The Good War: Peggy Terry and E.B. Sledge

Peggy Terry expressed how the war affected her life greatly each day, with every new piece of information on the war. She stated, "I believe the war was the beginning of my seeing things. You just can't stay uninvolved and not knowing when such a momentous things is happening. It's just little things that start happening and you put on piece with another. Suddenly, a puzzle begins to take shape" (193). Peggy's husband was paratrooper in the war and every thought of him brought her sadness; the war brutalized him. However, the war impacted her life and brought many "good times."

The war gave Peggy money, which allowed her to pay the rent and have food on the table. She had never had this much money ever, especially now with a new job dealing with detonators. With the war, many were hiring women to fill the spots of those who had gone to war. However, this new job was dangerous and involved chemicals that turned her orange, but she never asked if it was harmful. The working conditions were horrible. The fumes caused breathing problems and water was not easily accessible, causing dehydration. Peggy and her grandfather then moved to Jackson, Michigan for a better paying job where they met more people and learned about things they didn't even know existed. She learned about the concentration camps and the brutality soldiers were experiencing. She learned about the atomic bomb and felt angry because no bomb was dropped on the U.S. This bomb though was dropped on women and children that had no opinion on the war. Peggy felt very strongly that God did not make man to kill; she says, "The bible says, Thou shalt not kill, it doesn't say, Except in time of war" (195).

As Peggy stated, the war brutalized men. E.B. Sledgehammer was nineteen when he went to war. He constantly stated, "The only thing that kept you going was your faith in your buddies" (197). Comradeship. A soldier ended up fighting for their lives, forgetting the cause of war, and for their fellow comrades. The war was brutal, especially the one with the Japanese. They were guerrilla fighters and made each soldier act like savages. The Japanese did not surrender and felt as if it was a disgrace to be captured. With this attitude of no mercy, the United States soldiers developed this attitude as well. Hatred towards the Japanese was evident, making the war even more savage-like. They punched each other, kicked each other in the balls, etc. The United States soldiers even extracted gold teeth from dead Japanese, not realizing how immoral and inhumane it was. The war brutalized soldiers and turned them into savages and barbarians.

Even though the war seems to have brought good to the home front, its effect on the soldiers is immeasurable. It turned them into barbarians who did not fight for a cause, but rather for themselves. They sunk down to the same level as the Japanese, while still ridiculing them with hatred in their eyes. They were not men any more. The war transformed them into a whole new person, one who did not have morals or goals.