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It was more than one person but yes. That whole thing was worded poorly, I was trying to get it off as I was running out the door for work.
What I was getting at, was there a wide sense of betrayal or something felt by certain segments of vets, or maybe it was regional as this was farm country so it could have had to do with farm programs or something....
I was under the impression that these feelings developed in the years after the war, not during it.
I am a VA nurse and have daily contact with Vets from all eras and branches of service as well as had a father now deceased who joined the Navy at age 17 which was before the war and shortly thereafter was in combat in the Pacific theater. Following the war my father decided to make the Navy his career and went on to serve during both the Korean War and Vietnam and retired at age 42 with 25 years of service at the rank of BMC. My father during his service and the 45 years following his military retirement until he passed remained exceptionally loyal to this country as did all of those who served with him that he remained in contact with through the years. I have 60 years of both personal and professional contact with numerous WWII Vets, and the disgruntled WWII Vet that you mention from my experience I would consider that a rare exception and not reflective of the majority of WWII Vets.
It was more than one person but yes. That whole thing was worded poorly, I was trying to get it off as I was running out the door for work.
What I was getting at, was there a wide sense of betrayal or something felt by certain segments of vets, or maybe it was regional as this was farm country so it could have had to do with farm programs or something....
I was under the impression that these feelings developed in the years after the war, not during it.
I am seventy-nine and have known lots of WW II veterans, including relatives who were farm people.
Never heard anything like the above. Not once.
As someone else has pointed out, perhaps it was WW I, when there was a lot of discontent from veterans.
My father was a WW2 vet. Although it's a number of years since he passed, I recall his belief in the government as a force for positive action was very strong. In my life I find many traces of what the government organized from the 1930's through the 1970's. While much of that had negative after-effects (at one point, it was my job to arrange cleaning up leftover TNT from back then), our lives are on balance much richer as a result of organized can-do spirit from CCC-built parks to interstate highways and the space program.
When CBS rebroadcast online its live coverage of the Kennedy assassination through the funeral in real-time with 50 year delay, I was amazed how well organized the response and the transition were. (One small example: The eternal flame was in place for his funeral. It was decided upon to do that the day before. The gas line needed to be run and fittings procured through the US Army Corps of Engineers. The day before was a Sunday.)
I expect the extent to which we collectively allowed ideologues deliberately to wreck the US government for the short-term personal gain of a tiny minority will be looked on as a major historical error. That is, if we survive.
My father and mother both served in World War II in the Navy. Following the war, veterans were given something called the "GI Bill". It was legislation that paid for them to attend college. It paid tuition, books, and furnished a modest stipend monthly for living expenses. Because of this, both my father and mother became the first people in their families to attend and graduate from a college. My father's education ultimately lead him to some of the highest salaried government jobs in this country. My mother's degree allowed her to earn a very respectable salary during the times in her life that she chose to work.
In short, my parents became what today would be known as "classical liberals". They saw their government in action during the best times in US history. They saw it win wars. They saw it educate veterans. They saw it establish civil rights for people of all colors. They had an abiding faith in this country and in its institutions.
The experience of serving in the war was the defining experience of both of their lives. it had exactly the opposite effect on them that you hypothesize.
My father served in WW2. He kept in touch with only one of his fellow servicemen. Both Airforce, shot down
and served most of the time in a German POW camp.
I never heard either talk badly about the US govt.
When I was growing up the old guys were WWII vets, our grandpas to us kids. I can remember different times hearing or being told by the son of one that those guys hated the government.
And not like how the average joe hates the government but something deeper. Upper Midwest rural area.
Can anyone comment on that? I am aware that although post war is viewed as a great period, there was as always the typical bank/crooked government/stock market savagery.
My father was a WW2 vet and he certainly did not hate the government. He choose to stay in the reserves retiring as a commander in the navy. I do not remember any of his friends having hatred either. I don't know what you are basing this on: I am not sure you know either.
I have had the privilege of working with many WW2 vets in an effort to record their stories. The one thing I will tell you is that you cannot treat them as some sort of homogeneous group with similar thoughts, feelings and actions. I have never personally run across any veterans that "hated" the government, but I have run across many whose lives were not all that they wished they would be after the war.
Given that, I would not be surprised if there were WW2 vets that harbored a severe animosity towards the government after the war. Only half of WW2 veterans took advantage of the educational and housing opportunities afforded by the GI Bill. If you were a "regular" veteran who simply returned to life on the farm or factory after the war, I could see how they may feel let down by a government that was giving seemingly preferential treatment.
Also, WW2 veterans suffered horribly from all of the issues that modern veterans do. It was somewhat not as severe given the longer "cool down" from fighting to being home (it is theorized that the rapid transition from war zone to normal exacerbates the issue of PTSD and other disorders), but still many, many WW2 veterans suffered from PTSD and other mental illnesses after the war. Given how this was very little understood, veterans who did not seek help from veterans clubs (VFW, American Legion, etc.) may have felt very isolated and alone.
Someone who was mentally broken by their war experience and not taking advantage of the post-war benefits that others did could very easily have "blamed the government" for their situation.
*As others noted, veteran animosity against the government was exceptionally high after WW1, especially with the onset of the Depression and was made worse by the governments response to the veterans who protested.
The fear and loathing of the government did not really become fashionable until the 1980s - really, with the Reagan Presidency (he of the saying "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'"). Prior, the government was largely seen as synonymous with the national community. In the I-Me-Mine decade of the 1980s, the notion flourished that the government was but an impediment to personal desires, and any concern for community was sneeringly dismissed as collectivist/socialist/communist.
This idea was not absent from the late 40s, the 50s, the 60s, etc... (Ayn Rand was around and making noise, after all) but it had not gone mainstream. Yet.
My father and uncles weren't mad. They were just terribly happy to get home and reunite with their families.
Yes and to breed....
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