Veterans Day 2008

(This is the first of several articles dedicated to the memory of Robert "Uncle Bob" Winslow this week. Stay tuned for more, and if any of you have anything to be included please write it to EPRush1@aol.com. )

One of the most enduring benefits of being connected with "Bad Hat" has been the privilege of getting to know Uncle Bob. The serial account of his life is one of the more interesting bits of personal history I can recall reading. Those of you who have not read it, I suspect would find it as fascinating and concise an account of history as you are likely to read. (The family is working on it. Uncle Bob's account of his exploits is indeed wonderful and fascinating, a portion of which can be read here. A bound and edited copy should be available to anyone interested in a few months, we'll let you know.)

My wife recently read the new translation of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" which runs 1275 pages. I declined the honor of grabbing it and reading it, but I found it fascinating to hear her talk about the story. I also cheated and read the last page, so I could save time. Not to spoil the ending for you, but Napoleon's attempted conquest of Russia did not succeed and Tolstoy came away from his study of that period to write what some believe is the most reasoned and passionate argument against war ever written.

So you can read "War and Peace", or you could read what Uncle Bob wrote. I am reminded what the last French veteran of WW I said last year, prior to his death. To paraphrase, he reported that he spent the entire war being convinced that he was going to be killed, while conscious that those on both sides who got killed were all someone's son, brother, husband or father. He said that glory did not figure into the experience. Those are words to remember when Chicken Hawk political figures speak of the noble sacrifice of our troops.

I'd like to tell you a story that I just learned last month, when helping the family of a WW II vet who has gone into a nursing home, one he is not likely to leave ever again. The story he told about his service was remarkable. He was in the 1st Marine Brigade who were sent to China at the end of WW II. Their mission? to accept the surrender of the Japanese army of occupation. The war was over, but the Japanese refused to surrender to the Chinese, out of fear that they would be slaughtered. They indicated that they would be willing to surrender to Americans, even though the United States had just dropped two Atomic bombs on Japan. The 1st and 4th Marine Brigades were dispatched to China, where they accepted the surrender of close to two million Japanese troops, who were supported by an additional million and a half support staff. So far, so good. The Marines' task was to organize the repatriation of the Japanese back to Japan, by escorting them to ports so that ships could ferry them out of China.

Now the story gets interesting. China was in the midst of the civil war that ended with the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. That outcome was not certain at the time, but the Communists were interested to make a statement by being more badass and patriotic than the Nationalists. One of their ideas was to kill the Japanese before they could leave China. The Marines were seriously outgunned, since at the height their numbers were no more than 40,000. And here is where the story gets interesting. On a number of occasions when the Marines were conveying Japanese troops toward the coast their detachments were attacked by Chinese forces. To defend the column the Marines handed back to the Japanese their weapons and the two forces fought side-by-side until the attack was over. Then the Japanese turned back in their weapons and the march towards the China Sea continued.

It is impossible to exaggerate the ferocity of the battles between American forces and the Japanese during WW II. Yet here, a few scant weeks later, those forces, now at peace, were cooperating.

Uncle Bob would have appreciated that story. I see a lot in that improbable story to be optimistic about. The United States and Japan went on to became allies, putting aside the horrors of their battle to destroy each other. If our two countries could do that, and if our foot soldiers found it in themselves to cooperate with each other, it seems to me we should all be looking beyond the "endless war" we are currently saddled with. The "War on Terror" (TM) is a war without borders, uniforms, rules of war or any obvious end. That is not a happy prospect. Neither was the Second World War. If nations could make peace at the end of that monumental conflict, surely the nations and people enmeshed in all the world's current battles can also. Or so we must believe... and work towards.

Arthur