Childers talks WWII at SAM

At Sigma Alpha Mu yesterday, World War II was revisited - over Coke and Thai takeout.

SAM brothers crowded their chapter house to hear History professor Tom Childers discuss the war, addressing topics from veterans' mental disorders to the political consequences of Hitler's table talks.

Childers, popular with SAM brothers for his engaging history lectures, began by telling how he found, in 1991, a chest full of family letters from World War II.

These letters, he discovered, recounted the story of his uncle's disappearance while aboard the last American bomber shot down over Germany and his family's search for answers in the following years.

Intrigued, Childers talked to relatives and veterans, traveling to archives and universities in a research adventure that would serve as the subject matter of his first novel-like history, Wings of Morning.

This book marked the transition of his previously formal work into a format with a wider appeal.

"Every soldier was someone's uncle, brother, or wife," he said. "People want to know what really happened, and you can't just achieve that with a lot of citations."

Childers chose to focus for some time on the experiences of bomber pilots and crew members, who endured temperatures of 20 or 30 degrees below zero and died at rates second only to those of German submariners.

"I can't help but be impressed by these men," he said.

He also highlighted difficulties faced by veterans after the war, who often came home only to struggle with unemployment and homelessness.

"Homelessness and PTSD," he said, "were thought to be unique to the Vietnam War . People thought World War II vets were made of steel."

When sleeping over at a friend's house in his youth, Childers recalled a time when he had to barricade a bedroom door to prevent his friend's father from hurting them during a nighttime rage triggered by wartime memories.

"I'm not a pacifist, though," he said. "There were some very good reasons why World War II was necessary."

Unlike during Vietnam and other recent wars, American men and women rushed to join the army during World War II - but after experiencing the horror of war firsthand, they fought not for U.S. ideals, but to just get home, he said.

During a question-and-answer session after the talk, Childers discussed public perceptions of Hitler, the merits of historical science and the Russian-German relationship.

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