Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Soldiers Return Home To U.S.
When American soldiers returned home from WWII, most experienced "The American Dream." For African American soldiers this was not the case. When they returned home, they still faced segregation. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, or G.I. Bill, provided returning soldiers with benefits such low mortgages, low interests on businesses and tuitions which allowed them to go to university. This was used by most soldiers. Around 2.2 million used it towards university education and another 5.6 million used it for other purposes. While most soldiers were able to get help after returning, African American soldiers returned without the opportunity for help and still were liable to Jim Crow laws and ultimately "The American Dream."
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You make an interesting point about how war promotions and improvements die after the war. This is seen even after WW1, where all rights and work improvements went away immediately after. Although shocking, it is true that after the war all the problems such as segregation came back and the struggle had to start back where it started.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point about the problems such as segregation and other economic struggles coming back as the war ended, but weren't these issues existing even before and during the war? All these soldiers going off to war only made the situation slightly better for a temporary period of time, but it was never really gone. Because around half the population was gone, so was half the need to segregate even more people and economic problems, theoretically. But we all know that isn't really the case here because people will still see certain races as inferior (for an example) regardless of the population or the soldiers going to war. So these problems only became directed towards less people, and not becoming an issue that impacted less.
DeleteMost soldiers were welcomed home with totally open arms and were celebrated over in huge fashions by family and friends. Most people at home had been waiting for the moment that they would finally come back for a very long time. But not all had much to come back to, and not every caravan of american troops came back during the middle of the day when there were hundreds of people in the city to greet them when they step off the boats and finally back into their homeland. Some soldiers said, when interviewed in the DDay video, claimed that they arrived late at night, got off the boat, and walked home without being greeted or being celebrated over at all.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that during WWII African American soldiers were treated with more equality and respect, but when they came home, everything changed. People were able to lift their prejudiced opinions while America was in a time of stress, but when it came to a point after the war was over, the United States reverted back to its unfair and unequal laws.
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