FbL, here... Reporting for duty after a long absence. I'm in Washington DC, attending the American Veterans Center Annual Conference. Tonight was the opening reception, and a screening of a new documentary on the History channel. I hardly know where to start, but here goes...
The mission of The American Veterans Center is "to preserve and promote the legacy of America’s servicemen and women from World War II through Operation Iraqi Freedom." If tonight's reception and screening is any indication, they do that very, very well.
Tonight's centerpiece was the screening of two exceprts from WWII in HD, a documentary series narrated by Gary Sinise. WWII in HD includes extraordinary footage of WWII-era events, much of which hasn't been seen in decades, and all restored in sound and video. It's powerful stuff.
As I watched (and literally felt the reverberations of) the scenes of war and footage of Germans chanting "Heil, Hitler!" I realized that for those of us who didn't live through WWII or who no longer have contact with those who did, WWII has almost become cartoonish in some sense--We're proud of what America did then on both the homefront and the warfront (and grateful for the courage of our forebears), but it's something distant and not exactly real.
COL Kanaya started out as a medic in a Japanese-only unit, and then spent his career in the military. He didn't expect to be accepted, he said, but found lifelong friends. Regarding his parents being put in a camp, he said that at the time it just seemed "okay," that his attitude was "Our country, right or wrong, We were military and used to following orders." He and his fellow Nisei saw U.S. military service as proving their loyalty to their homeland. However, as time went on he thought about it differently and started to resent it more. But even today, he seems to have no bitterness about it.
When asked about his SIlver Star, COL Kanaya brushed it off with a great deal of humility. He said that medics are trained with the idea of "don't expose yourself because then you can't save others." But he added with a shrug that when you hear the call "Medic!" it all goes out the window, and said with a wink and a smile, "I learned that the Germans will waste 88mm shells on just one medic and one wounded guy."
He also poked fun at himself by saying that he kept single-handedly causing truces. At one point there was a prisoner exchange with the Germans and after evaluating the situation he told the Germans, "We'll be back tomorrow at noon to pick up the wounded." When his CO found out, there was quite a hullabaloo, as they had to declare a truce during the 1-hour hike required to reach the meeting place. Kanaya said with a laugh that he was shocked to find "the wounded had a party with the Germans! When we showed up they were laughing and giving each other souvenirs!"
Shelby Westbrook was also asked if he felt bitterness about the discrimination he faced in serving in a segregated unit in WWII. He said he also saw service in the Tuskeegee Airmen as a chance to prove that black men were as good as anyone, and "We were American citizens and so we'd always done our duty. We are children of adversity; we succeed in spite of it all." With great pride, he told of his unit's (99th Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, 15th Air Force) stellar record as bomber escorts. "In 300 escort missions we never lost a bomber to enemy fire." Apparently that has been contested, but "they weren't there!" He says his unit became a "secret weapon," as the Germans started avoiding our escorts because the Germans always came off encounters with them the worse for wear. With a grin and a laugh, he brought down the house as he exclaimed, "Racism does work sometimes!"
Jack Yusen had an uncle in the navy who convinced him to join. It's obvious that Yusen loved the camaraderie of a ship. He was one of 120 survivors out of over 1,000 sailors on the USS Samuel B. Roberts, which was destroyed by a Japanese attack, and said that although the battle was awful (the shells the Japanese fired destroyed everything in their path), the three days in the water were horrific, as they watched their shipmates die or be eaten alive by sharks. As he talked about this, he was at times very somber, but then the humor would come rushing back in. When the battle was shaping up, his captain came on the ship's intercom and said, "Men, the Japanese taskforce is coming [and has many ships]. We wil do our duty, but the outcome doesn't look good." Yusen said he turned to his fellow 18-year-old sailor and said, "What'd he mean by that?"
The battle was a mismatch from the beginning, as the Roberts fired 5-inch shells that bounced off the Japanese hulls, while the Japanese 15 and 18-inch guns ripped the Roberts to shreds. Yusen seemed to become lost in his memories as he talked about the horrors he saw from his gun turrent as the naval taskforce disintegrated and the carriers turned into the wind to put off the last few planes before making a run for it. He patted Westbrook's arm and with obvious admiration as he recalled how planes with half a tank of fuel and no bombs would take off and try to draw fire with fake bombing runs. Then came the call, "Abandon ship! Every man for himself!" Yusen cracked an impish smile as he said, "And for the second time that day we said, 'What does he mean? Because we were a team."
