This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

Most Americans know history the same way a pig knows about tap dancing. WW2 cartoonist Bill Mauldin once drew a cartoon of an American soldier in a bar, giving his big war talk. “Why, if it wasn’t for the Irish and the Texans. You would have lost this war!” Yesterday was June 6^th. The day the Americans with the help of John Wayne and a few minor supporting characters, liberated Europe from the Nazis all by themselves.

On June 6, 1944, Great Britain had been at war for almost five years. The Americans had been at war a little more than two. Until June 6, 1944, Great Britain had more soldiers in the field than the US. Great Britain had stood alone against the Nazis for over a year. While having her major cities bombed daily. They called it the Blitz! Maybe you’ve heard of it? The British sank the Bismarck and won the battle of El Alamein, all by themselves.

I heard a news anchor describe it like this; June 6^th is the day the US landed troops to liberate Europe. It was “the” major turning point in the War!” Big Brother couldn’t have said it any better. D-Day was “A” major turning point in the War, but it wasn’t “The” major turning point of the War. Left unmentioned was the contribution of a few hundred thousand British and the Canadians soldiers, who also went ashore on D-Day. Do you know who lost the most people on D-Day? French civilians. Losing three times as many people than the Americans.

In the iconic film, Casablanca. Victor Lazlo is sitting in Rick’s Café being shown a ring. To Americans, it’s just a ring and a pointless scene in the movie. But the ring carries the Cross of Lorraine. Duh what? The symbol of the Maquis, the French underground. Men and women who risked their lives daily, fighting the Germans. So, what did they do then? The underground smuggled information out of France about the defenses on the Normandy coast. They sabotaged rail lines and communications on D-Day. In this country their contribution is almost completely unknown. We won the War John Wayne!

The Australians on the Kokoda trail performed as brilliant a military campaign as ever there was, against the Japanese. It was Australian Desert Rats who held out in Tobruk. Toe where? Never mind. It’s the reason Mark Twain said, “God created war to teach Americans geography.” Probably the greatest turning point in the European war was in Stalingrad. A battle US forces had nothing to do with. Hitler lost over 250,000 men and lost the ability to prosecute an aggressive war, unable to replace his losses. Without Stalingrad, Hitler would have had thousands more troops available in Normandy.

Dugout Douglas MacArthur downplayed the Australian contribution because MacArthur was narcissistic, pompous asshole. If he didn’t do it all by himself, it was unimportant. It was disgraceful and a stain on the American War record. Australian coast watchers and Filipino guerilla fighters were vital to the victory in the Pacific. John F. Kennedy was rescued by Pacific Islanders and an Australian Coastwatcher.

My Father-in-Law served on the USS Tennessee. Described in history as one of the “Old Battleships.” She earned ten battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. She fired more shells in anger than any other ship in the US Navy in WW2. She fought in every major battle in the Pacific, except for Guadalcanal. She was bombed in Pearl Harbor and credited with shooting down five enemy planes that day.

The USS Tennessee was so close to the shore, she was hit by Japanese artillery. She was hit by a Kamikaze and was near missed by several others. She was a mile and a half off the coast from Mt. Suribachi firing her 14-inch guns on a flat trajectory into the mountain. The Marines didn’t plant that flag up there, all by themselves.

And the Japanese never said, “here comes one of those “old” battleships again.” The USS Tennessee fought in the battle of Leyte Gulf. The largest naval battle in world history and the last Battleship versus Battleship action ever. But only the sons and daughters of her crew know anything about her stellar war record. On the USS Tennessee, June 6^th was just the day after June 5^th. Helping to destroy the Imperial Japanese Navy was also a turning point in the war.

In the iconic miniseries, “Band of Brothers” as Easy Company enters the Netherlands, a man is seen hanging an Orange banner out his window. To an American audience they had no idea why. No idea what that orange banner meant and had never heard of William of Orange. Who? Was he in the Marines? Most Americans don’t even know who Audie Murphy was or John Basilone, let alone Dory Miller. We won the war all by ourselves John Wayne!

The British shared their Jet and radar technology with us. The P51 Mustang was a dud, until the Brits put a Merlin engine in it. The US had almost abandoned the F4U Corsair fighter plane. Because of poor visibility, it was considered almost useless on American aircraft carriers. It was the British, who figured out the pilot needed to make a turning approach to see the deck before landing and the rest, as they say, is history.

Yes! But it was we Americans who invented the atomic bomb. Einstein was from Germany and Fermi was from Italy. A team of scientists developed the atomic bomb. The US government just wrote the checks.  It’s truly a shame Americans are so boastful, and so poorly educated.

It was the Polish General Pulaski who trained Washington’s ragtag volunteers into an army. It was the Frenchman, John Lafitte who helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans. George Washington didn’t win the battle of Yorktown. It was the arrival of the French fleet that turned the tide. Continental artillery was made in France.

History is a cruel mistress and remembered only in jagged bits and incongruous pieces, if remembered at all.  June 6^th is remembered as the day John Wayne and the Americans won the war.

“Remember we shall never stop, never weary, and never give in, and that our whole people and Empire have vowed themselves to the task of cleansing Europe from the Nazi pestilence and saving the world from the new Dark Ages.” ― Winston S. Churchill

Okay sure, they helped John Wayne, a little bit.