Ernie Pyle...

 

Poginuo nekog aprila 1945. na Okinavi...

Covek koji je zapisao americki Drugi svetski rat.

U neku ruku prototip novinara lutalice americkom provincijom, dete Krize i New Deal-a, poznavao je one za koje pise i o kojima pise...

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There is an agony in your heart and you almost feel ashamed to look at them. They are just guys from Broadway and Main Street, but you wouldn't remember them. They are too far away now. They are too tired. Their world can never be known to you, but if you could see them just once, just for an instant, you would know that no matter how hard people work back home they are not keeping pace with these infantrymen in Tunisia.

Ne nasedajuci i ne dozvoljavajuci da se nasedne na frazetine o malom coveku i prijateljima malog coveka...

Koji nikada i nigde nije imao prijatelja...

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...dead men had been coming down the mountain all evening, lashed onto the backs of mules...

 

 

Ernie Pyle, Death of Captain Waskow

Spoiler

 

At the front lines in Italy
January 10, 1944.
In this war I have known a lot of officers who were loved and respected by the soldiers under them. But never have I crossed the trail of any man as beloved as Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton, Texas.
Capt. Waskow was a company commander in the 36th Division. He had led his company since long before it left the States. He was very young, only in his middle twenties, but he carried in him a sincerity and gentleness that made people want to be guided by him.
"After my own father, he came next," a sergeant told me.
"He always looked after us," a soldier said. "He'd go to bat for us every time."
"I've never knowed him to do anything unfair," another one said.
I was at the foot of the mule trail the night they brought Capt. Waskow's body down. The moon was nearly full at the time, and you could see far up the trail, and even part way across the valley below. Soldiers made shadows in the moonlight as they walked.
Dead men had been coming down the mountain all evening, lashed onto the backs of mules. They came lying belly-down across the wooden pack-saddles, their heads hanging down on the left side of the mule, their stiffened legs sticking out awkwardly from the other side, bobbing up and down as the mule walked.
The Italian mule-skinners were afraid to walk beside dead men, so Americans had to lead the mules down that night. Even the Americans were reluctant to unlash and lift off the bodies at the bottom, so an officer had to do it himself, and ask others to help.
The first one came early in the morning. They slid him down from the mule and stood him on his feet for a moment, while they got a new grip. In the half light he might have been merely a sick man standing there, leaning on the others. Then they laid him on the ground in the shadow of the low stone wall alongside the road.
I don't know who that first one was. You feel small in the presence of dead men, and ashamed at being alive, and you don't ask silly questions.
We left him there beside the road, that first one, and we all went back into the cowshed and sat on water cans or lay on the straw, waiting for the next batch of mules.
Somebody said the dead soldier had been dead for four days, and then nobody said anything more about it. We talked soldier talk for an hour or more. The dead man lay all alone outside in the shadow of the low stone wall.
Then a soldier came into the cowshed and said there were some more bodies outside. We went out into the road. Four mules stood there, in the moonlight, in the road where the trail came down off the mountain. The soldiers who led them stood there waiting. "This one is Captain Waskow," one of them said quietly.
Two men unlashed his body from the mule and lifted it off and laid it in the shadow beside the low stone wall. Other men took the other bodies off. Finally there were five lying end to end in a long row, alongside the road. You don't cover up dead men in the combat zone. They just lie there in the shadows until somebody else comes after them.
The unburdened mules moved off to their olive orchard. The men in the road seemed reluctant to leave. They stood around, and gradually one by one I could sense them moving close to Capt. Waskow's body. Not so much to look, I think, as to say something in finality to him, and to themselves. I stood close by and I could hear.
One soldier came and looked down, and he said out loud, "God damn it." That's all he said, and then he walked away. Another one came. He said, "God damn it to hell anyway." He looked down for a few last moments, and then he turned and left.
Another man came; I think he was an officer. It was hard to tell officers from men in the half light, for all were bearded and grimy dirty. The man looked down into the dead captain's face, and then he spoke directly to him, as though he were alive. He said: "I'm sorry, old man."
Then a soldier came and stood beside the officer, and bent over, and he too spoke to his dead captain, not in a whisper but awfully tenderly, and he said:
"I sure am sorry, sir."
Then the first man squatted down, and he reached down and took the dead hand, and he sat there for a full five minutes, holding the dead hand in his own and looking intently into the dead face, and he never uttered a sound all the time he sat there.
And finally he put the hand down, and then reached up and gently straightened the points of the captain's shirt collar, and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the wound. And then he got up and walked away down the road in the moonlight, all alone.
After that the rest of us went back into the cowshed, leaving the five dead men lying in a line, end to end, in the shadow of the low stone wall. We lay down on the straw in the cowshed, and pretty soon we were all asleep.

