Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part one War is a Terrible Thing!
- Part Two Guarding One’s Humanity During War: World War II
- Part Three Other Voices, Other Wars: From Indochina to Iraq
- Part Four Civil Wars and Genocides, Dictators and Domestic Oppressors
- Part Five My Story, Your Choice How to Use it
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments by the Senior Author
- Index
Preface
It’s not glamorous. It was a very messy thing.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part one War is a Terrible Thing!
- Part Two Guarding One’s Humanity During War: World War II
- Part Three Other Voices, Other Wars: From Indochina to Iraq
- Part Four Civil Wars and Genocides, Dictators and Domestic Oppressors
- Part Five My Story, Your Choice How to Use it
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments by the Senior Author
- Index
Summary
Frank was at Stanford when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. An Irish Catholic with a father in the Navy, Frank enlisted and spent two years in the Pacific in the Army Air Corps, assigned to the Navy. Frank took part in the invasion of the Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Palau, and was scheduled to go in as part of the home island invasion of Japan. Frequently in battle areas as a support soldier dealing with technical aspects that drew on his engineering background, Frank quickly learned the “terrible impact of war.”
It's not glamorous. You’ve got to realize there was a lot of propaganda in World War II to develop patriotism and support. You found out that was an awful lot of baloney! It was a very messy thing.…When you think in terms of the destruction…you learn to hate. The tendency for all of us in the Pacific was to hate the Japanese. We hated them for [what] they did on the Bataan Death March. To them, if you were willing to become a prisoner then you ceased to be a human. You were no better than an animal, maybe not even that good.…The samurai code caused them to be very brutal. If you look at the history of the Japanese in China and what they did to American prisoners, that leads to the ability to hate. It led to the view that the only good Japanese was a dead one. Ask and give no quarter.…I get a bit cynical when I hear all these things about the Geneva Convention. You fought the war the same way the enemy fought it.…Like for like. You only go to war to win. It's not a game, and you don't win by scoring a certain amount of points.
After the war, Frank simply closed a door.
e just didn't talk about it. It was one of those things you repress. That's how you cope with things.…I never talked about the war. I’ve probably talked about it more tonight than I ever have. To me it was a chapter and when the chapter was over, you closed it and put it behind you.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Darkling PlainStories of Conflict and Humanity during War, pp. ix - xiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.