by Robert R. Mackey
All,
First, sorry it has been a bit since I last posted. Work has been heavy, and my son is getting ready to start at George Mason this fall. Unlike his wastrel father (BA, Political Science), the boy is somewhat more motivated (Applied Computer Science, Simulations Design). So, I've been putting off anything extra lately, including blogging, to get some actual work done.
I was reading Fark.com this morning (always good for a Monday morning chuckle from the reader-submitted headlines), when I ran across this link.
We all know about the role of women on the homefront (Rosie the Riveter, et al). Of mothers with blue (in service) and gold (killed in action) star flags hanging in their windows. Dear John letters, "Don't Go Under the Apple Tree," USO shows and so on. What about the women like Mrs. Nash? They didn't get the medals or the recognition. No homecoming parades for them. We all recall nurses on the battlefield, and the occasional female pilot or other service role that women played in World War II. But we tend to forget about the women who served, who went overseas, and came back home and attempted to rebuild their lives, just as their male counterparts did.
I wonder how many women suffered from PTSD or other effects from their war service, but were never really recognized for what they did.
I encourage you to visit the obit site for Mrs. Nash and send a note to her family. Just reading her obituary makes me feel quite sad that I could never spend an afternoon just talking to someone who had lived a life that full. One of the sad parts of studying history is that you rarely have the opportunity to speak with your subjects. As a Civil War historian by preference, this has always greatly bothered me--just being a generation or two off of talking to someone who had actually been at Gettysburg or Vicksburg.
We are losing our World War II veterans--men and women--at an alarming rate. Within a decade, most will be gone. For those of you who are lucky enough to still have relatives who lived through those years, spend some time with them. Ask about what it was like to be at home, in a factory or in a warship or bomber. What it was like when the war started, and when it ended.
Mrs. Nash was just one woman of that generation. One whose story will most likely never be written, which is truly tragic.
Good stuff, here, and important, given how much of the post-WWII project was devoted to putting the lid back on women's social roles. In that effort a huge chunk of history was given short shrift.
Apropos of this...
<http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/03/10/female-wwii-aviators-honored-with-gold-medal/>Female WWII Aviators Finally Honored. And I also recommend The Good War by Studs Terkel as a further supplement to building a better picture of what WWII was like in America.
Posted by: nous | March 22, 2010 at 11:28 AM
Not sure where the link in that last comment went. The article I tried to link is here.
Posted by: nous | March 22, 2010 at 11:31 AM
Wow! Thanks for posting that. I love reading obituaries for that very reason: the stories are incredible. I had become fascinated with WWII books in the past few months and only recently realized it was due to these amazing people I'd been reading about, having lost my chance to talk to them in person. Your suggestion to hear their stories now while we can is an excellent one.
Posted by: Toepferblue | March 22, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Hi RObert, It is nice to have you back.
Posted by: wonkie | March 22, 2010 at 12:18 PM
Thanks Wonkie!
Good suggestion Nous.
I agree completely LKT. So many times I've heard stories that start "we had no idea what Grandpa did until after he died and we found a locker in the attic filled with photos and papers from (insert name of world event here)"
Posted by: Bob Mackey | March 22, 2010 at 01:05 PM
Having already seen the series entire thanks to a critic's screener copy: The Pacific will address the role of American women in the war before the end. Not as heavily as one might like, perhaps - but it does do it.
Posted by: mightygodking | March 22, 2010 at 02:07 PM
Mrs. Nash sounds like she was a pretty incredible person.
My personal family history with WWII:
Father served belowdecks on troop transports in the Pacific as a machinist's mate. Most of his war was spent in engine rooms, but he did watch the carnage at Iwo Jima from offshore. I have the mimeographed general orders for his ship, along with his comments, from that day tucked away in the bible his mother gave him when he went to war.
For some reason, he wasn't able to get word back to anyone when he came home after VJ day, he just took the subway back to my mom's family's home in Richmond Hill from wherever the Navy dumped him off in NYC. Spent about a month sitting in the living room staring at the walls, depressed and confused as hell, then he dragged his sorry behind out the door and went and looked for a job like about a million other guys.
Step-father landed in North Africa in a tank, hit a mine, was captured, traveled from North Africa back to Germany with a German prison hospital. Fell in love with a German nurse, who was, inexplicably, killed by the SS along with the rest of the German hospital staff, while the prisoners were let go. Found his way back to some kind of Allied organization, returned to duty, finished the war back on a tank.
Father-in-law spent the war tramping around the Philippines. One of the things in his life he was proudest of, before he passed away, was that only one guy in his unit was killed, and that was a suicide.
Mother-in-law built Corsairs in Akron.
With the exception of mother-in-law, they're all gone now.
Re: PTSD, the father of a good friend spent his war in tanks in Europe. He saw a lot of folks die, and he killed more than a few of them. He's a lovely, charming, accomplished guy, an inventor, author, oenophile, world traveler, and raconteur.
He's in his early nineties now, and spends his nights thrashing around in his bed as he relives the war, 65 and more years later.
Posted by: russell | March 22, 2010 at 04:07 PM
I will not soon forget the 24-hour period during which (in the course of my duties as a caregiver) I sat all night at the bedside of a Pearl Harbor survivor, and then discovered I was sitting across the breakfast table from a different one.
Posted by: Dr. Psycho | March 23, 2010 at 12:47 AM
Oh, and re PTSD: Both men also said they had never really recovered from that day.
Posted by: Dr. Psycho | March 23, 2010 at 12:49 AM
Wow, what a gal! I live in Pasadena where she spent some of her amazing life. Wish I'd had a chance to talk to her. The quote about how to arrive at the grave is one to be remembered. Thanks for linking to this.
Posted by: terry | March 23, 2010 at 12:02 PM
An interesting place to look for oral history from the WWII generation is in asbestos litigation depositions. I deposed probably several hundred WWII sailors and soldiers, and depending on the jurisdition we might spend a week or two asking detailed questions about their service. There were amazing stories of survival and loss.
Except for the submariners, who were sworn to secrecy 70 years ago, and refused to discuss life aboard a submarine even in a lawsuit that they filed, knowing that without discussing it, they might lose.
Posted by: jrudkis | March 23, 2010 at 01:31 PM