U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire”, circa 1944-06-06. Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHoM) Robert F. Sargent
Edward Gitre, Task & Purpose/The Conversation: Uncensored surveys reveal what US soldiers really thought about America and the military during World War II
I can still recall the exhilaration I felt in the reading room of the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
It was mid-April 2009. I was scrolling through roll after microfilm roll of the War Department's “ Opinion Surveys Relating to the Morale of U.S. Army Personnel."
What I had discovered were tens of thousands of statements written by World War II American soldiers about their military experiences. Not only were they uncensored, but they were also composed during the conflict – not afterward, from re-created memories.
A postdoctoral fellow at the time in modern U.S. history, I felt confident that no other collection of WWII records compared to what had been saved on these unreproduced 44 microfilm rolls. Neither had I ever seen these documents used in any history of WWII.
I had just discovered a historian's gold mine.
If only the public had access to these, I thought to myself.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: Here is today's version on what soldiers and their families think of military service .... A U.S. Army Tweet Asking 'How Has Serving Impacted You?' Got An Agonizing Response (NPR).
