This question was asked while I was stationed in Germany and some of the old boys I talked to that actually served in both theaters said it was a lot easier to pull the trigger on a guy that didn't look like your cousin.
That’s a shrewd observation…good point.
I’ve always thought of the Pacific Theatre as a war of retribution, revenge for Pearl Harbor. And the racial animosity was undeniable and long-lasting. (My uncle, a USMC veteran of Okinawa, just about lost his mind when I bought a Honda Civic in 1975.) Contemporary films of that era used slurs and images of the Japanese that would never be acceptable today.
The war in Europe, by contrast, was about liberating oppressed people. While there were certainly slurs and stereotypes about Germans, it was also true that many Americans fighting there had parents or grandparents who were German immigrants.
In the series “The Pacific”, when Bob Lackie returns home, the cab driver who takes him to his parents’ house refuses to accept payment. He explains that although he jumped into and fought in Normandy, he occasionally got furloughs in England or Paris, while Marines like Lackie were in combat every day without a break.
I can’t imagine what any of those guys went through, and I don’t know how any of them ever lived normal lives after the war. God bless them.
...Ben
