The Pros And Cons Of WWII

In the eyes of many, war is cruel, aggressive, and ugly. The true definition of this word is, “A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties.” (“The American Heritage”). War brings disagreements and hardships for not only the soldiers, but also amongst the families on the home-front. Luckily, times are a little better now than they were in the twentieth century. On December 7, 1941 the attack on Pearl Harbor started what is known as World War II. A family friend, Dennis Simmons, runs a trip for WWII veterans to take a plane to Washington D.C. and see monuments that are dedicated to those that have lost their lives in battle. I had the opportunity to sit down with him and listen to him speak about different stories he has heard throughout these trips. The discussion began when I asked him about his family members fighting in WWII and he told me that his father volunteered his draft. This means that his father did not wait for their draft number to be called and were then drafted early. Since this war arose during The Great …show more content…
Simmons’s trips to D.C., he spoke with a veteran that was a radio man on B-17’s, a bomber plane, and in the 8th Air Force that flew over Europe. The 8th Air Force that this gentleman was a part of regularly bombed industrial plants in Germany. After being shot down, he spent two years in a German Prisoner of War camp. Another veteran, Walter Hughes, was Airborne and jumped during Operation Market Garden. This operation supported the attack on D-Day. The movie, “A Bridge Too Far” was based on Operation Market Garden where the purpose was outmaneuvering German defenses to be able to end the war by Christmas 1944. The Walter Hughes Chapter of the 82nd Airborne was named after him. Hughes was just a young kid during the operation. Mr. Simmons notes, “A truly remarkable person” when speaking of Walter Hughes (Simmons,