Looking Past the Pain

Although soldiers fighting in World War II were put through countless traumatic experiences, they somehow managed to come out of the war feeling grateful for having encountered all that they did. Robert Rasmus wrote, "In a short period of time, I had the most tremendous experiences of all of life: of fear, of jubilance, of misery, of hope, of comradeship, and of endless excitement, the treatrics of it. I honesly feel grateful for having been a witness to an event as monumental as anything in history and, in a very small way, a participant" (189). When I think about World War II, I feel terrible for all of the people who were forced to fight and risk their lives. Many of the soldiers were not even in support of the war, yet they were losing their lives for its cause. I assumed most of the soldiers came out of the war feeling bitter and resentful. However, these passages made me realize that many of the soldiers were pleased to have endured such rare and eventful experiences. Even though many of the situations were extremely painful, they felt as though these moments had made them stronger people. This is admirable that these young men were able to see the positive side of such an unfavorable situation.
These passages also discussed how the war was being fought by boys - they were too young to be considered men when they went into combat. Rasmus said, "In September of '39 when the Germans invaded Poland, I was fourteen years old. I remember my mother saying, 'Bob you'll be in it.' I was hoping she'd be right. At that age, you look forward to the glamour and have no idea of the horrors" (177). Instances like these proved that the boys serving in the military were way too young to be put in such positions. They entered the war with the false idea that it would be exciting and honorable - they failed to consider all of the heartaches and difficulties that went hand-in-hand with fighting in a war. It was strange to think that this would have been like the boys in my grade going off to war - I consider them to still be kids, like myself - not men capable of killing and suffering such horrendous conditions. These boys were very brave to fight like they did, but I hope that the United States will never have to resort to sending such immature men and women off to battle again.