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Two years ago, in 2004, my mother reached
the glorious age of 90. Our family honored her and celebrated
her nine decades. As I began to think about her 90 years and
the enormous changes in the 20th century there were a few major
events that became apparent. One is that she has seen a vast
range of technological changes from the expansive use of electricity
and fossil fuels and consequently cars, airplanes, automatic
washing machines, computers -- on and on. But the other major
factor that has shaped her life in the past century is war. The
two are connected of course -- war is generally engaged in to
provide the markets and raw materials, including fuels, for new
technologies. And what impact does war have on our families and
society?
In his "Century of War" historian Gabriel Kolko eloquently
describes the impact of 20th century wars on society. I thought
I might briefly describe my own family's experience with war.
Thousands of families in North America could replicate this history
in recounting 20th century wars. My Canadian family's experience,
in fact, would not be as extensive as thousands of those in the
United States with stories from the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam
or Central America and other military ventures. But before I
launch into the 20th century I need to begin with the 18th.
My mother's family migrated from Yorkshire, England to the east
coast of Canada in 1774 to escape the economic destabilization
of England at the time -- rather like the Mexican migrants today.
They settled in Nova Scotia. Just two years later in 1776 they
were embroiled in the American Revolutionary War or what some
call the "War of Independence" and, according to my
great uncle, our family fought for the British crown. Some American
colonists wanted Nova Scotia to become part of New England and
used the cover of war for this imperialist venture. Many in Nova
Scotia, including my ancestors, successfully resisted these efforts.
That was my family's introduction to North America. Now fast
forward to the 21st century.
When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 my 30-year-old son
said, "Mom, I thought we'd progressed beyond going to war."
How could I respond to this? I wished so much that we as humans
had finally managed to live without war. More than anything,
I would like to have left such an endowment to my son.
My mother was born in 1914 in western Canada at the beginning
of the First World War. Britain declared war against Germany
on August 4 and on October 1, 1914 Canada sent 33,000 Canadian
troops to Britain to be further trained, and so it began. My
grandfather was a surgeon in the Canadian army in Turkey. When
he returned from Turkey after contracting malaria, my mother
was close to 2 years old. As she had been only with adult women
in her young life, she apparently, at first, had no use for this
gregarious male suddenly in her midst. Four of my great uncles
fought in the war. One of my grandfather's brothers was killed
in the European theater. He had wanted to become a dentist. My
great grandmother, at 82, was acknowledged for the abundance
of socks she'd knitted for Canadian soldiers -- 260 pairs altogether.
In addition to treating the wounded in the Turkish battles, my
grandfather spent a lot of his time detoxifying alcoholic soldiers.
I'm assuming that drinking alcohol was the only way many of these
soldiers could survive the fear and grief of war. He came back
insisting that his family must not drink alcohol. He was not
entirely successful in this demand. I remember when my grandfather
was in his 80's, how my Aunts and Uncles would sneak out the
wine or whisky after he'd gone to bed. They certainly would not
drink in his presence.
In 1939, the year my mother was married, Canada joined Britain
in the war against Germany on September 10th. The United States
would not join in until December 8, 1941 when it declared war
on Japan after Pearl Harbor was attacked. Canada also declared
war on Japan on December 8. Three days later the United States
declared war on Germany and Italy.
In September 1939 my father, a dentist, was treating coal miners
in the Northwest Territories in northern Canada and occasionally
traveled close to the Artic. He would sometimes work on barges.
Word would spread about his pending arrival. There would be Eskimos,
European-Canadians and all sorts of folks waiting for him at
ports. He said that he was probably the only dentist in the world
whose patients spit into the Artic Ocean. He described how the
"North Country," as we called it, was filled with all
kinds of folks. In addition to the Indian nations indigenous
to the area, there were those who relished leaving the crowded
cities of Canada or desired the difficult yet solitary and quiet
life of the vast wilderness around the Artic. Some were social
pariahs, he said, some were escaping the law, some were probably
idealists or adventurists and many were likely workers needing
a job in the coalmines or whatever else was available.
Everyone knew that, as a British Commonwealth country, Canada
would join Britain in war. With the increased German bombing
of Britain they expected that the declaration was imminent. My
father said most of the men insisted they would not fight, but
would instead disappear into the bush. The day Britain declared
war they heard the engine of a boat coming across the lake by
the mine. It was dark and they couldn't imagine who this could
be. When the boat docked, two Royal Canadian Mounted Policemen
jumped out of the small boat with their rifles drawn. They walked
directly into the mine to immediately draft the miners into the
Canadian army. "These police were brave," my Dad said.