 

Posle, poprilicno posle, dosla su vremena skockanih TV novinarki koje - izvestavaju...

Robert Hale Merriman
1908 - 1938

Ovaj skockani oficir vojske republikanske Spanije, kojoj niko osim, recimo, Meksika i CCCP, nije stigao da pomogne, jer tetka, lek, taj rad, sa sve demokratijom i vrednostima:

Skolovanje uz rad.
Jedva.
Profesor na University of California.
Ekonomist.
Levicar.

Ne i komunista.
Savladao kurs za rezervne oficire ne bi li popravio kucni budzet, usput i prijateljevao sa Openhajmerom. Vrlo.
Odlazi sa zenom u Spaniju, 1936. godine.
Komandant americkog bataljona Abraham Lincoln, XV Internacionalna brigada: od svega po malo - Amerikanci, Bugari, Kubanci, Nemci, Cehoslovaci, Austrijanci, Italijani...

Jugosloveni, tusta i tma, pa bi jos i da komanduju.

Nacelnik staba.
Bitke Spanskog gradjanskog rata.
Jarama, Brunete.
Pingarron poznat i kao Suicide Hill.
Ranjavanje, tesko.

 

Aragon, Teruel.
Vinogradi kod Corbera d'Ebre, Gandesa.
Zarobljen od nacionalista, zajedno sa porucnikom po imenu Edgar James Cody.
Streljani obojica.
Uredno i promptno, da im se groba ne zna...

 

 

 

Aktuelno: A change gonna come

 

Li Harvi Osvald, poznat u svetu kao ubica DZ.F.K-a, večeras ga pretresaju u nekoj dokumentarnoj emisiji: po američkim obaveštajnim izvorima, komunista, koji se često motao po ambasadama Kube i SSSRa , živeo kratko u SSSRu, sastajao se sa KGB-ovim trenerima za atentate, itd.... a po izveštajima KGB-a , suprotno: on je bio teško razočarani komunista i saradnik američkih ekstremnih desničara. A po konačnom izveštaju Vorenove komisije, ni jedno, ni drugo - radio je samostalno. 

Ova fotografija mozda nije najfotografskija ali je jedna od onih koje verovatno ponajbolje ilustruju doba koje se mozda moze nazvati labudovom pesmom 1 od Amerika: patricij iz Nove Engleske, 4x biran za kako bi se danas reklo POTUS-a , Harry Hopkins, 1 socijalni radnik, covek kojeg su i bliski mu cesto opisivali kao matrapazu koji se mota oko hipodroma, prevejanog, koji je birokratiju mrzeo k'o pas macku, koji je vise od bilo kog Amerikanca baratao sa vise para nego iko ikada, rasipajuci i i levo i desno, bas onako socijalisticki, koji je avgusta '41. u Moskvi konferisao sa 1 Staljinom, i:

Henry J. Kaiser

Nije prica o americkom cudu, mada na izgled tako pocinje ili se zavrsava: rodjen u nekom Sprout Brook-u, poceo kao mali fotograf, pa gradjevinski preduzimac, umro na Havajima...
Sve izmedju ovih nekoliko stereotipnih odrednica ovog coveka cini jednim od ljudi koji su gradili Ameriku.
Ovaj covek nije bio inzenjer, nije bio naucnik, nije bio vlasnik ni jednog jedinog patenta, nije imao bas nikakve veze sa granom industrije u kojoj je ostavio trag znacajan za istoriju covecanstva – bio je samo kapitalista, jedan od najboljih i najuspesnijih dokaza da postojanje i te fele itekako ima smisla nasuprot svim antikapitalistima.
On je bio i jedno vreme: vreme jedne Amerike kada su se stvari pravile, proizvodile, a drustvena odgovornost kako se to danas zove bila nesto mnogo vise od danasnje praznjikave fraze. Zvali su ga i ocem moderne americke brodogradnje, a skoro da je doziveo da ta ista monumentalna brodogradnja – jedno od najvecih dostignuca covecanstva – izumre, umre vestackom smrcu.
Ovaj covek nije radio nista mimo onog sto kapitalisti svih zemalja rade: iskoristio je, recimo, ocajnicku potraznju zaracene Velike Britanije za brodovima i – ponudio joj brodove.

