I was born 10 days after D-Day. My Dad worked as a research scientist for an arms manufacturer during the war, but all my uncles who were old enough served in the armed forces. As a youth I thought we needed to understand the causes of both WW II and our own Civil War if we wanted to prevent such horrors in the future. I thought we could find the ways to change social and political circumstances such that the wrongs that led up to wars could be prevented. Now turning 80 years old I can see, of course, that it is much more complicated than I thought back then. But I still think it is worth trying. I appreciate reading your work for that reason, and hope that my own Substack will make a positive contribution to that endeavor.
Brian, as one of those “brave readers” I think this is absolutely appropriate to re-up this again especially as those of the “greatest generation” leave us and all we have are those reminders of how terrible war is and what we can and should do to prevent this from happening again.
The Lucian Truscott piece has always stuck with me and remains moving to this day. The lesson we should all take away is to fight authoritarianism/facism as it rears its ugly head rather than waiting and hoping for a “peaceful” outcome. It is better to fight early, and defend our values of democracy and freedom of choice and rule of law for putting it off will only lead to greater suffering, death, and destruction in the end.
Imagine (yes, I am thinking John Lennon) if Chamberlain had backed Czechoslovakia and forced Hitler’s hand? Imagine if Ukraine had been properly armed to meet the Russians such that we would not be in the position we are today? Appeasement and escalation management (they are the same) only lead to bigger problems.
Thank you Brian. I hadn't ever heard the Truscott story. You tell 'the in-between stories' that give meaning and reason for reflection. It gives me pleasure to support your writing.
I didn't have any relatives participating in D Day. My dad was busy building Flying Fortresses and all my uncles were too old. I was born just before D Day.
But my 8th Grade US History teacher had fought in Nazi Uniform, drafted just before the end of the war. He would have been 18 or 19 depending on when in the year his birthday was. A more fervent Anti-Nazi would be hard to find. But he also taught us what you say here; all Germans were not monsters. Not all--in fact, probably few--knew of the camps, though they clearly knew of the attitude of the Nazis towards Jews. But the "popular" antisemitic view of Jews in the US was not all that restrained throughout my life time and is now emerging everywhere since trump gave haters permission to say their hate out loud.
I had friends killed in Vietnam. Some volunteered, many more were drafted. Vietnam is right up there in the pantheon of unjust wars, founded on a lie about the Gulf of Tonkin and encouraged by a fear of communism that even at a young age I found questionable. And of course, those who survived are often in a bad way, reduced to begging at stop signs.
"Only following orders" is, we know, not an excuse for perpetrating or participating in war crimes. (Members of the IDF need to think about that.) But for the average grunt required to fight by their country, following orders is what they DO. I simply can't bring myself to see them as monsters, not even somewhat.
Brian, thank you so much for this. I would like to say something, but I am not sure I can express it very well. I have still, at 86, memories of wartime Britain, but I had no comprehension of exactly what “war” was. It was “there”, a fact of life, something for the “grown-ups” to handle. My memories of suburban London: black shades on windows at night, playing with other kids in the ruins of some nearby half constructed homes, abandoned at the beginning of the war - a peacock butterfly sunning on the broken hearth bricks, air-raid sirens, my father’s helmet and kit for his duty as a local fire warden, the back yard Anderson shelter on which I created a muddy slide with the boy nextdoor, huddled and held close under my father’s raincoat in the hallway as my mother tried to protect me and we listened to the dreaded whine as the doodlebugs droned overhead (I was aware that if the sound ceased “something bad” would fall, but I recall only the warmth of my mother’s body and some strange awareness that if it did fall what use was the raincoat), the VE day celebration bonfire (May 1945) burned by neighborhood residents in the cul de sac by the abandoned half-built brick houses. As I moved to teenage I became aware of the horrors of Europe through newsreels, showing the opening up of the prison camps and the awful destruction caused by war throughout the world.
I have had a good life for which I am grateful. I continue to be amazed by for the incredible scientific and technological progress that has been made in the world, but I am deeply saddened by the lack of empathy and care for his neighbor by so many of our fellow men. I sometimes feel that I must be naive, my thinking too simplistic, but at the end of the day, do human beings not all want the same thing for themselves and their families? I am steeped in the study of history, so perhaps I should really know better!
Thank you Brian for another thoughtful and informative read! Your words are very important for all. I was not born until 20 years after D-Day, and am still learning what really happened. We must not let the horror happen again.
Brian, in your footnotes, you say "even in a world without free will, memorials that teach moral lessons—and condemn atrocities—are worthwhile because they serve a useful social function beyond individuals and the neural and social origins of their behavior."
I read Fluke, and I read the chapter on determinism twice. And I'm going to go read it again in the next couple of days.
On one hand I admit that your arguments are rational, and difficult to disagree with. And yet, I find it so difficult to then process this sentence. I guess that I believe, at some level, in what you are saying. And at the same time, can't really believe it.
Did you struggle to come to grips with this yourself?
Yes, and I—like everyone—still live as though I have complete free will because it’s impossible for humans to lose that innate sensation of it. There are profound philosophical shifts that happen if you logically accept the premises I write about in Fluke, so it matters, but in other ways, it’s a debate about the causal origins of human behavior and whether or not the “mind” and the brain are different. I think they’re identical, which means that the physical stuff in my brain is, without any extra mechanism, causing my thoughts. But of course I find it bewildering and unsettling - it’s completely at odds with how the world feels. But, as I say, the world feels flat and not like a giant mostly spherical ball hurtling through space, but that doesn’t make the former sensation true. Thank you for reading Fluke!