At one point, after watching shipmates eaten and attacked (and having to push wounded shipmates away because there was no way to treat them and their blood attracted sharks), he felt something bump his leg and then move on. Seconds later, a shark bit off the leg of someone a few feet to his left. Yusen had been covered in oil, and it is theorized that the smell interfered with the shark's sensing of food. "That was the worst part," Yusen said, "One thing that has never been off my mind--why did he leave me and take the other guy?"
As the discussion continued, audience members asked their own questions, and more positive memories surfaced. Kanaya talked about how his all-Nisei former unit is still the most highly-decorated unit in Army history. An audience member pointed out that most of those decorations were Purple Hearts--the casualty (both KIA and wounded/ill) rate was 300%. Kanaya also saluted the 3000 intelligence specialists that worked with the US Army in the Pacific and who required personal bodyguards to avoid being mistaken for enemies.
A veteran in the audience with a Japanese accent told the story of one Nisei spy who overheard the Japanese planning a sneak attack on a 600-man battalion. He reported the info and sure enough, the Japanese attacked. Because they were forwarned, they set up booby traps in the foxholes, which killed all of the first wave of attack, then the Nisei took off his US Army shirt and yelled, "Charge!" in Japanese. The Second wave came forward right into the US forces who were prepared, and then the third wave retreated. One man saved 600 lives.
An audience member asked about PTSD and if they might have any advice for this generation of veterans or the VA. THey seemed somewhat at a loss, but Westbrook said that the reason he and his fellows had done so well was, "During WWII you didn't have the domestic problems you have today. When you came back you had a good relationship to flow into." He seemed to be saying that home and community were stable, and that eased the return to civilian life. Yusen agreed and added, "We had a job to do and we were going to do it. We knew who our enemies were." He compared that to today where you can't separate civilian from enemy sometimes, and death comes when you least expect it, such as driving down the road to help a local school. Kanaya added, "I couldn't be in today's military. You don't know the enemy. You're groping; uncertainty is the problem."
Another audience member who was part of the famous "Band of Brothers" spoke up and said he knew of not a single case of serious PTSD in his unit, and that's something they discuss often. "We strongly believe that hanging with brothers and sharing amongst ourselves has helped us have zero PTSD." They have yearly reunions and "maintain contact with those "who shared the horrors of war." He reitereated that they believe it's the connections to those who understand that makes all the difference in dealing with post-combat emotional health.
The screening and discussion had been scheduled for only an hour, but went far beyond that, and it was hard to walk away from those guys as they continued to talk to attendees and tell more stories. I and my compatriot dragged ourselves away to the bus that would take us and other attendees/veterans back to the hotel, but it was hard. Much to my surprise, I got on the bus to find that my roommie had unknowingly sat across the aisle from Roger Donlon.
Still charged up from the wonderful discussion inside, I blurted out, "Roger Donlon! Please allow me to shake your hand!" I'm sure I startled him a bit, as he asked me who I thought he was. I told him, "Colonel Donlon," yes? And he asked me why I would know him. When I told him "Medal of Honor," I guess I passed his test. We had a lovely time talking on the way back to the hotel. He is a wonderful gentleman, and like so many heroic veterans, humble and very focused on helping others. He asked me about myself and what I was doing there. I told him I was reporting, which seemed to set off little alarm bells, so I quickly explained milblogs, which he knew about.
To further reassure him, I told him about my work with Soldiers' Angels. He said he'd heard of us but couldn't remember exactly what we did. When I told him about the recent Spirit of Hope Award, his eyes lit up and he remembered. He asked for more info and was very interested in Valour-IT and our other projects. I asked him what he thought about the WWII veterans' opinions on PTSD and he agreed, adding in the importance of unit cohesion as we talked about differences in National Guard and "regular army" experiences with PTSD. We exchanged cards and he told me to "keep up the good work you're doing." I told him the same. I'm looking forward to seeing him again tomorrow. Maybe even formally interview him...
Just sitting on that bus as so many of the veterans got on after us was a joy! They love to talk, and for all they've been through they seem younger than their years. Just loading the bus was an event, as each seemed to need to stop and talk to a buddy--and promptly lose himself in a story--or respond to some smart remark shouted across the aisle. In short, I can't wait to see them again tomorrow! The plan is to conduct as many written and audio interviews as possible. Reportedly we'll also have some access to professional video recording, and I'll be grabbing sit-down interviews where I can. I'll also try to liveblog the sessions. Stay tuned!
Update: Part II (General Petraeus)
The mission of The American Veterans Center is "to preserve and promote the legacy of America’s servicemen and women from World War II through Operation Iraqi Freedom." If tonight's reception and screening is any indication, they do that very, very well.
