A world without war
Veterans Day reflection, 2021.
This week I re-read Paul Fussell’s nerd-famous essay on the ethics of war: Thank God for the Atom Bomb.
In it, Fussell judges the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as necessary evils. He writes with the unflinching gaze of a veteran whose life the atom bomb likely saved. He argues that, without the bomb, both military and civilian casualties would have been even more horrific.
As a pacifist, I struggle with any justification of mass destruction, and my heart aches with the suffering of innocents, whose stories rarely earn a mention in military history. However, I embrace the call to hold space for the experiences of combat veterans.
In that spirit, I share this testimony from Corporal E.B. Sledge, U.S. Marine Corps, on receiving news of the Enola Gay’s mission and success. Sledge served during World War II in the Pacific Theater.
Sitting in stunned silence, we remembered our dead. So many dead. So many maimed. So many bright futures consigned to the ashes of the past. So many dreams lost in the madness that had engulfed us. Except for a few widely scattered shouts of joy, the survivors of the abyss sat hollow-eyed and silent, trying to comprehend a world without war.
—Corporal E.B. Sledge, U.S. Marine Corps*
The costs of war are outrageous. To all who risk trauma and loss on behalf of the common good, I am grateful. My deep hope on this and every Veterans Day is for peace—for our military, for their families, for all humanity…for good.
*Testimony excerpted from Paul Fussell, Thank God for the Atom Bomb.