So I'm reading through the collected letters of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, the second part starting in 1939, all the way to his death in '53. And an aspect that fascinates me is that it gives this unparalleled view into the mind of the young man suddenly thrust into a world at war.
It's very interesting, especially since the first collection, up to '39, gives you a good sense of his life as a young man, a new father, and an emerging writer struggling to make ends meet. When World War II began, Dylan was 25 (my age, so a bit chilling). And suddenly, where life was hard enough for a poet from a small provincial village on the Welsh coast trying to "make it", here comes this war, and even more interestingly, this wave of propaganda.
A lot of Dylan's letters at the time are concerned (understandably) with avoiding the draft. Reaching out for potential aid, and making his own "battle plan" for if and when he's called to appear before a tribunal for refusing to join. As the months wear on, Dylan comes up with this plan of putting together a collection of anti-war arguments. No political affiliations, no militant civil groups, just a collection of what the average Joe of that era thought about the draft.
Now, you'd think everyone is fuck no, but then, as now, there was a heavy layer of propaganda smeared across the "war effort". According to Dylan's letters, the government made it out as if only old grannies, cowards and "perverts" opposed the concept of needless death on the battlefront.
It's an idea that has, bafflingly, endured to this day. We speak of soldiers as heroes, and it's not uncommon for people avoiding the draft and military life to be judged and deemed cowards for their actions.
My own grandfather did what he could to avoid the draft. When WW2 started, he was just 18, and he was very fortunate in managing to avoid fighting throughout the war. Even now, speaking about it, I used to feel it's a bit hush-hush, like something you might not want to admit to. Because this BS mentality that there's something ignoble about not dying when you're told to.
Dylan himself comes under fire (so to speak) for writing to various acquaintances asking for letters against the war. Is he a coward? How dare he? It's an honor and a duty to die for King and country.
First off, it doesn't seem cowardly to me for a person to refuse to fight and die for someone else's political and financial interests. Rather, it seems quite noble for a young husband and father to try to remain home and aid and protect his family to the best of his ability.
Now, much is said about WWII, most of it along the lines of "Hitler was crazy, we had no choice". More accurately, this translates to "we had a falling out with Hitler -- who'd been just fine and dandy up to '39 -- and he started stepping on our turf". Huge difference.
Country, I was a soldier for you
Did what you asked me to
It was wrong and you knew.
Country, now I'm just a stranger to you
A number, a name, it's true
Throw me away when you're through.
Personally, I have tremendous amounts of respect for soldiers and veterans, mostly around the terror they endured. Great sympathy for that unimaginable struggle and horror that no human being should be exposed to.
But I never understood this hero culture. It seems more prevalent in the US and the West, so maybe that's partly why. Where I am, you don't have all this pomp around veterans or "thank you for your service". I never got that. Particularly not in modern times. Thank you for what? Flying out to the Middle East and slaughtering some unarmed kids for the ever-elusive "war on terror"? Seems to me that these people's experiences should be acknowledged, but more in the form of "I'm so sorry this happened to you". Better yet, in the form of "hey Government, how come you ditch our heroes to PTSD, addiction and suicide once they're back home?".
It seems to me that this hero culture does little to help returning veterans struggling enormously with their mental health. Because on the one hand, you've got this tormenting, terrible trauma that you endured. Then you come back and everyone pats you on the back and says jolly good? I haven't met that many soldiers in my life, but it seems like a recipe for dissociation and alienation.
Dylan Thomas captures this social disparity well in one of his letters, dated, October 14th 1939, just outlining his proposed collection of war objections.
Objections, not generalised but whole-heartedly practical of various people, mostly writers. Not a Pacifist, proRussian, Mosleyite or literary peace front, but the individual non-party non-political objections of people like you and me. I think, at this time, when many people who appeared trustworthy are turning out as penny heroes, guttesnipes, rattle snakes, mass-minded fools or just lazy buggers, it would be valuable.
It felt particularly resonant as there is a fair amount of war talk here in Europe. I've heard it said worryingly often that the powers that be might reintroduce mandatory military service for our young men. It seems evident to me that the first thing to do as a family with eligible men would be to scarper somewhere far away. Personally, I see nothing noble in having my brother or partner die furthering the interest of NATO. And if you're someone thinking half-clearly, neither should you.
The trouble is that many will be tricked into thinking there is something noble there. Many who will buy into that "yes, our young men need the military for its rigor and bla-bla-bla" bullshit. As in Dylan's times, the masses will be made up of unthinking youths who will rather heartily pledge to this "dying for your country as heroism" nonsense.
Add to those even more who, while unhappy about their inevitable enrollment, will feel powerless to stop it. I can't speak (obviously) for the 1940s. But if there's one thing the past years have shown us, it's that the majority may not agree but it will still say nothing to stop atrocity and injustice.
Many among us will feel upset and terrified of the draft and of combat, but will feel, as they did during the pandemic, or during the Ukraine war, or any other atrocity that's been visited upon us in recent years, that this is the way things are. You are powerless to stop it.
And that's an even more frightening lie than this heroism bullshit.
If you're powerful enough to "protect your country", you're powerful enough to say no.
(and since I've used songs in this article, and since it's #threetunetuesday, I say thank you @ablaze, and here's one more.)
Well the letter arrives and glistens a mother's eyes
She wonders where when and why
She could have tucked him in his bed
With a kiss on the cheek and his head
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