I have been reading a very depressing book -- which also makes me somewhat angry, because it reminds me of how badly World War I veterans were treated. The book is "The Day of the Beast" by Zane Grey, written in 1922.. It tells the fate of three badly wounded veterans of World War I who have just returned to find themselves broke, without jobs and totally unappreciated by the government and their friends and neighbors.
When I was taking graduate courses at LSU Shreveport, I came to realize that of the many gaps in my knowledge of history the widest was World War I. To try to narrow that gap I took at the same time a course on war taught by Dr. Finley at LSUS and a course on World War I taught at LSU in Baton Rouge and by television in Shreveport.
The war started because there had not been a major war in years and people wanted one. Men were sacrificed by stupid government actions and by incompetent and uncaring army and navy commanders. The first day of the Battle of the Somme the Britishers had 57,470 casualties, one-third of them deaths.No other battle in any war has approached that.
Getting back to the book, the main protagonist is Daren Lane, who was short four times, jabbed by a bayonet, and gassed by chlorine and mustard gasses.. He was discharged from three hospitals, not because he was well but because the beds were needed for soldiers even worse off than him. He goes to the family physician who tells him he cannot live a year without a miracle. Lane sees moral decay around him and decides to devote his remaining days to try to save his l5-year-old sister and other young girls. The book becomes tedious and even silly at times by current perspectives, but it is often thought provoking.
Of course, we provide better medical care of our wounded servicemen now and organizations such as Wounded Warrier remind us what we owe to those wounded veterans. However, let us remember how quickly World War I veterans were forgotten and how terribly they were treated, with tens of thousands in the streets begging for food. Those veterans did not want World War II veterans to suffer the way they did and pushed though the GI Bill of Rights. This made it possible for returning military men to return to civilian life without too much of a struggle.
Soon, thousands of servicemen will be returning from overseas battlefields. Will this government and the people be prepared to welcome them and provide jobs and other needed services? How we answer that question will tell us much about us as caring people.
When I was taking graduate courses at LSU Shreveport, I came to realize that of the many gaps in my knowledge of history the widest was World War I. To try to narrow that gap I took at the same time a course on war taught by Dr. Finley at LSUS and a course on World War I taught at LSU in Baton Rouge and by television in Shreveport.
The war started because there had not been a major war in years and people wanted one. Men were sacrificed by stupid government actions and by incompetent and uncaring army and navy commanders. The first day of the Battle of the Somme the Britishers had 57,470 casualties, one-third of them deaths.No other battle in any war has approached that.
Getting back to the book, the main protagonist is Daren Lane, who was short four times, jabbed by a bayonet, and gassed by chlorine and mustard gasses.. He was discharged from three hospitals, not because he was well but because the beds were needed for soldiers even worse off than him. He goes to the family physician who tells him he cannot live a year without a miracle. Lane sees moral decay around him and decides to devote his remaining days to try to save his l5-year-old sister and other young girls. The book becomes tedious and even silly at times by current perspectives, but it is often thought provoking.
Of course, we provide better medical care of our wounded servicemen now and organizations such as Wounded Warrier remind us what we owe to those wounded veterans. However, let us remember how quickly World War I veterans were forgotten and how terribly they were treated, with tens of thousands in the streets begging for food. Those veterans did not want World War II veterans to suffer the way they did and pushed though the GI Bill of Rights. This made it possible for returning military men to return to civilian life without too much of a struggle.
Soon, thousands of servicemen will be returning from overseas battlefields. Will this government and the people be prepared to welcome them and provide jobs and other needed services? How we answer that question will tell us much about us as caring people.
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