Binding Up the Wounds: An American Soldier in Occupied Germany 1945-1946

Rating:
Summary: After The War.
Review: "Binding Up The Wounds" by Leon C. Standifer. Subtitled: "An American Soldier In Occupied Germany, 1945-1946" Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
The theme of this book is set by the quotation of the part of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, which we all know and which is triggered in our memories by "With malice toward none..." In this, his second book on the War, retired professor Leon C. Standifer recounts his experiences in dealing with the conquered German people, learning a little of the German language and learning, it seems, a lot about life and the opposite sex. Professor Standifer has written a very charitable book, using the Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865) for a framework for a theme of forgiveness and understanding with the defeated Germans. So many Americans, who tend to quote this section of Lincoln's Address, neglect that in that Address, Lincoln also said that it would be just if the tragedy of the Civil War continue "... until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword". This clearly applied to the Germans who had drawn so much blood.

In his first book (see "Not In Vain: A Rifleman Remembers World War II"), the good professor gives the story of his days in combat and how he earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge, that pale blue emblem of having served on the front line. In this present book, Standifer tells the story of his unit's adventures as they begin to understand the Germans as fellow human beings, and not as targets on the field. Since he started out as a very young man from the "back woods" of Mississippi, he grew up in combat and then he was first exposed to urban life in the old cities of the Sudetenland and Bavaria. Throughout the year in occupied Europe, (he says that he had a "ball"), his experiences were firmly filtered through his fundamental Christianity and his background in segregated Mississippi. I can understand some of his background. A dozen years after the time of his book, (1958), I was stationed at Naval Air Technical Training Center, Memphis, and, as a Native New Yorker, I found the segregation in Tennessee to be irritating and different enough to be exotic. Further, in all of Memphis, they did not know what a pizza was, let alone know how to make pizza. (I suspect that national chain restaurants have changed all that today.) So, Standifer's outsider's account of beer drinking, Catholic Bavarians rings true. I suspect that some of the nostalgia that seems apparent on the author's part is due to the fact that 1945-1946 was a happy year when he was young. This is an excellent personal memoir.

Rating:
Summary: After The War.
Review: "Binding Up The Wounds" by Leon C. Standifer. Subtitled: "An American Soldier In Occupied Germany, 1945-1946" Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
The theme of this book is set by the quotation of the part of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, which we all know and which is triggered in our memories by "With malice toward none..." In this, his second book on the War, retired professor Leon C. Standifer recounts his experiences in dealing with the conquered German people, learning a little of the German language and learning, it seems, a lot about life and the opposite sex. Professor Standifer has written a very charitable book, using the Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865) for a framework for a theme of forgiveness and understanding with the defeated Germans. So many Americans, who tend to quote this section of Lincoln's Address, neglect that in that Address, Lincoln also said that it would be just if the tragedy of the Civil War continue "... until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword". This clearly applied to the Germans who had drawn so much blood.

In his first book (see "Not In Vain: A Rifleman Remembers World War II"), the good professor gives the story of his days in combat and how he earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge, that pale blue emblem of having served on the front line. In this present book, Standifer tells the story of his unit's adventures as they begin to understand the Germans as fellow human beings, and not as targets on the field. Since he started out as a very young man from the "back woods" of Mississippi, he grew up in combat and then he was first exposed to urban life in the old cities of the Sudetenland and Bavaria. Throughout the year in occupied Europe, (he says that he had a "ball"), his experiences were firmly filtered through his fundamental Christianity and his background in segregated Mississippi. I can understand some of his background. A dozen years after the time of his book, (1958), I was stationed at Naval Air Technical Training Center, Memphis, and, as a Native New Yorker, I found the segregation in Tennessee to be irritating and different enough to be exotic. Further, in all of Memphis, they did not know what a pizza was, let alone know how to make pizza. (I suspect that national chain restaurants have changed all that today.) So, Standifer's outsider's account of beer drinking, Catholic Bavarians rings true. I suspect that some of the nostalgia that seems apparent on the author's part is due to the fact that 1945-1946 was a happy year when he was young. This is an excellent personal memoir.

Rating:
Summary: Blue-eyed GI in Germany: 1945
Review: I give the author credit for trying to recreate his life at age 20. He has done an admirable job in vignetting his life in Munich as an occupation soldier. His memory is accurate.However: he went through this experience with a song in his heart and no connection to the actual landscape. He makes no real effort to meet those he occupies, And when he does, he usually blushes. I guess that is to be expected from a 20-year-old from rural Mississippi. The edict against fraternization is no excuse - nobody really obeyed it anyway. Did he never wonder why there was no civil government, police, etc. in Bad Aibling? Because the Military Government forbade any kind of political structure. Why did his German aquaintances never mention relatives or friends in other parts of the country? Because the Military Government did not allow mail or any other part of communication until the end of 1946. Why did he hitchhike into Munich instead of simply taking the train>? Because there was no transportation, the Military Government having forbidden people to leave their community. What about those Polish Displaced Persons( DP)? They were offered cash and a Care parcel if they would return to Poland. They took it, and a few weeks later they were back in Munich. What about the black market? In early 1947 a unit of the USArmy, armed with machine guns, stormed a housing block in Munich given over of DPs. The black market cigarettes they carried out where measured not in packages or cartons, but in tons! Why were those German students not studying? Not only was the university bombed out, but it belonged to the State of Bavaria, that did not exist anymore. What about food? General Lucius D, Clay in Berlin determined by fiat the number of calories every German got - no matter what was on the rationing card. The author is dead-right about general Muller, though, who came into the Munich railroad station on Goering's special train and insisted on a red carpet.Did the Germans like the Americans? Those GIs kept completely to themselves and were rarely seen. But a military occupation is always rough on the occupied. And they never understood that this is the price to pay for losing a war. It would have been psychologically easier if the USGovernment had not insisted on calling it an "eduction towards democracy". It is to the author's infinite credit that he maintained his basic values and humanity. The green recruits who came after the combat soldiers went home were the real horor.