ARMS AND THE MAN . . . OR THE WOMAN . . .

War . . . Huh!
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothin'!
Say it again . . .

I'm putting this in this forum, because i don't know that it really fits anywhere else, and it's not about history, although that particular, drab muse can instruct us somewhat.

I wan't to stress that i've not done this in any ulterior attempt to solicit people's personal accounts of their experience of war. Rather, i want to consider what it does, specifically, to the individual swept up. I say swept up, because i surely doubt that anyone experiencing war for the first time has any valid, prior concept of what they will meet. In the Civil War, it was known as "goin' ta see the elephant . . .," meaning, of course, as almost no Americans then had seen an elephant, that it couldn't be described to you, you had to see it for yourself.

There was a war biography republished by some military history book house in 1996 entitled Those Devils in Baggy Pants, by a certain Ross Carter. It was originally published posthumously in 1951. Mr. Carter died of cancer within a few years of returning from Europe, at the age of about 27 or 28. In particular, the account of the battle back to the East through Belgium in the winter of 1944-45 was a haunting, horrifying picture. This was during what was the most brutal, prolonged fighting of the war for Americans. Mr. Carter was a member of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was one of three men to survive the war from the original complement sent to North Africa in 1942.

Paratroopers in that war were very proud of the fact that they fought always surrounded, always cut off, and pretty much on the resources they brought in with them. The 101st Airborne Divison was sent to Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge because no one had any doubt that they would be cut off, surrounded. 'Nother day at the office for them. Mr. Carter's 504th PIR was part of the 82nd Airborne Divison, and was a Commando regiment, as well. If one can read such an account, not only as simple "oral" history (in the sense of being a single voice), and one can also read the author's recollection of how he changed, a young man in his mid-20's, through the experiences--then one can see beyond the "glory" addiction of many enthusiasts of military history. It is about the reality, and the individual, that i am concerned.

Probably the best movie ever made on the subject of the individual's experience of war was John Huston's The Red Badge of Courage, which "starred" Audie Murphy. Mr. Murphy was the most "decorated" American soldier of the Second World War; he returned to the U.S. a celebrity, a real, live hero, a living Medal of Honor holder. He became a hot young star of Westerns, the showcase of the leading man in the day. In The Red Badge of Courage, he played The Youth. His companion in the script, The Loud Soldier, was played by Bill Mauldin. Mr. Mauldin had gone to North Africa, and served through the war, with the 45th Division (National Guard), from west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. He worked for the Divison newspaper, and was a cartoonist, best known for his collection of war cartoons, Up Front. For those who are familiar with it, i recommend Back Home, the "sequel." Wasn't nearly so popular. Mr. Mauldin has recounted that after he and
Mr. Murphy became good friends, he would receive phone calls from him sporadically; they kept in touch. He tells us that Mr. Murphy once confided in him that, for seven years, he had not slept, but only knocked himself out pharmaceutically when his body needed rest. For those who can stomach the Hollywood Glory version of Mr. Murphy's experience of the war, there is To Hell and Back.

So how does war affect the individual? What has happened to him (or her), what has "been done?" Your thoughts?