With a note of pride in his voice , the merchant seaman said, This is my kid brother. We havent seen each other since I joined up.

Which reminds me, the younger brother said, I thought you were going to join the Navy.

I planned to.

Why didnt you?

The Naval Recruitment officer I talked with suggested I join the Maritime. He told me they needed more recruits than the Navy did at that time. Besides, he said, the Maritime will soon be made another branch of the military.

Another merchant seaman laughed, saying, I was told the same thing and Im still waiting.

A third seaman added, Dont hold your breath.

The conversation opened up and everyone joined in with their own thoughts and comments.

Before I joined up, I thought Id live and die in my home town. Since enlisting, Ive seen more of the world than I ever dreamed of.

Im like you. Before, I only saw places like Manila in the National Geographic.

Someone asked the rhetorical question, How many of us, who grew up in the Depression, ever thought wed be this far away from home?

I sure didnt.

Ive seen New York and San Francisco.

Others mentioned cities across the States, and island chains in the South Pacific theyd never even heard of before the war. They all sounded like world travelers, which they were.

One thing I like about traveling in the States at this time is I feel like were all part of something really big and we, as a nation, are united for a worthwhile cause



Someone else commented, This sense of unity were all now experiencing wasnt there before Pearl Harbor. In fact, there were many people opposed to our getting involved in another European war. Memories were just too fresh of the carnage of World War I



After Pearl Harbor, Lindbergh and many of the others of the America First Party abandoned any dissent. Many of them enlisted in the military



After Pearl Harbor, Henry Ford turned his talents and manufacturing plants towards helping the war effort.

Before you ask, Ill tell you: I was a history teacher, specializing in American and European history.

One of the latecomers replied, That was the first brief history lesson Ive ever heard that was interesting!

Everyone laughed heartily.

I have a question for each of you, the teacher said, in a serious tone, What are you planning to do after the war?

The first thing Im going to do is sleep in my own bed for forty-eight straight hours.

Im going to take my girlfriend out to the best restaurant in town for the biggest steak in town!



I havent seen my wife in six months. I dont have to tell you what Im planning on doing for the first six months!

There was an even louder burst of laughter.

The teacher waited until the laughter settled down a little and, at just the right moment, he asked, Then what?

They all seemed to understand the seriousness of what he meant. The laughter tapered off; replaced with more somber looks on their faces.

For a moment, no one said a word.

He continued, The war will soon be over. Friendships youve formed during the war will soon be part of your past and each of you will have to face civilian life again.

You are not the same young men who left Hometown USA only a few months ago. You have changed. The big question is, How are you going to fit into that changed civilian world?

My hope is that youll use the same guts and determination you learned in the service to help take you through the coming months of adjusting to civilian life.

Those back homewho havent gone through what you havewill not understand you. They cant.

Dont let that stop you from becoming what you can be. Learn from what youve gone through during these past months and take advantage of our GI Bill of Rights. Go to college or trade school. Use it to go into business or buy a home.

For many of you, it may be a once in a lifetime chance to do things your parents didnt even dream of.



I learned to be a pretty good mechanic. I plan to open my own garage, but I need to take business and accounting courses.

My brother and I are going to open a bakery using our GI Bill of Rights. We plan to go to a local college and take business and accounting courses.



Good, the teacher replied.

One of the merchant seamen asked, Do you think well be offered the Bill of Rights?

To be honest, no.

Why not?

Its my guess that if it isnt offered during the heat of battleso to speakit most likely wont be after the battle is won. We are, what I call, a nation of citizen soldiers.

As a nation, we hate war, which is good. If our leaders cant give us convincing arguments for going to war, we shouldnt.

When the war is over, we want to go back to being civilians as soon as possible. As soon as war is over in Europe, people will start calling for our troops to be sent home.

I hate to say it, but the kind of unity we spoke of earlier will soon be gone. We unite during times of danger but become divided again when we think that the threat is over.

Thats too bad.

In a way, its good. We unite when its essential but we retain and express our individuality the rest of the time. We are not a nation of robots just doing what we are told to do.

Gordon looked at his watch and realized he needed to head back to the ship if he wanted to get back on board before it got dark.