[AAACE-NLA] A Veteran's Day Message

[tsticht@znet.com]

Colleagues: The following note is being sent early so those who wish to can
use it as is or in an edited form in their November newsletters or for
sending to elected officials and other policymakers or funders as a way of
keeping adult literacy education in mind.
Tom Sticht


A Message for Veteran’s Day November 11, 2006

Love and Liberty Bridged by Literacy:
Remembering Literacy Students
and Their Teachers During World War II

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Literacy

On Veteran’s Day November 11, 2006 we remember those who have fallen in wars
to protect the liberty and freedom that we all enjoy. In homes, churches,
and graveyards special ceremonies will bring back memories of loved ones
who died serving their country.

But while tributes to special groups will be given - the battalions of the
Army, the battle groups of the Navy, the nurses who saved the lives of some
while crying for the loss of others - one group of service members will go
largely unnoticed and unappreciated. Indeed, they were unwanted to begin
with, and only employed when the demands for fighters at the front became
so great that the military had to use them. They are the men who were
called to duty and were unable to read and write, and in many cases they
were not able to speak or understand the English language.

In his history of the Army Training of Illiterates in World War II, Samuel
Goldberg provides an in-depth discussion of the Special Training Units that
the Army put into operation to teach young soldiers how to read, write, and
speak the English language. He also talks about how much servicemen and
their families appreciated the military’s literacy work.

Writing in the July 1943 issue of "Our War", a newspaper for the literacy
students of World War II, Private Porfirio C. Gutierrez wrote: "This is my
first letter in English. I have learned to read and write so that I can
help protect our country."

A mother of a soldier wrote [in original spellings and punctuation]: "dear
sir: I thank you all for Learning My child to read and wright I don’t Know
how to thank you all Because My child did not know nothing it is realy high
apprishated Because I did not have the time to send him to school I did not
have no husband I raised him from a Baby By my self and now I am in my old
stage and that is all my help and I thank you and I thank you when you
wrote me and siad My Boy did that I was so glad I did not Know what to do
and I realy appreshated it. Very truly Yours, M___ W___"

Examples of letter writing were incorporated into the instructional
materials. In "Our War"  for January 1944, the fictional Private Pete wrote
a letter saying: "Dear Mom: 
 I know what I am working for in this war. I
want everyone to be able to go to
any church he chooses. I want everyone to have enough to eat. I want to be
able to say what I think without being afraid. I want the right to do what
I like. But I want to do the right thing
" Love, Pete.

Further examples of the deep appreciation that newly literate soldiers and
their families had for their literacy and language lessons and their
teachers appear in a 1998 MA thesis by Marston Mischlich. He tells about
the work of Private Arthur Neumann whose job was to teach illiterate and
non-English speaking soldiers to read and write in the Army’s Special
Training Unit in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He writes, "Not only did this
educational training add value to the soldiers for their units, it also
built their self-esteem." He gives an example of how important the Special
Training Unit’s efforts were in a short letter which showed how important
the schooling was to families of the soldiers:

"Dear Son George:
Mother was so proud to get your letter, to think you could write a letter
yourself. I will always keep it as a remembrance. God bless the man that
taught you. It means so much to me to hear directly from you.""

Mischlick continues, "The soldiers were also grateful. One soldier wrote a
poem expressing his and probably many other men’s feelings about being
given the opportunity to gain an education.

SOLDIER AND TEACHER
These men are soldiers, too
Fighting the selfsame cause
Men who did not go to school
They reason not, nor pause.

These men who come from every state
>From farm and mill and mining camp,
Somewhat illiterate, somewhat shy,
Are learning now of writer’s cramp.

For there are other jobs in war
Besides the fighting and foray;
Like teaching school to soldier lads
Who will return to home someday.

They question not the how or why
But stanchly (sic) take the task assigned
This is their country, this their land,
Teacher and soldier, with but one mind. "

All told, the Army taught over a quarter million young men to read, write,
and speak the English language during World War II. No one knows how many
of these new literates fell at the fronts during the war. But they were
there, and so were many of their teachers. On Veterans Day, we remember
these special troops whose teaching helped make possible the love in
letters written and the warmth of letters read. In times of war, literacy
forges the link between the love of families and the liberty of nations.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (6190 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net