Texas And Texans In World War Ii

Texans in World War II offers an informative look at the challenges and changes faced by Texans on the home front during the Second World War. This collection of essays by leading scholars of Texas history covers topics from the African American and Tejano experience to organized labor, from the expanding opportunities for women to the importance of oil and agriculture. Texans in World War II makes local the frequently studied social history of wartime, bringing it home to Texas. An eye-opening read for Texans eager to learn more about this defining era in their state’s history, this book will also prove deeply informative for scholars, students, and general readers seeking detailed, definitive information about World War II and its implications for daily life, economic growth, and social and political change in the Lone Star State.

Several years ago, while writing the entry for Texas in World War II for the "New Handbook of Texas," Ralph Wooster was struck by the fact that no overall study of Texas and Texans in the second world war had been written. While a number of articles and monographs have been published concerning individual Texans and groups of Texans (such as the 36th Division and the "Lost Battalion"), he could find no published work that covered the activities of all Texans both at home and abroad during the war. Since his military service 50 years ago, Wooster has continued to be interested in the second world war. While his primary historical specialization is the American Civil War, he has taught a course on World War II for nearly 40 years. Writing the essay for Texas in World War II for the "New Handbook of Texas" convinced him to do a book on the subject. The book is dedicated to the American men and women who fought in the war. They are truly the great generation to whom we owe a debt that can never be repaid.

Within a few hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans began mobilizing for war. And in Texas, Governor Coke Stevenson denounced the ?cowardly Japanese attack? and issued a plea for a united country, calling upon all Texans to rally behind state and national leaders. Support for a united front was widespread. Thousands of Texans rushed to recruiting stations to offer their services in the great struggle. Stevenson had predicted that Texans would respond enthusiastically to defend their country. Young Texans proved him correct. By the end of January 1942, 148,004 Texans were in the armed forces, nearly two-thirds of them volunteers. This is their story.

Texas made a remarkable contribution to the American war effort during World War II . Almost 830,000 Texans, including 12,000 women, donned uniforms, and more than 23,000 Texas fighting men died for their country. America's most decorated soldier, Lt. Audie Murphy, and most decorated sailor, submarine commander Sam Dealey, both were Texans. Texas A&M, an all-male military college, placed 20,000 men in the armed forces, of which 14,000 were officers--more than any other school in the nation, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe, was born in Denison in northeast Texas. Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, was born and raised in Texas. Almost 1.5 million soldiers, sailors, and fliers trained at scores of Texas bases. Texas oil fueled the Allied war effort, while Texas shipyards and defense plants provided a flood of war machines and munitions during the war effort.

For more than forty years the Institute for Oral History at Baylor University has dutifully gathered the flesh-and-blood memories of the World War II generation in the state of Texas. Tattooed on My Soul brings together seventeen of the most compelling narratives from Baylor’s extensive collection of more than five thousand interviews. Taken together, these selections provide an authentic and powerful mosaic of those critical years and offer intimate glimpses into the reality and meaning of the war for those who fought it. For them, World War II is more than history. And when they tell their stories, it becomes more than facts and dates, victories and defeats for those who listen. Representing a cross-section of Texas’ population and a wide range of wartime assignments, these recollections reveal the personal perspectives on many events and figures of World War II. On land, in air, and by sea, in the Pacific and in Europe, they fought for America’s future. With the clear ring of authenticity and a surprising immediacy, even after all these years, their stories make a global war personal.

Beginning with tribal wars among Native Americans before Europeans settled Texas and continuing through the Civil War, the soil of what would become the Lone Star State has frequently been stained by the blood of those contesting for control of its resources. In subsequent years and continuing to the present, its citizens have often taken up arms beyond its borders in pursuit of political values and national defense. Although historians have studied the role of the state and its people in war for well over a century, a wealth of topics remain that deserve greater attention: Tejanos in World War II, the common Texas soldier’s interaction with foreign enemies, the perception of Texas warriors throughout the world, the role of religion among Texans who fight or contemplate fighting, controversial paramilitary groups in Texas, the role and effects of Texans’ ethnicity, culture, and gender during wartime, to name a few. In Texans at War, fourteen scholars provide new studies, perspectives, and historiographies to extend the understanding of this important field. One of the largest collections of original scholarship on this topic to date, Texans and War will stimulate useful conversation and research among historians, students, and interested general readers. In addition, the breadth and originality of its contributions provide a solid overview of emerging perspectives on the military history and historiography of Texas and the region. Partial listing of CONTENTS Introduction Alexander Mendoza and Charles David Grear PART I. Texans Fighting through Time: Thematic Topics 1. The Indian Wars of Texas: A Lipan Apache Perspective p. 17 Thomas A Britten 2. Tejanos at War: A History of Mexican Texans in American Wars Alexander Mendoza 3. Texas Women at War p. 69 Melanie A Kirkland 4. The Influence of War and Military Service on African Texans p. 97 Alwyn Barr 5. The Patriot-Warrior Mystique: John S. Brooks, Walter P. Lane, Samuel H. Walker, and the Adventurous Quest for Renown p. 113 Jimmy L. Bryan Jr. 6. "All Eyes of Texas Are on Comal County": German Texans' Loyalty during the Civil War and World War I p. 133 Charles David Grear PART II. Wars in Texas History: Chronological Conflicts 7. Between Imperial Warfare: Crossing of the Smuggling Frontierand Transatlantic Commerce on the Louisiana-Texas Borderlands, 1754–1785 p. 157 Francis X. Galan8. The Mexican-American War: Reflections on an Overlooked Conflict p. 178 Kendall Milton9. The Prolonged War: Texans Struggle to Win the Civil Warduring Reconstruction p.196 Kenneth W. Howell 10. The Texas lmmunes in the Spanish-American War p. 213 James M. McCaffrey 11. Surveillance on the Border: American Intelligence andthe Tejano Community during World War I p. 227 Jose A. Ramirez 12. Texan Prisoners of the Japanese: A Study in Survival p. 248 Kelly E. Crager 13. Lyndon B. Johnson's Bitch of a War: An Antiwar Essay p. 269 James M. Smallwood 14. Black Paradox in the Age of Terrorism: Military Patriotismor Higher Education p. 283 Ronald E. GoodwinIndex p. 301

Texans share their memories of what it was like to be alive during World War II.