Tonight's centerpiece was the screening of two exceprts from WWII in HD, a documentary series narrated by Gary Sinise. WWII in HD includes extraordinary footage of WWII-era events, much of which hasn't been seen in decades, and all restored in sound and video. It's powerful stuff.
As I watched (and literally felt the reverberations of) the scenes of war and footage of Germans chanting "Heil, Hitler!" I realized that for those of us who didn't live through WWII or who no longer have contact with those who did, WWII has almost become cartoonish in some sense--We're proud of what America did then on both the homefront and the warfront (and grateful for the courage of our forebears), but it's something distant and not exactly real.
Sitting in a roomful of World War II veterans while watching such video changes all that. The emotional immediacy of the wars we're living in today suddenly telescopes right back through the decades and lands in the 1940s. It was real. It was as awful and heart-rending and frightening, and pride-inducing and everything else that today's wars are for those of us either living them or watching from across the ocean and dealing with their aftermath here at home.
And today's elderly men who lived through those wars sounded like nothing more than mellowed versions of our newest generation of veterans. I couldn't quite feel it myself, but I sensed on some level that there was a bond stretching from the stage right through the graying Vietnam veterans and right up to the young Marines and soldiers in the audience. It was all one long chain, and although the methods of prosecuting war change, the essence of war remains the same for those who live it. A Marine fresh from Afghanistan can look an 85-year-old veteran of Guadalcanal in the eye and not have to say a word.
COL Kanaya started out as a medic in a Japanese-only unit, and then spent his career in the military. He didn't expect to be accepted, he said, but found lifelong friends. Regarding his parents being put in a camp, he said that at the time it just seemed "okay," that his attitude was "Our country, right or wrong, We were military and used to following orders." He and his fellow Nisei saw U.S. military service as proving their loyalty to their homeland. However, as time went on he thought about it differently and started to resent it more. But even today, he seems to have no bitterness about it.
When asked about his SIlver Star, COL Kanaya brushed it off with a great deal of humility. He said that medics are trained with the idea of "don't expose yourself because then you can't save others." But he added with a shrug that when you hear the call "Medic!" it all goes out the window, and said with a wink and a smile, "I learned that the Germans will waste 88mm shells on just one medic and one wounded guy."
He also poked fun at himself by saying that he kept single-handedly causing truces. At one point there was a prisoner exchange with the Germans and after evaluating the situation he told the Germans, "We'll be back tomorrow at noon to pick up the wounded." When his CO found out, there was quite a hullabaloo, as they had to declare a truce during the 1-hour hike required to reach the meeting place. Kanaya said with a laugh that he was shocked to find "the wounded had a party with the Germans! When we showed up they were laughing and giving each other souvenirs!"
Shelby Westbrook was also asked if he felt bitterness about the discrimination he faced in serving in a segregated unit in WWII. He said he also saw service in the Tuskeegee Airmen as a chance to prove that black men were as good as anyone, and "We were American citizens and so we'd always done our duty. We are children of adversity; we succeed in spite of it all." With great pride, he told of his unit's (99th Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, 15th Air Force) stellar record as bomber escorts. "In 300 escort missions we never lost a bomber to enemy fire." Apparently that has been contested, but "they weren't there!" He says his unit became a "secret weapon," as the Germans started avoiding our escorts because the Germans always came off encounters with them the worse for wear. With a grin and a laugh, he brought down the house as he exclaimed, "Racism does work sometimes!"
Jack Yusen had an uncle in the navy who convinced him to join. It's obvious that Yusen loved the camaraderie of a ship. He was one of 120 survivors out of over 1,000 sailors on the USS Samuel B. Roberts, which was destroyed by a Japanese attack, and said that although the battle was awful (the shells the Japanese fired destroyed everything in their path), the three days in the water were horrific, as they watched their shipmates die or be eaten alive by sharks. As he talked about this, he was at times very somber, but then the humor would come rushing back in. When the battle was shaping up, his captain came on the ship's intercom and said, "Men, the Japanese taskforce is coming [and has many ships]. We wil do our duty, but the outcome doesn't look good." Yusen said he turned to his fellow 18-year-old sailor and said, "What'd he mean by that?"
The battle was a mismatch from the beginning, as the Roberts fired 5-inch shells that bounced off the Japanese hulls, while the Japanese 15 and 18-inch guns ripped the Roberts to shreds. Yusen seemed to become lost in his memories as he talked about the horrors he saw from his gun turrent as the naval taskforce disintegrated and the carriers turned into the wind to put off the last few planes before making a run for it. He patted Westbrook's arm and with obvious admiration as he recalled how planes with half a tank of fuel and no bombs would take off and try to draw fire with fake bombing runs. Then came the call, "Abandon ship! Every man for himself!" Yusen cracked an impish smile as he said, "And for the second time that day we said, 'What does he mean? Because we were a team."
