Terry and Sledge

Peggy Terry wrote about the stereotypes of the Japanese and Germans during World War II.  She wrote, “In all the movies we saw, the Germans were always tall and handsome.  There’d be one meanie, a little short dumpy bad Nazi.  But the main characters were good-lookin’ and they looked like us.  The Japanese were all evil”  As we learned, the United States made sure everyone knew that the Japanese were evil.  Their were posters all over the streets and cartoons that portrayed the Japanese as evil.  Also, as Peggy Terry wrote, movies also made the Japanese look evil.  This was opposite for the Germans.  In movies, Germans were not the bad guys.  Unlike the Japanese, the government didn’t make an effort to get the news out that the Germans were evil.  This was because the government didn’t want to go to war with Germany.  They wanted the people on their side, so stayed away from negatively portraying the Germans.  It seems as if on the home-front, the talk was about the Japanese rather than the Germans. 
            E.B Sledge was a soldier during World War II.  One quote struck me the most.  He said, “I was nineteen, a replacement in June of 1944.  Eighty percent of the division in the Guadalcanal campaign was less than twenty-one years of age.”  I’m 17 years old.  Guys fighting were 18 and 19 years old.  That is me in one to two years.  I can’t imagine being thrown into a battle.  I couldn’t handle it.  This shows how soldiers were tested.  They were too young to fight, but they had to fight anyways.  They had the responsibility of protecting their country at the age of 18!  These 17 to 18 year olds had to mature fast in order to protect their country.