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Department of English and American Studies the Making of an American

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Department of English and American Studies the Making of an American Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Bc. Jakub Hamari The Making of an American War Veteran Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. 2016 1 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature 2 I would like to thank my empress Agáta. Without her, you would not be reading this right now. A great deal of support from my family deserves my utmost gratitude. This is my feeble attempt at showing it. Jana Opočenská, your life’s work on feminism and fight against patriarchy has made me the person I am today. My thanks also go to my late grandfather Michal Hamari. Your soldiering is not forgotten. You are loved and will be sorely missed. I also thank the Prophet of our Lord - Bob Marley. His wisdom taught me that there will never be enough darkness in the world to extinguish the light of Jah. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. 4 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 6 2 WORLD WAR II ...................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Eugene B. Sledge: With the Old Breed .............................................................. 8 2.1.1 Family ......................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Boot Camp .................................................................................................. 9 2.1.3 Religion ..................................................................................................... 10 2.1.4 Battle Fatigue ............................................................................................ 12 2.1.5 The Aftermath ........................................................................................... 14 2.1.6 Women ...................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Robert Leckie: Helmet for my Pillow .............................................................. 19 2.2.1 Boot Camp ................................................................................................ 19 2.2.2 Family ....................................................................................................... 20 2.2.3 Religion ..................................................................................................... 21 2.2.4 Aftermath .................................................................................................. 21 2.2.5 Women ...................................................................................................... 22 3 VIETNAM WAR .................................................................................................... 26 3.1 Philip Caputo: A Rumor of War ....................................................................... 26 3.1.1 Family ....................................................................................................... 27 3.1.2 Boot Camp ................................................................................................ 28 3.1.3 The Deployment ....................................................................................... 29 3.1.4 Religion ..................................................................................................... 33 3.1.5 Aftermath .................................................................................................. 34 3.1.6 Women ...................................................................................................... 36 3.2 Ron Kovic: Born on the Fourth of July ............................................................ 41 3.2.1 Boot Camp ................................................................................................ 41 3.2.2 Deployment ............................................................................................... 42 3.2.3 Family ....................................................................................................... 43 3.2.4 Religion ..................................................................................................... 46 3.2.5 Aftermath .................................................................................................. 46 3.2.6 Women ...................................................................................................... 49 4 4 IRAQ INVASION ................................................................................................... 52 4.1 Jess Goodell: Shade It Black ............................................................................ 52 4.1.1 Deployment ............................................................................................... 52 4.1.2 Religion ..................................................................................................... 55 4.1.3 Aftermath .................................................................................................. 56 4.1.4 Family ....................................................................................................... 58 4.1.5 Gender ....................................................................................................... 61 5 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 67 6 WORKS CITED ..................................................................................................... 71 5 1 INTRODUCTION I finished my BA studies with a thesis based on Anthony Swofford’s autobiographical novel Jarhead: A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles. I have been mesmerized by the author’s honesty and skilful way of writing. I believe that a good MA thesis should be wider in its scope when analysing a topic. That is, it should cover one topic, but approach it through various takes, which is more than one author has. Since Swofford himself refers to many authors (not just literary), who have influenced his way of writing and perceiving of the world, I have decided to do something similar in my MA thesis and out of the multitude of influences on the topic I have chosen five writers, who have made an impact on the war memoir genre of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. My primary focus of this work will be the way Marines (as my thesis deals only with authors serving in the USMC) reflect upon their time in the military and how their familial and religious background influences the way a particular author perceives women in their work. Crucial to this is the transition from a civilian teenager to a war veteran. In cases of some authors it is impossible to pursue this as they have chosen to pursue a military career at a later age, but still, they were barely out of their teenage years. For each author I will also analyse their social background to find similarities and differences between these authors. For the time frame of these writings, I have picked the span from WWII, the Vietnam War and more contemporary war memoirs revolving around the Iraq invasion of 2003 and the ensuing conflict. Concerning WWII, I will focus on With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, the memoir by Eugene Sledge, and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie. These two authors were members of the United States Marine Corps and thus shared the fate of many young Americans who fought in the Pacific theatre of operations. Through the 6 work of these two authors, then contemporary, debates about the effects of warfare on young people arose. Their memoirs are still popular and have served as the base on which the HBO miniseries The Pacific is built. Concerning the Vietnam War, I have chosen Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic and Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War. These books caused a similar effect on the wide public and once again drew to light the horrors which veterans carried within them. Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War inspired a 1980 TV miniseries, which is one of the earliest cinematographic works focusing on the Vietnam War. Born on the Fourth of July was adapted for the screen by Oliver Stone and was awarded two Academy awards and four Golden Globes. The final part deals with a more contemporary war memoir, which is Shade It Black: Death and After in Iraq by Jess Goodell. She describes her deployment with the Mortuary Affairs unit in Iraq as well as how women are perceived by their male counterparts in USMC and finally the terrors of PTSD, which started once she returned to civilian life. 7 2 WORLD WAR II 2.1 Eugene B. Sledge: With the Old Breed Eugene B. Sledge’s military career began on 3 December 1942, when he enlisted to the USMC in Marion, Alabama (Sledge 5). Straight away, Sledge joined the officer’s program. He gave up the option of staying in college a while longer and thus becoming a possible recruit for the Army’s more technical and safe branches. Sledge wanted to enlist as soon as possible and be deployed into combat even faster all to the distraught of his family, which viewed the “[…] Marines as cannon fodder.” Nevertheless, on 1st of July 1943 he sped off to Atlanta to report for duty (Sledge 5). 2.1.1 Family The Marines served as a surrogate family for Sledge during his stay with them and he always thought of the USMC in that way. “I realized that Company K had become my home […] It was home,
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