OCR Text |
Show There hasn't been a war to end all wars "War is hell," said William T. Sherman, Civil War general who led 60,000 men through Georgia on his march to the sea. General Sherman was qualified to make this statement. His troops left a black strip of country 60 miles wide as they accomplished ac-complished the Union's mission to divide the south. The hell for many surviving Civil War soldiers was not death or destruction. It was "Soldier's Illness." Today, we recognize this ailment as morphine addiction, usually caused by doctors who treated physical and mental illnesses with this narcotic. Memories of the Civil War were still vivid when President William McKinley convinced Congress that we needed to free Cuba from Spanish rule. The Spanish-American War was a victory for yellow journalists, businessmen that hoped Cuba would become a market for their surplus products, imperialists and social gospel advocates who claimed,"In saving others we may save ourselves." Over 5,400 Americans died in the Spanish-Americaji,War, but only 379 of them were killed in combat. Hell-raising mosquitoes mos-quitoes carried malaria and yellow fever to the soldiers that were sent to fight what John Hay called, "a splendid little war." When Europe became involved in war two decades later, President Woodrow Wilson sent American troops "Over There" to fight the "War to End All Wars." More Americans died from influenza and other diseases during World War I than were killed in battle. This physical hell was intensified when the soldiers returned home. Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1919 was declared a national holiday in honor of the World War I veterans, but token recognition didn't help the war heroes get jobs, medical benefits and pensions. A domestic war had to be fought before these compensations were received. receiv-ed. Another 20 years passed before America again entered a war. This time it was the big one. World War II was the most global war the world has ever known. V-E Day was followed by V-J Day. Some soldiers returned home to victory parades and celebrations. Others came home unnoticed except by family fami-ly members who shared theirarexperiences. "The real heroes didn't come home," one World War II veteran commented. "They are buried in Europe and the Pacific." Paci-fic." The dead were maybe the lucky ones. Their war memories were over. Surviving World War II combat soldiers relived their loathsome experiences over and over again. Ask a veteran today, they are still fighting a war in their minds that will never end. Another hell came out of World War II. It was called the atomic bomb. Makato Nagai was ten years old when this hell hit Nagasaki, a city three miles from his home. Makoto "Wrote, "All of a sudden there was an airplane.,. It was getting dark and cold very fast I thought the airplane must have crashed into the sun... I looked toward the mountain,.. It was like a cloud but it was like a pillar of fire too. It looked hard and soft and alive and dead all at the same time, and beautiful and ugly, too, all at once... We were about three miles away from it... I would rather blind myself than ever have to see such a sight again." The Korean police action came and went America sent troops. They came home. No one seemed to notice or care about these warriors. Indifference is another form of hell. President Dwight Eisenhower, a former army general, signed an act of Congress on June 1, 1954 that changed Armistice Ar-mistice Day to Veterans pay, "to honor all veterans and to establish es-tablish a day dedicated to world peace." Less than ten years after the creation of Veterans Day, America sent troops to an obscure Asian country called Vietnam. Viet-nam. These soldiers saw hell in the Asian jungles and on the streets of America. The ' 'Soldier's Illness," or drug addiction, that first surfaced after the Civil War became a continuous hell for Nam vets and their families. Americans knew there would never be a "War tp End All Wars.-' They took this frustration out on the Vietnam soldiers. -"Supposing someone gave a war arid nobody came?" was a" r popular bumper sticker of the '60s. This Nov. 11, let us all pause long enough to remember, "War is hell." We can then resolve to continually work for world peace. " -.; ""' : v |