Thanksgiving Reflections From A Far Away Front A Long Time Ago (Pilgrim Hall Museum)
It's Thanksgiving, and there's alot we are thankful for. In the miodst of our daily frustrations against things big and small, we nonethless remain grateful for our blessings - personally and as part of larger communities.
We are mindful that it is a Thanksgiving during war time. No matter what one thought about the why and how we got started, the fact is we have now been in Iraq longer than the length of World War II.
That that had us thinking about our troops - then and now. You will likely see and hear much about greetings from the front. In remebering these folks placed in harm's way, we also recall those of another generation and another war. What was written during World War II could as easily have been written today from Iraq or Afghanistan.
We wish the troops and their families well..and your family too. Happy Thanksgiving:
World War Two Voices from the Front (Credit to Pilgrim Hall Museum -- http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ww2.htm.
Bill Sykes of Plymouth, Combat Engineers and then 1095th Engineer Utility Company, Command SoPac, US Army Engineers 1942-1945 :
"My first Thanksgiving, that was kind of a sad thing for me, being away from home and being young and not being with my family for Thanksgiving, missing the football games. And having no Thanksgiving -- we had no Thanksgiving. They attempted to do it in a field kitchen, but what can you do in a field kitchen? After that first Thanksgiving, though, they put on some beautiful meals. They had everything you could think of for Thanksgiving dinner. They really made a big effort to do it the proper way. We would find out who had the best dinner. And the Navy had the best dinner, I'll tell you right now. The Navy had really good Thanksgivings. They had the ships, you know. And they'd bring in all kinds of food. But the Army did pretty good, too.
"The Thanksgiving dinners were served on trays. (My first one, with the Combat Engineers, was served in mess kits. That doesn't work too well.) They had cranberry sauce, stuffing, the whole thing. It was a good meal. But the feeling of Thanksgiving wasn't there. The meal was there, but the feeling of Thanksgiving wasn't. I guess you couldn't have Thanksgiving when you were overseas. There wasn't much to be thankful for. It was sad. Although, I guess there was some thankfulness, at least you were still alive!"
Ed Campbell, US Marine Corps, 1943-1945 :
"There were 3 Thanksgivings. Actually, the one in '43 I don't really remember -- we may have been in California but it was just about the time we were getting ready to leave for the invasion of the Marshalls. I think we spent it like we spent all our weekends -- every weekend we would all get liberty and head for Los Angeles. That Thanksgiving just draws a blank.
"The second one, I was on Maui and I do remember. It was an odd day. You remember all of your early Thanksgivings with the family and a certain feeling of nostalgia sets in. Then you take your mess kit, which is like an oval opened up, and go down to the mess hall and get your Thanksgiving dinner thrown into the mess kit. It ends up with the turkey and carrots all mixed. The cooks do a great job of trying to make it a festive meal but when you mix it all together with the gravy in the mess kit, its sort of like mush. I do remember that. Other than that, there was no celebration. There wasn't too much discussion, we just all sort of hunkered into ourselves and thought of earlier days and days to come, hopefully.
"The third and last Thanksgiving (1945), I landed in Boston on Thanksgiving Day... I walked around the city for a little bit, with joy in being immersed in the quietness of Boston -- it was around 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. I decided I would take a taxi home to Quincy. I had enough money -- my discharge money -- so I was able to pay for a cab to take me home in style. Of course, we had a great Thanksgiving. My mother had all the relatives and old friends there -- I had called her to say that I would be home on Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful day to come home. It was literally the first day of the rest of my life."
See http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ww2.htm for other World War II profiles.
We are mindful that it is a Thanksgiving during war time. No matter what one thought about the why and how we got started, the fact is we have now been in Iraq longer than the length of World War II.
That that had us thinking about our troops - then and now. You will likely see and hear much about greetings from the front. In remebering these folks placed in harm's way, we also recall those of another generation and another war. What was written during World War II could as easily have been written today from Iraq or Afghanistan.
We wish the troops and their families well..and your family too. Happy Thanksgiving:
World War Two Voices from the Front (Credit to Pilgrim Hall Museum -- http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ww2.htm.
Bill Sykes of Plymouth, Combat Engineers and then 1095th Engineer Utility Company, Command SoPac, US Army Engineers 1942-1945 :
"My first Thanksgiving, that was kind of a sad thing for me, being away from home and being young and not being with my family for Thanksgiving, missing the football games. And having no Thanksgiving -- we had no Thanksgiving. They attempted to do it in a field kitchen, but what can you do in a field kitchen? After that first Thanksgiving, though, they put on some beautiful meals. They had everything you could think of for Thanksgiving dinner. They really made a big effort to do it the proper way. We would find out who had the best dinner. And the Navy had the best dinner, I'll tell you right now. The Navy had really good Thanksgivings. They had the ships, you know. And they'd bring in all kinds of food. But the Army did pretty good, too.
"The Thanksgiving dinners were served on trays. (My first one, with the Combat Engineers, was served in mess kits. That doesn't work too well.) They had cranberry sauce, stuffing, the whole thing. It was a good meal. But the feeling of Thanksgiving wasn't there. The meal was there, but the feeling of Thanksgiving wasn't. I guess you couldn't have Thanksgiving when you were overseas. There wasn't much to be thankful for. It was sad. Although, I guess there was some thankfulness, at least you were still alive!"
Ed Campbell, US Marine Corps, 1943-1945 :
"There were 3 Thanksgivings. Actually, the one in '43 I don't really remember -- we may have been in California but it was just about the time we were getting ready to leave for the invasion of the Marshalls. I think we spent it like we spent all our weekends -- every weekend we would all get liberty and head for Los Angeles. That Thanksgiving just draws a blank.
"The second one, I was on Maui and I do remember. It was an odd day. You remember all of your early Thanksgivings with the family and a certain feeling of nostalgia sets in. Then you take your mess kit, which is like an oval opened up, and go down to the mess hall and get your Thanksgiving dinner thrown into the mess kit. It ends up with the turkey and carrots all mixed. The cooks do a great job of trying to make it a festive meal but when you mix it all together with the gravy in the mess kit, its sort of like mush. I do remember that. Other than that, there was no celebration. There wasn't too much discussion, we just all sort of hunkered into ourselves and thought of earlier days and days to come, hopefully.
"The third and last Thanksgiving (1945), I landed in Boston on Thanksgiving Day... I walked around the city for a little bit, with joy in being immersed in the quietness of Boston -- it was around 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. I decided I would take a taxi home to Quincy. I had enough money -- my discharge money -- so I was able to pay for a cab to take me home in style. Of course, we had a great Thanksgiving. My mother had all the relatives and old friends there -- I had called her to say that I would be home on Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful day to come home. It was literally the first day of the rest of my life."
See http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ww2.htm for other World War II profiles.
posted by eric model | 11:31 AM
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