that a candidate can speak only of themselves and their plans and not speak ill of others..
• This practice also extends to the store clerks who only show you the merchandise and do not try to flatter you and encourage you to purchase the item.
• Recent German visitors, upon seeing so many graves at Arlington Cemetery, spoke highly and respectfully of the willingness of Americans to give their lives for the freedom of others around the world.
• These same visitors at Arlington, surrounded by the hundreds of eighth-graders also present in the cemetery, felt that American teenagers were so much more respectful than was their experience with teenagers at home.

Once again I am indebted to the more than 2000 who let me reminisce and respond to their thoughtful questions.  I'd hoped to leave the questions about WWII in next week's blog, but a fascinating response I received causes me to make one more (rather detailed) response.  I hope you will check me out.

Ron

Continuing to respond in summary to the thousands of questions I have received.

The thrill of being asked so many fascinating questions encourages me to keep going (and that can be interpreted in a number of ways, I realize).  I make no claims for being an expert, but I have had some rather broad experiences, and I believe I bring common sense to my remembrances.  And if folks are going to read my rants in greater numbers than they did before, I will feel challenged to use this vehicle to answer questions.  Although I have already responded to questions about WWII, there were so many expressing a curiosity about how life was different in that period,  I'll share a few personal experiences..

I well remember the division in our country before Pearl Harbor. Certainly there was great hostility to the leadership of FDR, and I recall that the people next door who had a son of draft age were vehemently against getting involved in "foreign entanglements". Homes and cars had signs reading, "Keep U. S. Out of War - Be Neutral"!  We could, however, hear the shrill voice of Adolf Hitler on one of our three major radio stations. (Note that having fewer trusted media was one of the things that united us that we don't have today.)

One of the other sources of news occurred when we went to the theater (for about $.35).  San Antonio, with a population of 250,000, had three major theaters downtown and they were truly enormous, very ornate movie palaces. Rather than having advertisements and trailers advertising forthcoming movies, THE PATHE NEWS gave us glimpses of what was occurring in Europe. After the movie was over, if one wanted to stay to see it again, one was entertained by musical groups. I well remember the nationally known PHIL SPITALNE AND HIS ALL GIRL ORCHESTRA playing the top tunes  that were on the radio's LUCKY STRIKE HIT PARADE.  However Lucky Strike had to change the color of their pack because the green dye was needed in the war effort.  Thus their slogan was, LUCKY STRIKE GREEN HAS GONE TO WAR!  But men (and women for the first time in the service) were given all the cigarettes they wanted to smoke.  Straight arrow me never did!

But the attack on Pearl Harbor united the nation. Ths common enemy united the country with everyone seeming to want to do their part.  We collected scrap metal and tin foil that wrapped our candy bars.  Most consumer products were rationed and we had stamps noting our allotment.  At 16 was I just so I'll informed or have I sublimated the terrible things we did to those citizens of Japanese heritage on the West Coast?  We of German descent faced no such trauma!!!!

There are of course books on this topic, but there are many experiences not recorded about the war.  I'll close my thoughts on this topic with an email I received from a close friend:

 "It's ancient history to so many, but my father was captured on Corridor with Gen. Wainwright, and spent the rest of the War (and even 2 weeks after the Japanese surrendered) in prison camps in the Philippines and in the camps in northern Japan. I doubt he would have survived for much longer if he and the others hadn't been found. And a few years later, when I was in high school on Guam where he was stationed, there were Japanese soldiers still hiding in the boondocks, holding out to the bitter end for the Emperor. My friends and I got in trouble from our parents for exploring and hunting for souvenirs, but we found some. I just kept a couple of records from a camp we found, but they wouldn't play on my phonograph and besides, they were in Japanese, so I didn't keep them!"

I hope others of you will get to other WWII veterans before it is too late.

Next week I'll respond to the provocative question< "What is one trend or devise from your generation that you would bring back?  I hope you'll add your insight as a comment below, and I'll share the way I answered the question.

Wow! Such interest in "The Bomb"

I was amazed! It was a simple question to which I gave a brief, personal answer about whether I thought the dropping of the bomb was necessary to end the war with Japan. But it elicited over 100 very thoughtfully considered comments. I was immediately hooked by Reddit's ability for me to converse with thoughtful (probably young) people.

Along with many of you, I learned so much. Anyone interested in this topic can find a wealth of information from studies like Operation Coronet reported on my AMA site,

 https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/40cmzb/i_am_90_years_old_an_officer_during_wwii_a/

But to summarize the responses.  Filmmaker Ken Burns' personal observation after his series on WWII is quoted as concluding that casualties on both sides would have been significantly worse had the bomb not been dropped. While I was most overwhelmed by the interest and knowledge about the topic.  Most striking to me was this reply:

"I actually live in Yokohama - and when you study the war from the Japanese side, the destruction in the firebombing of Tokyo/Yokohama was equally destructive. In some ways (including the casualties) it was substantially worse. Had the Americans invaded, Japan could have expected relentless, non-stop firebombing of this type, more or less completely unopposed, as the Japanese were incapable at this point of mounting any serious air defense. And that would have been before the invasion. It's highly likely that the destruction to Japanese civilians without the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been much, much worse.  Interesting point - most Japanese I speak to blame all of this squarely on the Japanese government, not the Americans."

