great, I wish people people would drop it, and quit repeating it, it simply isn't true. HS
HS:
You seem to be a pretty bitter person and feel as though your generation has been overlooked for their service in the current war. That is not so.
That said, the WWII generation, of which my father was one who served, was the greatest generation. Let me explain to you why they were "the greatest generation" and why yours or mine for that matter, isn't simply quite up to the task.
That generation came of age between 1914 and 1925/26. During that time influenza epidemics in that era wiped out tens of thousands of children in infancy. It was not unusual to find families that lost three or more children to disease. Infant mortality was at an all-time high.
This was the same generation that came of age and went to work in the "New Deal" and built as part of that effort the very highways that you drive on today. They built the bridges, railroads, and developed the National Forest that you're allowed to hunt on.
They developed technology that allowed your generation to fight our current war with advanced weaponry. Penicillin was developed, radar was first used, paratroopers and aircraft carriers were developed as well as the helicopter. They developed the first atomic bomb and many other devices that we are accustomed to today.
More so, in their generation, they did not march off to war knowing that in 6 months or 12 months they would return home on rotation...they went knowing they were there for the duration or the war and they had no leave, furloughs or R&R to take their pack straps off for a while and relax before returning to the fight.
They fought in mostly light clothing, without hot chow for the most part, no A/C or heated shelters. GORTEX did not exist.
Theirs was intense combat...day to day and often moment to moment, always advancing against a well-trained and engaged fighting force.
They battled tropical heat and European cold, not knowing the outcome. They did not have the luxury of MARS calls home, superior rates of fire of their weaponry, medevac's by helo, cell phones or cold sodas after a successful firefight.
It is not that you generation is not as good...but that generation set the standard.
Please forgive me, but I do not recall any battle in the current war where there were 6,000 casualties on a beach or 25,000 dead over three square miles of a Pacific Island, so don't tell me how intense the fighting was in the current war.
We had traumatic casualties in the current war, mostly due to IED's and while each life is precious and a terrible waste, there is no comparison to D-Day or Iwo Jima.
WWII was a collective war and virtually every American was behind it, supported it, or worked in it in one shape, form, or fashion...be it the bobbin boy at a spinning mill or the factory worker or the kid who collected scrape metal to turn in (not for $$$ either) but to simply assist the war effort.
Everyone was involved!
As to one of your comments that there were lots of Audie Murphy's in the current war. Let's see...I can't remember one case of a Lieutenant ordering his 18 man Company, yes Company...not Platoon, but 18 man Company to withdraw to pre-prepared positions while he held back an onslaught of five tanks and over two hundred dismounted infantry for more than an hour.
That Company, by the way, six hours before, had an effective strength of 121. In a crossing of the wood line earlier that day, 103 were killed or wounded to include every officer in the Company, except Murphy.
Lot's of Murphy's? Hmmm, only 13 Medals of Honor awarded during the War on Terror, by contrast in WWII there were 465 Medals of Honor awarded.
General's today don't lead men in combat. As a matter-of-fact General Norman Cota, an WWI vet and Division Commander in WWII was credited with personally leading a fire team in the destruction of an enemy machine gun position at Normandy.
Today we have more Admirals than ships in our Navy (that is factual) and Generals in the Pentagon who command a staff of three. As a matter-of-fact some of these general officers actually have retired generals mentoring them in their duties. Seems to me if a general needs a mentor, he shouldn't be a general.
Big difference!
As to the Doolittle raid it was more than worth it. The raid brought the war home to the American people and galvanized a nation at a time when it was desperately needed.
The leader of the mission, General (then Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle) received the Medal of Honor. Of the 80 men who participated on the raid, only one was awarded the Silver Star for the mission, and the rest of the crew members received Distinguished Flying Crosses. Another comparison, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb resulted in a Distinguished Service Cross for Colonel Paul Tibbets the pilot, and only a Silver Star each for the crew members. They didn't even know if the plane would survive the drop wen the went up that day!
Compare that to today where almost every soldier is a hero it seems. I concur with you on one point, they all look like Audie Murphy decked out with multitudes of ribbons and badges with 6 weeks I the Army. My point...Ike only had two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, Patton had three.
General Petraeus has seven or eight and looks like a Christmas tree. He wears a Bronze Star Medal and he will not even release the citation for which it was awarded.
Everything has been "dumbed-down" these days.
Finally the WWII guys didn't come home and belly-ache about what happened to them and how their lives were uprooted. They came back, went to school, married, started families and sucked it up. Most never even filed claims through the VA for their injuries. They felt it was their duty, their duty and a privilege.
PTSD while a very real and debilitating disease, was never even spoken of.
That is why these guys deserve your respect and although you are entitled to your opinion, you aren't entitled to re-write history.
I have edited this statement pointed out to me by Turnkey4049 in response to my original post that most went back in the military via the National Guard or Reserves and served again in the Korean conflict in one capacity or another.
Thanks!
