Band of Brothers Response + Studs Terkel #5

     I first noticed how anxious all the soldiers in the movie looked. As D-Day approached, soldiers became more knowledgeable as to how important their mission really was. Even though U.S. troops were at a disadvantage with Germans waiting for them on the beach, forces kept storming the French coastline because they were not going to have their years of training go to waste.

     The story of Peggy Terry is a story of the few people that were not entirely aware of the war. It was interesting to hear a very simplistic reaction of the war. Peggy says that the war turned her away from religion because of the disbelief of the killings. She recounts that the town had a bonfire to burn all Japanese-made goods. Her working conditions were not very good but she and her family were extremely grateful for the opportunity to work. Her total family income at one point was a mere $32 a week but says that "to us it was an absolute miracle". As society became more consumed with the war effort similar to the WWI frenzy, the business world and working conditions were also affected. Children were made to work with dangerous fumes and Peggy Terry said that she didn't even know that the bullets she was making were going to be used to kill people. Many know that when a soldier returns home, they often have post-traumatic stress disorder. I can't imagine what Terry's husband had to go through and also how she dealt with seeing him that way.


     A feeling of shame came over me as I read more of E.B. Sledge's recounts of his time in the war. I was in disbelief that American soldiers succumbed to the level of savagery. The feeling of hatred towards Japanese soldiers caused American troops to do horrendous acts such as knock gold teeth out of Japanese soldiers' mouths regardless of whether they were still alive or not. Back on the homefront the war was glorified but "Sledgehammer" says that "the war I knew was totally savage". Wars brutalize people. Sledge said that by the end, he was so numb to it all. This story showed me that not only were civil rights being violated back on the homefront, but many rights of humanity were being ignored by troops. This goes against the jus in bello section of the Just War theory. This also reminds me of the Abu Ghraib torture that American soldiers inflicted on Middle Eastern prisoners.