Open Thread - Thurs 03 Oct 2024 - Bringing Mulligan Home
Bringing Mulligan Home:
I gotta admit, I haven't had it in me to watch the recent debate and all the other crude, although, as always, I am enjoying reading Caucus99% blogs. So, here's a bit about a good book...
A few weeks ago I read a book that really hit me. It's called Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War> by Dale Maharidge. It's about a man, a marine, who served in the Pacific during WWII. Like many who served, he spoke little at all about the war, and like many who served he was messed up by his experiences in the war. After his death (his name was Steve Maharidge) his son, Dale, decided to try to find out what his father's experiences had been, and why his father was like he was (angry, loving, mean, quiet, screaming, soft...) and who was in the picture his father had hung on the wall in his basement work area. Mulligan, it turns out, was in that picture.
Herman Mulligan and Dale Maharidge. Mulligan is a bit taller than Maharidge, with his hand on Maharidge's shoulder. From these two articles (and audio interviews) on www.wbur.org 'A Son Faces his Father's WWII Ghosts' and 'A Son Uncovers his Father's WWII History'.
Mulligan never came home, but was killed on Okinawa and buried there. The book contains the war experiences of over two dozen Marines in Love Company; men who knew Maharidge and Mulligan. And those experiences make it clear that no war is 'good', ever - not for the men who fought it, not for the civilians caught in the middle.
The book is hard in a way, but important, to read. If you have a chance and are in the frame of mind to be able to tackle some truth about the WWII battle on Okinawa (I have to admit I was not able to do so, even a few years ago, but I can now) give it a read or give the audio version a listen and you can also listen to 'The Dead Drink First', a continuation of Bringing Mulligan Home in an audible documentary.
Thanks for reading this post. Here's the open thread - remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy Thursday!
Hope all is going well. I lost the plot last week, and forgot it to check in and respond! Not gonna happen this week! Let us know what's up, how you doing and whatcha doing!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning
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War is hell. Driven by power hungry psychopaths.
Having a war economy is inhumane.
-- Bernie Sanders
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Yes Bernie, we can see the global suffering caused by US wars of choice. But why is it
you vote for all of these bloated military budgets?
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thanks for the OT Sima
War is Hell...
Bernie is right about that. Why the heck does he vote for the budgets though? Sounds like bloviating to me.
I really, really do not want to spend 'our' money on the war machine, but that's all that happens, all the time. So damned depressing.
Thanks for stopping by!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Heh, today, in 1873, they hanged Kintpuash,
aka Captain Jack, for leading what was a totally justified rebellion against colonizer/settler rogues and militias and the US for breaking treaties and persecuting his people.
On the upside Ginsberg's "Howl and other poems" was ruled Not Obscene on this date in 1957. What was obscene was that it was ever charged with being obscene and that our obscene obscenity laws existed an, in fact, still do.
War too is obscene and I think I'll skip the book. My dad's unit was wiped out at Anzio, he was one of the less than 1% that survived. The unit was disbanded and the survivors were sent to other units as replacements A close family friend survived the war in the Pacific as a Marine. They did make it home, but ...
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Of Course, I didn't know about Kintpuash...
So I looked him up. Damn, damn. I should have known. Now, another rabbit hole to study and learn about!
I agree about the obscenity law. And about war being obscene. I don't blame you for skipping the book. Your father was at Anzio? Damn again, and many, many heartfelt wishes that the rest of his life was wonderful. I kinda doubt it. 'Making it home' for your close family friend (the Marine) probably wasn't what most of us would expect upon returning home, either.
Hope you have a great weekend!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
California was pretty horrible to the indigenous population,
first the Spaniards, then the Mexicans who supplanted them and then the gringo invaders from the est. It isn't remotely a pretty story.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
If anyone is interested
I don’t have the stomach to watch inhumane act and especially those being done by people whose grandparents went through the same trauma. Hell I can’t even read articles on Gaza atrocities because my heart can’t handle it. But others might be inclined to look.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
thanks snoop
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like you, am very well aware of the pogrom manifested by
the zionistas and western complicity in the atrocities
do not have the heart to view the death and destruction
being aware of it is almost too much as it is
I think you might enjoy the article I just posted
I think this sums up the dividing line.
