Southern Veterans Return Home, Essay Example

The end of World War II was a challenging time for all American citizens because suddenly, everyone needed to adapt to a feeling of pre-war living. While the war had permanently changed the role of women in society, people expected that the soldiers who returned from the war would be able to easily reclaim their spots in the workforce. However, they found that many of these positions no longer existed or were no longer available, and had a difficult time finding work. This made it very challenging for these veterans to support themselves, as many of them had added expenses due to a need to seek medical care to support their physical and psychological injuries.

According to author Pete Daniel in Going among Strangers: Southern Reactions to World War II, many southern veterans had a hard time adjusting to their societal norms after the war. Returning home was challenging because veterans found it to be a very difficult time to find employment, made more challenging by the fact that black and white veterans were competing for the same jobs (Daniel 886). World War II created a greater sense of equality between the two races, an equality that white veterans were not adequately prepared to reason with. Furthermore, the war saw shift in attitude towards rural living. Many white and black individuals that had previously been satisfied by working and living on farms were now interested to become involved in other types of labors in the cities. This increased the population of the cities significantly, and resulted in a greater challenge for the individuals seeking jobs there; black and white southern veterans returning from the war had very few of the skills needed to fill these positions.

During World War II, required American soldiers to serve several years abroad, the structure of American society had shifted significantly. More individuals entered the cities to seek jobs that would have better wages. This was made possible by the large number of people that had left for the war. In addition, many women took up these vacancies as well in order to support the needs of the individuals in their society as a whole and to support their families. As a consequence, the labor force shifted significantly during the war in a manner that supported primarily the people that were not overseas. This created a challenging effect because it became more challenging for society to support the veterans that had been risking their lives and defending American values during the war.

At this point, civil rights issues became significantly more intensified. Black and white veterans needed to be pitted against one another for survival. White individuals felt that if black veterans were given jobs, they would not be able to survive and vice versa. However, since white society was still in power at this time, segregation was enhanced in order to address these concerns. Policy makers believed that this would appropriately ensure that white veterans would be able to get the jobs that they deserved, without caring about how the black veterans would be able to survive in this post-war society.

In Defining the Peace: World War II Veterans, Race, and the Remaking of Southern Political Tradition, Jennifer Brooks describes that both white and black individuals living in the south had significant reasons for becoming involved in the war and many believed that this involvement was their duty as American citizens. In an interview with Doyle Combs, a black Southern veteran, he explains that he was upset with the current state of affairs because in combat, he lost one of his limbs to protect the country. However, he argued that he apparently didn’t have the right to fight in this battle because since he is a black man, he really doesn’t have any rights in the country. He demonstrated a desire to vote even though he didn’t have legal rights to because he deserved to partake in American politics due to his service to the country (Brooks 1). This shows that black southerners felt just as obligated to serve their country as white southerners, but they were not treated as fairly as he returned. It would have been very difficult for Combs to find a job upon return because he was black, and this sensation was made even worse because he was disabled. Meanwhile, white southern veterans were less concerned with their job stability upon return, but extremely motivated to make their country better. John Sammons Bell explains a promise he made while he was overseas, fighting with his comrades, “everyone of those four soldiers said when we get back home,” Bell explained, “we are going to do our best to make America a better America” (Brooks 1). The pledge that these individuals made was intended to become a serious promise on returning home, but unfortunately, none of the others that made this promise with Bell made it home alive. As a result, Bell explained at a local Georgia political rally in 1946, “I feel it a bounden duty to carry on their fight for good government” (Brooks 1). He explains that veterans feel a duty to continue peace at home because they fought so hard for peace while they were at war. This motivation notes that Bell recognizes the problems in society. While he loves his country, he is aware that things are not perfect and it is the responsibility of strong-willed people to ensure that these changes can happen.

Since a majority of veterans, regardless of color, served as one unit during the war and were united under their conviction to support the country they love, this made returning home more difficult. Segregation was not the law of the land during the war, but both white and black veterans found that this was the case when they returned home. The close bonds that these two groups formed with one another during the war begun to degrade upon arrival home when they noted how different society was there than overseas. Not only were the Jim Crow laws still in place, but the organization of society had changed as well. Therefore, even though black and white veterans fought to save another’s life during the war, they were now required to break this bond and fight against one another in order to ensure that they would have a means for survival.

Despite the challenges that black and white veterans were faced with upon returning home, they did partake in many of the promises they had made when oversea for the first few years after their return. “Returning veterans proved to be the most politicized and ubiquitous of organized citizen groups throughout the South and Georgia in the first years after the war” and they had the ability to fight for social change due to their place of respect in society for the efforts they had just undertaken (Brooks 2). However, it was challenging to balance this sense of social responsibility and the need to function in current society, so this movement was not as strong as it could have been if it were not for the shifting of societal norms that had occurred in the south during the war. After some time, the unified goals of black and white veterans weakened, and these goals transformed to starkly contrast one another to create groups consisting of black veterans who were frustrated that they were not granted rights upon returning from the war, progressive white veterans who understood that black rights should be promoted in order to protect democracy, white union veterans who understood the need to support veteran readjustment to society, and white veterans were upset with their states reputation due to theur treatment of veterans of all color (Brooks 2). While the black citizens of Georgia generally held one opinion and remained united, white veterans took on many different political ideals that weakened the overall voice of their intended social change movement.

In conclusion, society changed significantly during World War II and black and white southern veterans had a difficult time adjusting to these changes. During this time, jobs shifted from rural land to urban areas and these was a small job availability. While many of the veterans planned to enact change in their society after their return, they developed distinct political views that prevented this from being able to happen. As a consequence segregation and the treatment of the black veteran worsened, while the white veteran had a challenging but acceptable time adjusting to society upon his return.

Works Cited

Brooks JE. Defining the peace: World War II Veterans, Race, and the Remaking of Southern Political Tradition. University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Daniel P. Going among Strangers: Southern Reactions to World War II. The Journal of American History, 77.3(1990): 886-911.