Keylor in Daytona News-Journal on WWII Aftermath
William Keylor, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said that the older age of many draftees in World War II meant unique challenges in adjusting to both the needs of war and returning to civilian life.
Keylor spoke on the subject to the Daytona News-Journal in Florida, for an August 14 article entitled “It Was Hitler’s Intention To Invade Us.”
From the text of the article:
It was that way for a lot of servicemen in World War II, said Boston University history professor William Keylor, whose own father Robert fought in the Battle of the Bulge after being drafted and sent to Europe at age 33 on the very day his son was born.
“I think there are two important points about this war that distinguishes it from all the other wars in which the United States has been involved,” Keylor wrote in an email to The News-Journal. “First, many of the draftees in this war were in their mid-thirties. It must have been very difficult for them to adapt to the requirements of military service compared to teenagers.
“Second, in civilian life they had been insurance salesmen, bank employees, car dealers, high school teachers, and (in the case of my younger uncle’s commanding officer), undertakers. Unlike today’s highly trained professional soldiers, these guys were yanked from their civilian jobs and expected to learn very quickly how to load and shoot a rifle, march long distances, and operate under fire,” he wrote.
You can read the entire article here.
Keylor is the author of The Twentieth-Century World and Beyond: An International History since 1900, as well as dozens of articles in scholarly journals and book chapters on twentieth-century history. Learn more about him here.