Unacceptable indeed and I can not understand how anyone can turn a blind eye to the carnage in Gaza and still consider themselves human. Americans cried like little babies when 9-11 happened, but they still refuse to acknowledge what America had been doing in countless countries and to millions of people before the Day. And they still refuse to see what we’re doing after it.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
It's cool to know this exists.
I would also like to know the extent to which US Special Forces are currently involved in the ground actions in Gaza and in Lebanon. I'm sure the shadow government consensus is that full spectrum dominance hasn't been working because the body count hasn't been high enough.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
I would too
There have been rumors that American spy planes were above Lebanon when Israel dropped 85 bombs on Beirut and it’s been helping Israel with intelligence over Gaza.
Plus many dual citizens went from America to fight for Israel.
I’ve been seeing warnings about gas prices increasing if Iran blocks the straits, but Biden is telling Netanyahu that he is okay with Israel bombing oil fields and nuclear sites. Bomb the oil fields and what the fck happens to gas prices?
Another thing about the film is that it can be used as evidence if Israel is ever punished for genocide and crimes against humanity. Make it so!
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Where US Special Forces are Involved...
I would like to know that too, all the places. I bet there are many areas around the world where we are 'stirring up' things while we 'help'. Gag.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I will bear witness.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Wow, I'm gonna try to watch it
Probably in bits and pieces, if I can. I might not be able to. I also have lost my stomach to watch inhumane acts. But witnessing has to happen. I wish TPTB would lose their stomachs and stop welcoming inhumane acts!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Awesome article on Palestinians and Zionism
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Too much to expert the good points…but:
Your Crisis of Faith is not My Concern (There’s a Genocide Going on)
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
This bit you quoted above...
It's come to that, hasn't it? I am anti-Zionist, I guess I better own it.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Worth checking out.
Also too.
Hmm!
as is said in these parts ..
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ya caint get theya from heya
if the 'gulf states' are serious
Turkey is a ?
Great OT, sima!
I never shirk from learning history, distant, recent, no matter how horrifying, no matter how heart wrenching. If I can view autopsy photos, I can read this book. I did visit several concentration camps. i did visit places where genocides took place.
It happened. I will always bear witness.
My Dad suffered from a form of PTSD from age 25 until he died at age 92. The flashbacks were of what he did to what most WWII vets regarded as honorable German soldiers. And, of course, to their fallen brothers in arms. That was foremost in his psyche, not his own horrific injuries sustained on D-Day.
History has a much better chance of repeating itself if we don't know the cause of first events. It is often the case we do something destructive for a second time because we have never learned what really brought about the first time, or even the complete results.
Lots to think about, and I will read the book, chica.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The memories of your father..
Sound a lot like the memories of Dale's father, at least in broad terms.
I know the Nazis were bad, I know WWII was a 'good' war. But, war is never good. I so sorry that so many of our relatives had to suffer through it, but then, didn't everyone who wasn't super high up do so? I kinda wish our current 'leaders' had to fight in a war as well...
Have a good weekend, mi amiga!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Gotta get through one more day of work
If you look at war tactics, sometimes it is the non-agreed movement. Then, the ambush at the pass by Sparta vs. Persians. RARE. Mostly, "civilized nations" fighting only high noon in great weather, agreed upon by the generals. Even that war method lasted until the Revolutionary War, but then...but then...the US said screw that, let's go all out Native. Let's hide behind trees and bushes and snipe.
That had never BEEN DONE in war between supposedly civilized nations.
Ironically, we won against the white man, then committed a genocide against those dark skinned natives that gave us the idea war in a new, different, support war tactic.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981