At one point, after watching shipmates eaten and attacked (and having to push wounded shipmates away because there was no way to treat them and their blood attracted sharks), he felt something bump his leg and then move on. Seconds later, a shark bit off the leg of someone a few feet to his left. Yusen had been covered in oil, and it is theorized that the smell interfered with the shark's sensing of food. "That was the worst part," Yusen said, "One thing that has never been off my mind--why did he leave me and take the other guy?"
As the discussion continued, audience members asked their own questions, and more positive memories surfaced. Kanaya talked about how his all-Nisei former unit is still the most highly-decorated unit in Army history. An audience member pointed out that most of those decorations were Purple Hearts--the casualty (both KIA and wounded/ill) rate was 300%. Kanaya also saluted the 3000 intelligence specialists that worked with the US Army in the Pacific and who required personal bodyguards to avoid being mistaken for enemies.
A veteran in the audience with a Japanese accent told the story of one Nisei spy who overheard the Japanese planning a sneak attack on a 600-man battalion. He reported the info and sure enough, the Japanese attacked. Because they were forwarned, they set up booby traps in the foxholes, which killed all of the first wave of attack, then the Nisei took off his US Army shirt and yelled, "Charge!" in Japanese. The Second wave came forward right into the US forces who were prepared, and then the third wave retreated. One man saved 600 lives.
An audience member asked about PTSD and if they might have any advice for this generation of veterans or the VA. THey seemed somewhat at a loss, but Westbrook said that the reason he and his fellows had done so well was, "During WWII you didn't have the domestic problems you have today. When you came back you had a good relationship to flow into." He seemed to be saying that home and community were stable, and that eased the return to civilian life. Yusen agreed and added, "We had a job to do and we were going to do it. We knew who our enemies were." He compared that to today where you can't separate civilian from enemy sometimes, and death comes when you least expect it, such as driving down the road to help a local school. Kanaya added, "I couldn't be in today's military. You don't know the enemy. You're groping; uncertainty is the problem."
Another audience member who was part of the famous "Band of Brothers" spoke up and said he knew of not a single case of serious PTSD in his unit, and that's something they discuss often. "We strongly believe that hanging with brothers and sharing amongst ourselves has helped us have zero PTSD." They have yearly reunions and "maintain contact with those "who shared the horrors of war." He reitereated that they believe it's the connections to those who understand that makes all the difference in dealing with post-combat emotional health.
The screening and discussion had been scheduled for only an hour, but went far beyond that, and it was hard to walk away from those guys as they continued to talk to attendees and tell more stories. I and my compatriot dragged ourselves away to the bus that would take us and other attendees/veterans back to the hotel, but it was hard. Much to my surprise, I got on the bus to find that my roommie had unknowingly sat across the aisle from Roger Donlon.
Still charged up from the wonderful discussion inside, I blurted out, "Roger Donlon! Please allow me to shake your hand!" I'm sure I startled him a bit, as he asked me who I thought he was. I told him, "Colonel Donlon," yes? And he asked me why I would know him. When I told him "Medal of Honor," I guess I passed his test. We had a lovely time talking on the way back to the hotel. He is a wonderful gentleman, and like so many heroic veterans, humble and very focused on helping others. He asked me about myself and what I was doing there. I told him I was reporting, which seemed to set off little alarm bells, so I quickly explained milblogs, which he knew about.
To further reassure him, I told him about my work with Soldiers' Angels. He said he'd heard of us but couldn't remember exactly what we did. When I told him about the recent Spirit of Hope Award, his eyes lit up and he remembered. He asked for more info and was very interested in Valour-IT and our other projects. I asked him what he thought about the WWII veterans' opinions on PTSD and he agreed, adding in the importance of unit cohesion as we talked about differences in National Guard and "regular army" experiences with PTSD. We exchanged cards and he told me to "keep up the good work you're doing." I told him the same. I'm looking forward to seeing him again tomorrow. Maybe even formally interview him...
Just sitting on that bus as so many of the veterans got on after us was a joy! They love to talk, and for all they've been through they seem younger than their years. Just loading the bus was an event, as each seemed to need to stop and talk to a buddy--and promptly lose himself in a story--or respond to some smart remark shouted across the aisle. In short, I can't wait to see them again tomorrow! The plan is to conduct as many written and audio interviews as possible. Reportedly we'll also have some access to professional video recording, and I'll be grabbing sit-down interviews where I can. I'll also try to liveblog the sessions. Stay tuned!
Update: Part II (General Petraeus)
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