Ili se barem tako mislilo.
Sta zaista znaci mnogo brodova, videlo se kada je Amerika usla u rat i kada je Henry Kaiser zaista prionuo da pravi brodove. Kaiser Shipyard, Richmond, California je, organizacijom iza koje je stajao ovaj covek, izbacivao jedan i za danasnje pojmove pristojno veliki teretni brod prosecno za 45 dana.
Nije pri tom bila primenjivana ni jedna revolucionarna tehnika, ni jedno revolucionarno naucno otktice, jedno od onih koje ce promeniti svet preko noci.
Nije jeftina simbolika sto je tip broda proizvodjenog u brodogradilistima ovog coveka, ali i u brodogradilistima sirom Amerike nazvan Liberty.
To su bili, patetika na stranu, brodovi koji su svetu tih godina nosili nadu i ne samo nadu: nosili su i po 10,000 tona onoga sto je bilo ocajnicki potrebno sirom sveta.
Svaki.
Od njih oko 2,600.

Takvim tempom da je za jedan od Liberty brodova kobilica polozena 8. novembra 1942. godine, a brod porinut 12. novembra 1942.
Posle 4 dana i 15 sati.

Inace je to znalo da potraje i citavih 10-ak dana...

Onako, usput: jedan Liberty: James Sprunt.
Potopljen ne torpedom sa nemacke podmornice, negde oko Kariba.
Bio je natovaren sa oko 4,000 eksploziva.
Sto se racunalo u obican ratnodopski teret za teretne brodove.
Preko potreban.

I sto mu, merama i terminima nekih drugih vremena dodje 4 megatona, sto mu dodje 1 pristojna takticka nuklearna bomba...

Komade broda su, kazu, nalazili i 20-ak kilometara daleko od mesta eksplozije...

 

Vizionari, dolazili oni iz redova kapitalista ili antikapitalista, isto prolaze u susretu sa silom koja vlada svetom: birokratijom; posto je uspeo da vreme izgradnje teretnog broda spusti sa uobicajenih vise od godinu dana na manje od 2 meseca, predlozio je vladi SAD da pocne sa izgradnjom jos ocajnije potrebnih nosaca aviona i bio odbijen od onih koji bolje znaju.
Srecom, pa postoje ljudi – a ovaj covek je bio jedan od njih – koji sa birokratijom mogu i umeju da izadju na kraj.
Sreca je, doduse, da postoje i vremena u kojima bude moguce da se u birokratiju prosvercuju ljudi koji birokratijom umeju da se sluze ne samo u interesu birokratije same – tek naslo ih se taman toliko da se protera izgradnja i Kajzerovih nosaca aviona.
Tako je nastala klasa nosaca aviona Casablanca: 49 nosaca aviona ove klase izgradjeno je za dve godine – od novembra 42. do jula 1944.
Trecina od 151 nosaca aviona koliko ih je Amerika izgradila za vreme rata.

USS Guadalcanal (CVE 60)
Admirali ih bas i nisu voleli, nisu valjda bili dovoljno admiralski, a znao je da im se prilepi i nadimak Kaiser's coffins.
Samo, kada je zbog admiralske bandoglavosti, cela desantna flota u zalivu Leyte ostala sama suocena sa japanskom glavninom koju je predvodilo admiralsko nad admiralskim brdo celika nazvano Yamato, ovi brodovi su bili ti koji su se suprotstavili.
Uspesno.
Lov na nemacke podmornice da se ne racuna.

 

Sa ovim covekom i covekom poput njega, naterana ratnom nuzdom, ali i socijalnom frkom izazvanom Velikom krizom, Amerika je menjala sebe samu u mnogo vecoj meri nego sto je to danas spremna da prizna.

