>Doug Henwood:
>
> > Can we pick on an overpraised generation instead?
> > Like the WW II gang? What was so great about
> > them, really? All they ever do is whine about how
> > things were so much better during the days of
> > depression and war.
>
>Aw, come on. My own grandfather (not a socialist or any kind of radical,
>but class-conscious, white-ethnic, Catholic Democrat), who saw plenty of
>actual combat in places like Okinawa, hates Tom Brokaw's tripe about "the
>greatest generation." He says: "I didn't think we were anything special."
>He's especially peeved that Bush the Elder featured prominently in
>Brokaw's inanities, saying: "George Bush and I didn't come from the same
>generation. He went to Yale, and I went to Sandy High School."
>
>I'm sure there are plenty of regular folks like that who see through the
>nostalgic crap. And by the way, many of the big-talkers from that
>generation who are trotted out on TV these days were the ones who were
>never on the front lines. A familiar pattern, no?
>- - - - -
>John Lacny
I don't know too many "Greatest Generation" types but of the few I know some seem, to my eyes, full of disdain for much of US society and glorify the past. They prattle on about how they built America as a great place and the following generations are pissing away their legacy. Most of them have a tremendous sense of entitlement too. They did their part and now everyone who follows owes them some debt. My grandfather on the other hand felt his generation let down future generations by involving most of humanity in a war that could have been prevented if not for the arrogance and greed of the time. He refused to speak of his involvement in actual combat with very few exceptions too. He was an engineer behind the lines but was wounded during a bombing raid on some Pacific island. He came away from the experience bitter about mans inhumanity to man and about the deplorable behavior of American troops, the so called "good guys" to Japanese troops who were captured or to the remains of their killed. He had real hatred for people who glorified combat. Since I didn't know him before the war I can't say from personal experience that he changed but my grandmother said it changed him a lot. In some ways for the better and in some ways not.
John Thornton