Blaine residents reflect on WWII 80 years after the U.S. entered the war

Eighty years ago, the U.S. entered WWII on December 11, 1941, more than two years after WWII started when Germany invaded Poland. A WWII long barrel anti-aircraft gun next to the Blaine police department reminds us of sacrifices our heroes made. 

I walk by the memorial every day on my evening walks, near my friend chaplain Joe Zaccaria’s office, The Gathering Place. 

The gun, now decommissioned and pointing to the sky, inspires us every day to be patriots and serve the nation. It also stokes a host of diverse memories to those who pass by. 

For Joe,  it brings up memories of his mom and dad. His dad was in the U.S. Marine Corps, who fought in Germany and won many medals, however, upon return ended up suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In those days, no one knew about PTSD. However, the brunt was borne by his family, especially by Joe’s mom, Josephine. The rage of Joe’s dad, compounded by uncontrolled drinking, led to beating and abuse every day. Joe, just a small child, hid behind doors of cabinets frightened by his dad’s shouts and the sight of his leather belt and fists. 

Joe said he thinks PTSD should be called post-traumatic stress illness because disorder is misleading as it indicates blame on soldiers rather than the war. Our veterans suffered such an illness mostly due to experience during the war that rendered them unable to live as they previously had and needed medical assistance. 

I’m reminded of my family as well and what they faced during WWII. My aunt had to sail from her home in Mumbai to Mombasa in constant fear while sleeping on boxes of bombs aboard an explosive-laden ship. And how India suffered from acute shortages, from what the world now knows as the man-made famine of Bengal. 

Millions died of hunger despite a bumper harvest. When the bureaucrats wrote to Winston Churchill not to take away all of the crops Indian farmers produced to Europe, he snapped back that Gandhi was still alive. Rationing of food, clothes and fuel was ruthless. Even match sticks were not available. 

Brutal character of colonial powers is not new to the U.S. The Boston Tea Party was not for nothing. Not just tea, but American colonists had to buy even paltry things like soap from British monopolies. Just as the U.S., India too was once colonized by the British. There are more parallels between the U.S. and India than what meets the eye. Just like the U.S., Japan also invaded India; Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and India at Kohima on April 4, 1944. 

I remember my mother, Urmila, telling me about my granddad, a doctor with the colonial British government. Many Indian doctors were sent to the frontlines; he too was expecting to be shipped off. It was therefore important for him to assess how many days away was his conscription. Listening to British or U.S. radio only gave one-sided news, so he also listened to German and Japanese radio to make a judgement. But being a British state employee, he had to do it secretly because it was a treason to listen to enemy broadcasts. 

Joe was an amateur radio operator and I, too, had installed low-power transmitters for paging hospital staff. We were naturally excited to share stories of shortwave radio of the age-gone-by. Crackling reception of the broadcast would fade or gain with the weather. Powered on the bank of car batteries, radios were connected to horizontal wire antennas tied between bamboo poles. 

In the end, we won WWII but victory was heavily on the backs of the U.S. and India. The U.S. had contributed 2 million soldiers and equipment, while India contributed 2.5 million soldiers and materials to win the war for Britain. U.S. soldiers were mostly sent to frontlines of Europe and Pacific territories, and the Indians were deployed on war fronts in Africa, Italy, West Asia, Burma and Malaya. A large quantity of the explosives, bombs, mortars, grenades and bullets came from 41 ordnance factories in India. Besides explosives, India supplied huge quantities of coal, tents, canvas, leather shoes, timber and grain. 

Surely every family has experienced WWII in one way or another and made sacrifices. The anti-aircraft gun memorial of Blaine brings alive many memories. This war memorial also lists many brave men from Blaine on its honor rolls. With the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, WWII ended September 2, 1945.

Nilesh Shukla is a 70-year-old Blaine resident who has worked at an atomic research center in India and with multinationals on advanced scientific and industrial equipment. He has written books on cultural subjects and management.