So what's my personal take-away from the discussion?  I was of course gratified that my own (selfish) position on the wisdom of dropping the bomb was substantiated by respondents. And I had two further reactions:

• At first I felt that readers had a knee-jerk reaction to the first comment on my bio - that I was a veteran of WWII. 
• As a former high school "Social Studies" teacher, I was delighted with the interest in History and a recognition that knowledge of history is important to help us avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

And now it is time answer more questions that I can report on next week.

An unexpected turn of events

Before closing out my ranting and raving, I thought I would give it one more shot.  Reddit's, "Ask Me Anything" seemed like a good vehicle to reach young people to see if an old man with 90 years of experiencing a "good life" might have anything to say to the youth who so extensively use the social media.

While I was delighted at the initial response of over 12,000 hits and 2,000 questions, I was totally blown away by the topics a great many wanted me to consider. The first concerned the issue of the necessity of using the atomic bomb in World War II (stemming from my having been a Marine in WWII perhaps) and the second related to their views on religion (perhaps stemming from my statement of being a church- going agnostic atheist)

I'll  plan to say more about these topics the next few Wednesdays, and I hope some of you may want to put in your 2 cents wor4th below.  But I also invite you to go to Reddit's

 https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/40cmzb/i_am_90_years_old_an_officer_during_wwii_a/

for your own assessment.

However, I want to share one thought about the nature of the responses.  This too I thought was most surprising

So many of the responders seemed in disbelief – that an aged person would be so honest, so direct, so forthright in responding – coupled with a desire for more intergenerational contact.

And in briefly pondering

why this would be true

I came to a few

tentative conclusions:

skepticism of government born of conflict with Vietnam

leaders with massive egos promising much but delivering so little
and

hypocrisy in and skepticism of religion

Reflections on my 90 years of life

Reddit AMA going on now! https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/40cmzb/i_am_90_years_old_an_officer_during_wwii_a/

  I find it hard to believe that I am experiencing one of the best years of my life as I celebrate my 90th birthday. And it's not because the previous 89 years have been dull are depressing in any way. Raised in the pre-depression middle-class, I've lived through some fascinating times. I've been extremely fortunate and as a lifelong educator I feel driven to share some of my insights with anyone interested.

I've given quite a bit of thought to how life can be so good for a 90year older and thought that sharing them with you might serve to stimulate questions.

• Good genes. Although there is no longevity in my family, somehow my life was put together so that I have always had good health.
• A wonderful childhood. Raised in a lower middle class family I didn't realize that we were poor and I grew up in a wonderful city with family and friends without undue stress. While there was surprisingly little overt expression of love, I was not unduly pushed or ignored and though neither of my parents graduated from high school, they provided a warm home experience with broad life enhancing opportunities
• being around young people. I'm fortunate that my vocation is been public school work the challenge of nurturing young people coupled with and enjoyment of their enthusiasm and creative approach to life is something that seems to have carried over to me
• a caring government. I resonate to Pres. Obama's statement that quote I did not build (my life) alone public schools started my academic learning the military continued my education and I completed three college degrees through the G.I. Bill. The life of my wife and two of my four children have been extended because the government provides kidney transplants for those in need and my state has provided a pension for my years of work in education which is made it possible for me to enjoy my senior years
• monetary security has helped free me from undue anxiety and concern. Although I have not been blessed with great wealth, I've been very comfortable and not worried about basic needs something that brings undue anxiety and concern to many. I employment not only provided financial security but also a recognition of my talents.
• I've had the lifelong support of a loving partner family and friends and being a part of the faith community that focused on the meaning and purpose of life.

A remarkable experience seeing the results of xenophobia

How fortunate I have been in my 90 years. I've never had to be fearful because of my race, religion or national background.  Never have I seen such extreme polarization in our country.  How difficult it must be for religious people of the Islamic faith to see/hear/feel the hatred spewed by political candidates and free speech on the social media.  Thus I felt it mandatory that I reach out to those Muslims who worship at my Christian church every Friday with a welcoming greeting.

I am proud that for many years one of the churches I attend has provided space for Muslim for their Friday afternoon prayers. Given the current state of hostility I didn't know if there would be protesters or not, but for my own personal feeling, I felt compelled to try to make the worshipers feel especially welcomed.

I was overwhelmed by the response to my simple greeting. As the crowd of some 50 to 100 men and women entered over a one hour period I had an opportunity to converse with a majority of them. One could easily see the apprehension in their eyes as they approached a stranger standing near the entrance! After an assuring handshake I was profusely thanked with expressions telling us how meaningful such a greeting was.

While I thought I was doing it alone, youthful workers and volunteers who had been serving food to the homeless since 6AM insisted on joining me. How marvelous to see the enthusiasm of youth in responding to various human problems. How remarkable to see cabdrivers taking time from making money, to see so many young  people, and folks from many different races and nationalities coming to the house of a different faith to pray to our common God.

How thankful I am for being taught another way to express friendship, greeting and love - other than a handshake - by gently touching my hand to my heart.