and I've saved the audio version for my mom to listen to sometime.

My grandfather, who passed on some years back (mid ninties), wouldn't discuss it much, but he served as a medical corpsman in the Pacific Theater. He was ashore at Okinawa and Iwo Jima. He had mentioned a few things about being in the war. But he was always close lipped about it. As he was an art teacher by trade, I believe he served simply because he felt he needed to serve. Once his time in the service was done he went back to being an art teacher and an artist and moved on.

One thing I've never been able to discover about World War 2, is how veterans of the war feel about the proliferation of games that deal with the war. I play Battlefield 1942 often as well as some strategy and war games based on the period. There are also board games and pencil and paper games dealing with this time period. I have always been curious how people feel about events that are re-enacted over and over like this. Is it something that should be handled just through writing and documentary? Or is this interactive method more dramatic, more real to the source?

Since I'm at work, I've not listened to your reading of the rant, but your writing is spot on. Good job, Gryph.

Tom 'Dreamshadow' Tjarks
------------------------
Remember the Vikings' mission statement: "Pillage before burning."

My grandfather has always believed this of World War II. He was too young to fight - when it ended in Europe, he had just turned 15 - but he spent almost 20 years in the Army Reserve before resigning in the 60s by way of objecting to the war in Vietnam. I started taking an interest in WWII at a fairly early age - say, junior high school - and in the many conversations we've had about it, one of the things he's said time and time again was, "That war had to be fought. What the Allies did had to be done." He's never felt the same was true of any of the wars the United States has gotten involved in since, and though we've never talked much about his feelings in that regard, I think that saddens him.

My two cousins, his other grandsons, are both Marines, and both are either in or have been in Iraq. He's proud of them, has the "My Grandson Is a U.S. Marine" bumper sticker and all that, but I don't think that pride extends to the war itself, like it obviously does when he talks about the fight against Hitler.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

It's interesting to see this, as it's something I hadn't considered when I wrote the article. It was originally presented in my column in the local newspaper, and was aimed mainly at the local veterans of the war; I hadn't given any thought to how it might be received by a German. I'm glad you appreciate it, and that you recognize that being anti-Nazi and being anti-German are different things, especially now.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

You're welcome.
Actually only an utter idiot (or those fascist bastards who are still around) could interpret that article as being anti-German.
Speaking of those fascists, I'm actually dreading the next national elections overe here. Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid, but it looks like they actually have a realistic, small but realistc, chance of getting into parliament. *shudder*

Certainly there is. Me, for instance.

"'My country, right or wrong' is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"
- G.K. Chesterton

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

amen.

t.
Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"If we are marked to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater the share of honour
God's will I pray thee wish not one man more" - Henry V, Act, IV Scene III

Actually, that can be argued. And the problem with it is an overgeneralization. Using Chesterton here as an example, Your mother remains your mother reguardless of if she IS drunk or sober. You might love her, or not, but it still remains that she is what she is.

Which to mean also means that a patriot WOULD say "My country, right or wrong" because like myself, they believe in their country reguardless of if they believe its current actions are whats best or not! For myself, I believe the decision to oust Husain was one that should have been made ten years ago. I do have concerns about handing control back to the Iraqui provisional government, but just that its been to soon, not that it shouldn't have been done.

Anything can be argued, including this.

That doesn't make arguing about it worth the time...

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/