Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2009 Soldiers and stereotypes: Mountaineers, cultural identity, and World War II C. Belmont Keeney West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Keeney, C. Belmont, "Soldiers and stereotypes: Mountaineers, cultural identity, and World War II" (2009). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 2936. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/2936 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Soldiers and Stereotypes: Mountaineers, Cultural Identity, and World War II C. Belmont Keeney Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Ronald L. Lewis, Ph.D., Chair Katherine Aaslestad, Ph.D. Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Kenneth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Frances Hensley, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2009 Keywords: Appalachia, World War II, Soldiers, West Virginia, Cultural Identity, Stereotypes, Mountaineers, Combat ABSTRACT SOLDIERS AND STEREOTYPES: MOUNTAINEERS, CULTURAL IDENTITY, AND WORLD WAR II C. BELMONT KEENEY To what extent are Appalachian stereotypes true and how much is pure fabrication? This study seeks to answer this question by examining the experiences of West Virginia soldiers during World War II. Appalachian hillbillies, believed to be culturally backward, uncivilized, isolated, and prone to violence, were often sent straight to the infantry because it was believed that their wild mountain heritage made them inherently better fighters. Using interviews, letters, and a collection of over 1,200 firsthand written accounts of Appalachian veterans collected by West Virginia University in 1946, this study traces the evolution of the cultural and individual identities of mountaineers throughout their time in the United States military. These West Virginia narratives are also compared and contrasted with those of other soldiers in the United States and around the world. Because every single ethnicity and race in the world fought and was exposed to many similar circumstances, the war itself is the ultimate litmus test for the validity of cultural stereotypes. If stereotypes associated with Appalachians are true, then their wartime narratives will reflect different reactions to soldiering and war based on their own inherent cultural traits. If not, then their reactions to war will be similar to those of other soldiers from different regions and nations. This study endeavors to demonstrate what the Second World War reveals about the changing identity of West Virginia soldiers, and more specifically, the culture and stereotypes associated with them. For my parents, C.B. and Patsy Keeney iii Acknowledgments Every scholar is the product of history because we each stand upon the shoulders of those who have come before. I am exceedingly grateful for the guidance of my committee. Ron Lewis has been indispensible in advising me and aiding in the development of my writing and research skills while simultaneously affording me the freedom to explore the ideas and subjects that are of great interest to me. The remainder of my committee, Ken Fones-Wolf, Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Katherine Aaslestad, and Frances Hensley, has also helped me mold my arguments into sharper focus and clarity. A number of other friends and colleagues have also donated their time in order to read rough drafts and proofread texts. Among them are Mike Buseman, Jim DePalma, Amber DePalma, Amanda Cummings, and Polly Smith. I also wish to thank the staffs at the West Virginia and Regional History Collection at West Virginia University and the State Department of Archives and History in Charleston, West Virginia for their assistance in finding good primary sources. My students at West Virginia University should also be commended for interviewing numerous World War II veterans and preserving them, not only for my research, but for the West Virginia Veterans Project and for future generations. I would like to thank my parents for the example that they have set and for the faith that they have had in me. Lastly, I would like to thank God for giving me the abilities that I have and providing me the opportunity to reach my full potential as a scholar. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………. iv Introduction: From Humans to Stereotypes…………………………………… 1 Chapter One: From Peace to War……………………………………………... 23 Chapter Two: From Local to Appalachian……………………………………. 54 Chapter Three: From Appalachians to Americans……………………………. 99 Chapter Four: From Americans to Humans…………………………………… 150 Conclusion: From Humans to Stereotypes……………………………………. 199 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………211 v Introduction From Humans to Stereotypes In 1947, Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a convocation address at West Virginia University before a crowd of approximately 18,000 students, faculty, and others at Mountaineer Field. One of the main themes of Eisenhower’s speech centered around the contribution of West Virginia soldiers to the Allied victory in the Second World War. This contribution was aided, he said, by a longstanding cultural tradition: The mountains have been the home of liberty. Among them men sought refuge from the despotism and pursued a way of life whose spiritual core was individual freedom. Mountaineers have ever been valiant defenders of liberty . West Virginians, for more than two centuries, have enriched the mountain traditions and were urged on to great achievement by the spiritual heritage of the West Virginia mountains. in our generation, you of this state have proved yourselves the spiritual heirs of the pioneers who saw, in the valleys of this region, paths to a more secure freedom and in its mountains a refuge for the oppressed. 1 To the certain delight of the crowd, the famous general went on to praise the mountaineers for doing their duty in the Second World War. The language he used is, of course, familiar to anyone well-versed in Appalachian scholarship. Eisenhower embellished old stereotypes of the rugged, freedom loving mountaineer; characteristics which, inevitably made the mountaineer an effective player in Roosevelt’s great Arsenal of Democracy. It is not the first time such 1 Eisenhower Convocation Address, transcript, West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia (hereafter cited as WVRHC). stereotypical features have been used to explain performance in combat from an Appalachian. In the First World War, Sergeant Alvin York, from the mountains of East Tennessee, became an American hero and legend because, according to media and military publicity, his wild mountain heritage enabled him to perform with great courage and distinction in Europe. Being Appalachian, it seems, makes one a better soldier. 2 One of the cornerstones of the conceptualization of Appalachia as a distinct and exceptional culture is the idea of the inherently violent mountaineer. There are two versions of the mountain man in the American popular consciousness. First is the noble mountaineer, with his rugged individualism, braving the frontier to carve a land of freedom and opportunity out of the barren wilderness. The second is the hillbilly or redneck, isolated from the rest of society; backward, ignorant, and savage. A violent culture is the common characteristic of both of these caricatures of the Appalachian people. The noble mountaineer is violent because violence is simply a harsh fact of life on the frontier. The hillbilly is violent because he is clinging to a long-gone, uncivilized age (the frontier) in an increasingly civilized world. Historical examples of violence in Appalachia range from the Whisky Rebellion and the Greathouse Massacre in the revolutionary period to the Hatfield- McCoy Feud and the West Virginia Mine Wars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Who can forget the famous pictures of William Anderson 2 John Alexander Williams, Appalachia: A History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 221-223. 2 “Devil Anse” Hatfield, with his long beard, jug of moonshine, and Civil War musket? Such an image is firmly imprinted in American popular culture as the embodiment of the Appalachian hillbilly. 3 According to historians Allan Batteau and Henry Shapiro, these stereotypes were a literary creation of urban America during the Industrial Age that, among other things, provided an explanation to mainstream Americans for these violent episodes. Writers such as John Fox Jr., Mary Noailles Murfree, Berea College President William Goodell Frost, John C. Campbell, and a host of northern journalists wrote about the “strange and peculiar” culture found in the Appalachian Mountains. 4 A key component to this