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The Good War

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Submitted By inkallel
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The document entitled Robert Rasmus is an oral interview with a veteran of WWII extracted from Studs Turkels’ book “the Good war”: An Oral history of World War II. The book consists of interviews with people who give an account of the events they lived during and after the war.

The testimony of Robert Rasmus is of great interest as it allows us to better grasp World War II from the inside. In fact Robert Rasmus witnessed WWII as a young soldier and however he just had a limited action in it, as he says “I was in combat for six weeks” he could seize both the horrible side of that war and the good aspects of it.

Despite his short experience in the infantry, Robert Rasmus considers his life as “B.W. and A.W.” (“for me it is before the war and after the war).The impact of what he lived during these forty two days was so important that it changed his life. He went from the state of a young boy to that of a man. The horrors he saw made him lose his innocence and change his perception of the war and of men. It made him realize that war wasn’t a matter of patriotism or heroism but more a matter of kinship with his fellow soldiers. Robert Rasmus says that at the age of 14, he was hoping to take part in WWII because as he states “at that age, you look forward to the glamour and have no idea of the horrors”.

Robert Rasmus says that he was “a sort of schizophrenic” during his experience as a rifleman. We understand from his discourse that there is a paradox between his fear of death and his excitement of being part of WWII. In one hand he doesn’t want to lose his life and is stunned with the horrors of war and in the other hand he talks about “wonderment” when he saw Europe for the first time.

Robert Rasmus tells us a lot about relationships between fellow soldiers and with the enemies. He depicts the cruelty with which American soldiers killed the German troops and also the cruelty of words when one of his fellows said: “If we ever get into combat, I’m sure I’m gonna kill’im. First thing I’ll do” when talking about his sergeant he hated. Killing loses its sense during war, people return to cavemen attitude and to animal instinct. Fortunately, Robert Rasmus seemed aware of it and even if he had lost his innocence he learned not to lose his humanity.

Rasmus life, like other veterans of WWII who were not mentally prepared for a war changed thoroughly. They fought for their country but they didn’t know what for.

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