Studs Terkel #5

Peggy Terry
Peggy Terry had an interesting perspective of the time during World War II, because she was almost unaware the war had been going on. Terry worked for a shell factory producing ammo for guns and planes to use in the war. She didn’t think the shells were for some current war and since she didn’t have a radio she had no way of finding out about the war going on. Peggy Terry recognized the immense propaganda and hatred that America produced against the Japanese. Even though the Nazis were enemies, “ “. She considered the brutalities that war can bring upon a nation and recounted her own story to provide an example. This passage analyzes how the war mentality affects all people, whether it is those who go off to fight or those who are at home. Her husband was a direct example of this, as he suffered PTSD and his personality was heavily changed after the war.

E.B. Sledge, Marine
Reading his story and watching it in the Pacific is both horrifying and fascinating. Sledge describes the dehumanization the takes place among soldiers who come in as regular people with normal jobs and become monsters do to the horrible events that surround them. His story has particular importance to understanding the difference between the European and Pacific campaigns. While we hated both the German and the Japanese soldiers, the Germans were willing to surrender while the Japanese were more vicious according to Sledge. Regardless of whether this is true, the feeling of hatred that both sides felt for each other is scary. While Bob Rasmus changed his idea that all Germans were evil to German soldiers are really just boys, Sledge saw the ugly side of war to the point where he wanted to remove a desecrate a dead Japanese body. When he looks back at the events in horror, like when the American soldier killed the innocent old woman, Sledge can only comprehend his ability to keep fighting by arguing that it was his duty to his comrades that kept him going. The horrors that Sledge and other soldiers experienced in the Pacific campaign reached the United States and President Truman. These led Truman to make the decision to drop the bombs on Japan.