“ I don’t mind saying that I am sick of the whole mess….”
World War II area photograph of US Marine Corps (USMC) Major (MAJ), John L. Smith,
taken February 1943. MAJ Smith was awarded the Medal of Honor
and is an Ace Pilot credited with 19 kills.
Wikipedia Public Domain
On 30 September, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, flew to Guadalcanal checking on the results of what I’m incapable of summarizing for you, but I’m immediately going to refer you here to No Ordinary John Smith | Naval History Magazine – August 2012 Volume 26, Number 4 (usni.org) because this article is the best I have ever seen to describe Major Smith’s actions in WWII. However, it was during that trip when Adm. Nimitz awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross to Major Smith and two others. To understand why he deserved it, you must read what I just published for you.
John Smith, born in 1914, once the leading American fighter ace of World War II, downed 19 enemy planes during the first horrific weeks of the Battle of Guadalcanal. Two months later, in 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented him with the Medal of Honor at the White House. Why don’t we just say, Major Smith was always earning honors, awards, citations, stars, and medals stemming from his higher education and in the air, for his “meritorious conduct,” it was called.
On October 5th of 1942, Major John Smith wrote to his wife:
An Admiral pinned the Navy Cross on me the other morning. I am proud to get it, except that they think that it is good payment for seeing young pilots who are sharing my tent go down in flames day after day. I don’t mind saying that I am sick of the whole mess. . . . All my love to you, John
Major Smith remained in service after WWII and was deployed to the Korean conflict in July 1953 as an air-group commander. The article spoke about how he assisted refugee children dislocated after the shooting stopped. He also began spending more time with his own three children when he was stationed at Quantico, Virginia.
In later years, he suffered from chronic depression, was treated for this malady, and was institutionalized for a number of years. And on June 9, 1972, he passed away after committing suicide. Major Smith could not cope anymore with what he had seen and done in WWII. He is not alone.
I decided to do a little research. One article claimed about 70% of all veterans who committed suicide (a 1914 report) were age 50 or older. This is according to the Veterans Affairs Department. And this is claimed to be double the rate for the same age group for a nonveteran community. Tracking these rates is considered unreliable, but the VA estimates that 22 veterans commit suicide every day. That’s about 8,030 every year, and more than 5,540 age 50 or older.
Advocates for veterans say the older veterans feel America has forgotten them, that they don’t remember the sacrifices they made. Recently I received a genuinely nice endorsement for my book, The WWII Chain Letter Gang, in this regard. Please, let me take this opportunity to have you read it now:
Lynne Attardi’s book is sure to be loved by veterans and military history enthusiasts, as one might expect; but I also suspect it will be very accessible to a wider audience given the intimacy of the primary sources used and the way they humanize the characters in the story. I’m always thinking of students, in particular, and how they might relate to texts. Today, it’s not unusual for me to stand in front of a class where not one student even knows a veteran. Yet, the students are the leaders of tomorrow, who will be voting for politicians who determine policies that impact our active-duty military and veterans. They may even serve in office themselves. It’s imperative they understand the sacrifices of those who serve. It can be difficult to get these students to relate to traditional “bullets and beans,” military histories – but with a book like The WWII Chain Gang, that problem disappears, and we are all better for it.
MELISSA ZIOBRO, Curator
Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music
Director of Public History
Monmouth University, Department of History and Anthropology