Growing up in the late 1960s and early ’70s, World War II was everywhere.
Of course, the war was over. World War II had ended 20-30 years prior to my single-digit years. By everywhere, I mean, the effects of World War II were everywhere. The echoes of the war remained.
The war had shaped the world. Political structures, alliances, even the politicians were all products of the war. I was a kid, though. I didn’t really understand all of that stuff then, but, even for a kid, the war was a regular part of life. As kids, we had no idea what the war was really about other than the Nazis and the Japanese had been the bad guys. Shoot, we didn’t even get the name of the war right for many years. As children, a bunch of us thought it was called “War War II” not World War II.
Yet, our toys were G.I. Joes and little, green Army men, as well as toy Tommy guns and toy Army helmets. Whenever we played war, as boys regularly did then, we would always be the Americans. Unlike cowboys and Indians, where we were willing to be either cowboys or Indians, we were not willing to be the Nazis. We were all American soldiers facing entire battalions of imaginary Nazis.
The ideas for our imaginary battles came from watching the bazillion World War II movies on TV. This was back before cable and usually only one TV set per house, so, when Dad watched a war movie, the entire family watched a war movie. Quite often, a war movie was the only thing on TV.
To us, John Wayne was World War II.
We didn’t realize that the real World War II was all around us in the forms of grandfathers, fathers, uncles, neighbors, principals, teachers, the guy who repaired TVs, the man who went to work every day, the fellow taking up the collection at church.
We were surrounded by World War II and didn’t fully realize it or appreciate it. We were kids and these men seemed more like Jimmy Stewart characters than John Wayne characters.
In the movies, it was Jimmy Stewart who sat out the war staying home to fight the battle of Bedford Falls in movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” while John Wayne was fighting and dying in “The Sands of Iwo Jima.” Of course, in the real world, it was Jimmy Stewart who went to war while John Wayne stayed stateside making movies.
We didn’t know this as kids either. So, we didn’t appreciate that these regular guys were the real heroes of World War II. We didn’t know any better. It seems we didn’t know any better until it was almost too late. You see, those men, whom we thought so ordinary, had more grit and heroism than any John Wayne movie. They fought in horrendous conditions against forces attempting to overthrow the world, and they won. Their sacrifices were many, and they carry the memories of the Americans who did not return from those battles, but, when they came home, they raised families, went to school, worked at jobs, built the nation, with more compassion and drive than a character in a Jimmy Stewart movie.
That is one of the extraordinary things about the World War II generation. We didn’t treat them like heroes for far too long because, once home, they didn’t seem to act like heroes we saw in the movies. We didn’t realize that to see real-life heroes, we didn’t have to park in front of the TV set. They were all around us. Almost everywhere then. We didn’t realize it until they were almost gone and it was almost too late.
Dean Poling is The Valdosta Daily Times assistant managing editor.
Dean Poling
The heroes next door
- Dean Poling
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Roosevelt Marshall
Roosevelt Marshall of Valdosta passed this life Dec. 14, 2010. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. at Union Cathedral with Bishop Wade S. McCrae, Pastor officiating. Burial will follow in Sunset Hill Cemetery. Final rites are entrusted to Harrington Funeral Home.
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Alice W. Johnson
Alice W. Johnson, 55, of Valdosta died on Monday, Oct. 11, 2010 at the Langdale Hospice House following a lengthy illness. Services for Alice W. Johnson will be held at 4 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 in the chapel of the Carson McLane Funeral Home with the Rev. Jay Watkins officiating. The burial will follow in the Riverview Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Langdale Hospice 2263 Pineview Drive, Valdosta Ga. 31602 or to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, 2121 SW 16th Street Gainesville, Florida 32608. Condolences to the family may be conveyed online at www.mclanefuneralservices.com. — Carson McLane Funeral Home
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Roosevelt Marshall