I was born 10 days after D-Day. My Dad worked as a research scientist for an arms manufacturer during the war, but all my uncles who were old enough served in the armed forces. As a youth I thought we needed to understand the causes of both WW II and our own Civil War if we wanted to prevent such horrors in the future. I thought we could find the ways to change social and political circumstances such that the wrongs that led up to wars could be prevented. Now turning 80 years old I can see, of course, that it is much more complicated than I thought back then. But I still think it is worth trying. I appreciate reading your work for that reason, and hope that my own Substack will make a positive contribution to that endeavor.
Brian, as one of those “brave readers” I think this is absolutely appropriate to re-up this again especially as those of the “greatest generation” leave us and all we have are those reminders of how terrible war is and what we can and should do to prevent this from happening again.
The Lucian Truscott piece has always stuck with me and remains moving to this day. The lesson we should all take away is to fight authoritarianism/facism as it rears its ugly head rather than waiting and hoping for a “peaceful” outcome. It is better to fight early, and defend our values of democracy and freedom of choice and rule of law for putting it off will only lead to greater suffering, death, and destruction in the end.
Imagine (yes, I am thinking John Lennon) if Chamberlain had backed Czechoslovakia and forced Hitler’s hand? Imagine if Ukraine had been properly armed to meet the Russians such that we would not be in the position we are today? Appeasement and escalation management (they are the same) only lead to bigger problems.
Thank you for the Mauldin/Truscott quote.
Truscott, of course, is the grandfather of substacker Lucian Truscott IV.
Thank you Brian. I hadn't ever heard the Truscott story. You tell 'the in-between stories' that give meaning and reason for reflection. It gives me pleasure to support your writing.
Thank you for repeating this. I had not read it before. But I think that it is well worth reading many times over.
Thanks Brian, live is bl..dy complicated and far from black n’ white
I didn't have any relatives participating in D Day. My dad was busy building Flying Fortresses and all my uncles were too old. I was born just before D Day.
But my 8th Grade US History teacher had fought in Nazi Uniform, drafted just before the end of the war. He would have been 18 or 19 depending on when in the year his birthday was. A more fervent Anti-Nazi would be hard to find. But he also taught us what you say here; all Germans were not monsters. Not all--in fact, probably few--knew of the camps, though they clearly knew of the attitude of the Nazis towards Jews. But the "popular" antisemitic view of Jews in the US was not all that restrained throughout my life time and is now emerging everywhere since trump gave haters permission to say their hate out loud.
I had friends killed in Vietnam. Some volunteered, many more were drafted. Vietnam is right up there in the pantheon of unjust wars, founded on a lie about the Gulf of Tonkin and encouraged by a fear of communism that even at a young age I found questionable. And of course, those who survived are often in a bad way, reduced to begging at stop signs.
"Only following orders" is, we know, not an excuse for perpetrating or participating in war crimes. (Members of the IDF need to think about that.) But for the average grunt required to fight by their country, following orders is what they DO. I simply can't bring myself to see them as monsters, not even somewhat.
Brian, thank you so much for this. I would like to say something, but I am not sure I can express it very well. I have still, at 86, memories of wartime Britain, but I had no comprehension of exactly what “war” was. It was “there”, a fact of life, something for the “grown-ups” to handle. My memories of suburban London: black shades on windows at night, playing with other kids in the ruins of some nearby half constructed homes, abandoned at the beginning of the war - a peacock butterfly sunning on the broken hearth bricks, air-raid sirens, my father’s helmet and kit for his duty as a local fire warden, the back yard Anderson shelter on which I created a muddy slide with the boy nextdoor, huddled and held close under my father’s raincoat in the hallway as my mother tried to protect me and we listened to the dreaded whine as the doodlebugs droned overhead (I was aware that if the sound ceased “something bad” would fall, but I recall only the warmth of my mother’s body and some strange awareness that if it did fall what use was the raincoat), the VE day celebration bonfire (May 1945) burned by neighborhood residents in the cul de sac by the abandoned half-built brick houses. As I moved to teenage I became aware of the horrors of Europe through newsreels, showing the opening up of the prison camps and the awful destruction caused by war throughout the world.
I have had a good life for which I am grateful. I continue to be amazed by for the incredible scientific and technological progress that has been made in the world, but I am deeply saddened by the lack of empathy and care for his neighbor by so many of our fellow men. I sometimes feel that I must be naive, my thinking too simplistic, but at the end of the day, do human beings not all want the same thing for themselves and their families? I am steeped in the study of history, so perhaps I should really know better!
Thank you Brian for another thoughtful and informative read! Your words are very important for all. I was not born until 20 years after D-Day, and am still learning what really happened. We must not let the horror happen again.
thank you, brian. i'm totally with you on everything you say in this excellent reporting. keep going, sir. ur fan, j.
Brian, in your footnotes, you say "even in a world without free will, memorials that teach moral lessons—and condemn atrocities—are worthwhile because they serve a useful social function beyond individuals and the neural and social origins of their behavior."
I read Fluke, and I read the chapter on determinism twice. And I'm going to go read it again in the next couple of days.
On one hand I admit that your arguments are rational, and difficult to disagree with. And yet, I find it so difficult to then process this sentence. I guess that I believe, at some level, in what you are saying. And at the same time, can't really believe it.
Did you struggle to come to grips with this yourself?
Yes, and I—like everyone—still live as though I have complete free will because it’s impossible for humans to lose that innate sensation of it. There are profound philosophical shifts that happen if you logically accept the premises I write about in Fluke, so it matters, but in other ways, it’s a debate about the causal origins of human behavior and whether or not the “mind” and the brain are different. I think they’re identical, which means that the physical stuff in my brain is, without any extra mechanism, causing my thoughts. But of course I find it bewildering and unsettling - it’s completely at odds with how the world feels. But, as I say, the world feels flat and not like a giant mostly spherical ball hurtling through space, but that doesn’t make the former sensation true. Thank you for reading Fluke!