"The miners were rough guys." To me, this seemed like
an altogether aggressive drafting method to reign in the Canadian
working class for war. Ultimately, the Canadians had more than
600,000 in its WWII army, including my Dad who was about to go
to Europe when war ended in 1945.
One of my mother's high school boy friends came from a family
of four boys. All of them went to war. At one point, my mother's
friend was captured by the Germans and placed in a high security
prison, yet his family was allowed to send letters. When his
mother learned that the body of one of her sons was washed ashore
off the coast of Ireland, she warned family members not to write
about this loss to her imprisoned son. She was afraid he would
become all the more revengeful against the Germans and do something
foolish. But he learned about his brother in any case from other
hometown friends in the prison. He did escape and hid for a while
with German farmers who ultimately became too nervous and kicked
him out. Shortly after, the Germans killed him. My mother tells
me that many of her high school friends were killed in the war.
My Dad's younger brother was in the Royal Canadian Air Force
along with 200,000 others. His was killed in 1942 when his plane
was shot down after a bombing raid over Germany. We have letters
he sent from Britain before these raids that often included small
amounts of money for my Dad to place into a savings account.
My uncle had wanted to become a pharmacist like his father. In
the same year, my grandfather died of a heart attack. My grandmother's
grief must have been incomprehensible.
My father refused to accept that his brother had been killed
and after the end of the war in 1945 he frantically sought a
definitive confirmation of his death. Up to the day he died
in the 1980's, he never forgave the Germans. War can definitely
bring with it a long-lasting prejudice. Iraqis will also likely
blame the United States for their enormous loss and destabilization
for the next few hundred years at least. Some 150 years after
the Civil War thousands of southerners still resent the Union
Army and recount the battles. As William Faulkner once said,
"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
In the 1950's my family moved to the United States. My father
told me in the 1960's, however, that if my brothers were drafted
into the Vietnam War he would send them to Canada. He'd had enough
of war.
The 20th century was definitely
defined by war and the U.S. is, unfortunately, starting the 21st
with war as well. It has a brutalizing effect on us all. Sixty
years after war I've seen men weep as they describe their experiences.
It's hard to say what ghosts remain with the participants of
war -- we know it has a lasting resonance. But I'm concerned
it will be worse for today's military given the aggressive training
they receive and that changed after the Second World War.
War is about killing others. Yet, most of us humans, thankfully,
are not effective killers and have no desire to harm others.
This is the saving grace of it all! In his fascinating book On
Killing, psychologist Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman devotes a whole
chapter to the 'Nonfirers Throughout History.' Research has found
that throughout history, in any war, only 15% to 20% of the soldiers
are willing to kill. This low percentage is universal and applies
to soldiers from every country throughout recorded history. Interestingly,
even distance from the enemy does not necessarily encourage killing.
Grossman offers the fascinating finding that "Even with
this advantage, only 1 percent of the U.S. fighter pilots accounted
for 40% of all enemy pilots shot down during WWII; the majority
didn't shoot anyone down or even try to."
Unfortunately, western military policies and the military industrial
complex do not reflect in any way these natural tendencies. Instead,
according to Grossman, especially since WWII the military training
attempts to make us more effective killers through repetitive
training so that by Vietnam some 95% of our military were prepared
to kill -- albeit many used pharmaceuticals to help with this
and they probably use them in Iraq as well. Grossman says Vietnam
was the first pharmaceutical war.
Is this what we want for our
youth? To become effective killers? What is the lasting effect
of this? How are our families being impacted by this training?
We need to ask these questions.
Our ancestors have allowed war to predominate too much of our
lives from generation to generation and we are continuing with
this dreadful legacy. My mother and her generation have suffered
enormously from attempts to resolve conflict with violence, as
if this should be considered the norm. I personally defy this
distorted logic. While I honor my family's service, most of us
are pawns in the desires of the government and corporate elite
of our countries and become their commodities for war -- nothing
more, nothing less. I am hoping that my son's experience will
not be a replication of his grandmother's. At the very least,
my son, at this early stage of his life, has the vision to see
life without war. I am thankful for that.
Heather Gray is the producer of "Just Peace"
on WRFG-Atlanta 89.3 FM covering local, regional, national and
international news. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia and can be
reached at hmcgray@earthlink.net
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