 

Zene su postale vise ravnopravne nego sto bi to ikada postale boreci se za svoja prava kroz razne feminizme; oruzje kojim je izborena ta ravnopravnost zvalo se prosto nedeljna plata.
Crnci su postajali nekako manje crni, a ostale kolaterale kao sto je izgradnja novih gradova sposobnih da apsorbuju nadolazecu radnu snagu, gradova sa sve kompletnom pratecom opremom, pa i po nekim koledzom koga danas u pedigreu ima i jedan Portland State University.
Pride su isle i 24 casovna besplatna medicinska nega i joj kojekakve izmisljotine glede neprofitnih penzionih fondova.

Norma za odeljenje decjeg vrtica je bila 25 komada dece.

 

Naravno, nista bez profita.
Ali, isla je i cinjenica da je zbog krize u kompaniji za proizvodnju aviona Brewster Aeronautics, cija je proizvodnja 1943. godine pala na 14 aviona mesecno bez ikakvih izgleda da se popne do ugovorenih i vladi obaveznih 120 primeraka mesecno, angazovan ovaj covek koji je sa 4 coveka koje je doveo sa sobom postigao da mesecna proizvodnja dostigne brojku od 123 aviona.
U nepuna 3 meseca.

 

 

Spoiler

Off: svaka slicnost sa je slucajna:

 

 

 

 

 

Meni je recimo ovo zanimljivo:

Tramp se naslanja na ovakvu vrstu patriotizma, ali bez ideje da uradi bolje, nego da postigne istu stvar carinama... zato on nikada neće bita ta Amerika

Amerikanci su tada prvi imali velike industrijske trake za ubrzano sklapanje vojnih gedzeta , nemačke fabrike oružja su tada delovale kao zanatske radionice u poređenju sa modernim američkim fabrikama, ali ipak u srži Sjedinjenih država, tj. očeva osnivača, bilo je nastojanje da ne budu sirovinska baza za Britance i njihovu industriju, nego da se zaštite od toga, pre nego što uspeju da dostignu Britance.

Edited March 20Mar 20 by hej profesore

Kennell was among the hundreds of American women who looked to revolutionary Russia as they tried to imagine a new way of being in the world. Prior to the Bolshevik Revolution, suffragists, settlement house workers, prison reformers, muckrakers and other ‘New Women’ concerned about social justice, joined the struggle for ‘Russian freedom’. Many saw the effort to liberate ‘darkest Russia’ as universal in its significance. Long viewed as a kind of ‘dark double’ to the US (with a similarly ‘unsettled’ frontier, and a tradition of serfdom terminated at almost the same moment that American slavery was abolished), the Czarist regime seemed to epitomise an age-old dynamic of a wealthy few brutally oppressing the masses. Lillian Wald and other settlement workers wrote admiringly of the ‘tender’ revolutionary women in Russia whose hatred of injustice drove them to take up arms against their government. After the successful revolution, New Women in the US regarded with approval Soviet attempts to socialise housework through public laundries, dining halls and nurseries. They celebrated the new ideal of ‘comradely love’. And they praised laws granting women the vote, legalising abortion, simplifying divorce and mandating equal pay.

https://aeon.co/ideas/the-american-housewives-who-sought-freedom-in-soviet-russia

Edited March 20Mar 20 by Hermetico

The Masses was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription.

OST svakako

Krajem tridesetih, evropski, doduse kontinentalni koncept^tm takozvanog intelektualca puk'o je k'o zvecka: ono sto je iole vredelo, listom je crvenelo, sa sve ginjenjem u Spaniji, a bogami i konclogori su proradili i to ne samo u Nemackoj...

Ostatak je krenuo putem raznih kulturnih klubova, putem koji je 1 Andre Gide-a i ne samo njega, 1942. odveo za sto pariske Rotonde da sa Albertom Speer-om raspravlja o umetnosti i tako to ili da se u buduce citanke svercuje mehanizmom razdvajanja umetnika od dela...

Ali, dogodilo se, ne slucajno, neki su - kao ovaj gore - dokazali i pokazali da je uobicajeno evropsko prezrivo odmahivanje rukom na pomen americke intelektualnosti^tm samo 1 praznjikava poza: da je moguce kresati Dolores del Rio i Ritu Hejvort, slikati se za novine i - biti i ostati veliki...

I biti Amerikanac...