Author Close Encounters in War Journal

The Wounds of War. Thayer Greene: Concentration Camp Liberator, Chaplain and Psychoanalyst

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By Nick Grabbe

Thayer Greene in the late 2010s

Private Thayer Greene had just turned 19 when he entered the city of Nordhausen  as his regiment’s lead scout. It was 11th April 1945. He had already experienced the terror of enemy soldiers shooting at him, and on this day he would witness the horror of mass murder.

He expected to get machine-gunned at any moment. As he carefully entered the city, he saw a man coming toward him in a uniform he didn’t recognize. He raised his rifle, but lowered it after seeing no weapon. The man, a walking skeleton, approached, fell to his knees and kissed Greene’s feet. “Freiheit! Freiheit! Freiheit!” he cried. That’s German for “Freedom!”

Greene had stumbled on the site of a concentration camp that had been abandoned by German soldiers as the Allies advanced. At the time, American soldiers knew nothing about the camps that the Nazis had created all over Europe. When he died in 2022 at the age of 95, Thayer Greene was one of the last living liberators of concentration camps. When his fellow soldiers entered the camp at Nordhausen in central Germany, they encountered an estimated 1,300 bodies of prisoners who had been shot or starved to death…

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Book Review: “A Veteran’s Toughest Fight. Finding Peace After Vietnam”, by David T. Klein, Jefferson, McFarland, 2024

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By Gianluca Cinelli

A Yiddish proverb, as Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi recalls, says that it’s good to talk about bygone troubles. However, Yiddish culture can be profoundly ironic, and Primo Levi mastered the subtle art of understating. Troubles that one can tell belong in the past, yet they still linger on in the present as memories. Talking about bygone troubles is good because it means we saw them through. However, it does not mean that it is pleasant or easy. It takes courage and strength to face nightmarish and painful memories. Many of us remember the Ancient Mariner, who feels the compelling urge to stop people down the street and keep them listening to his guilt-ridden story full of horrors and fear. He acts like a madman, roaming the streets like an outcast, for he lives stuck in his haunting past and never finds his way back into society. The Ancient Mariner feels he must atone for his guilt of having killed the innocent albatross and survived in the place of his comrades, who died because of his hubris. Split as he is between past and present, the Ancient Mariner is no longer whole.

Talking about haunting memories is hard but necessary to lift their evil spell, as Edward Tick writes in the Foreword to this book by David T. Klein: “Warriors have their horrific ordeals and need their stories. Story is critical to warrior healing and restoration. To restore the warrior’s spirit, we must support her or him in ‘re-storying’. To disallow storytelling, as well-intentioned brief therapies do, is to betray the warrior by blocking necessary steps in their healing and homecoming” (p. 2).

Published by McFarland (McFarlandBooks.com)

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“The Most Urgent of Dispatches”: One Language by Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Sheffield, Smith|Doorstop Books, 2022

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By Sarah Montin

In his poem “Resistance”, written in March 2022, Simon Armitage draws on the collective memory of previous wars to comment on the recent Russian invasion in Ukraine. Quoting Philip Larkin’s celebrated “MXCXIV”, the Poet Laureate inscribes his response to the conflict in Ukraine in that eternal palimpsest that is war poetry:

It’s war again: a family
carries its family out of a pranged house
under a burning thatch.
The next scene smacks
of archive newsreel: platforms and trains
(never again, never again)

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Where is your Combat Zone?

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By Charles Aishi Blocher

I am a non-combat veteran who served in the American Air Force during the last few years of the Cold War in an atmosphere that was witnessing the “defeat” of the Soviet Union and the spread of democracy in Eastern Europe. I served at Vanderburg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California (now Space Forces Base), which test-launched nuclear ballistic missile systems. These tests were a simulation of what a typical missile launch would look like if completed in the field. That is, if the U.S. were to launch our nuclear weapons from an operational missile base.

A maintenance and logistical group prepared the launch facility for operational readiness to be launched by the missile crew. I was part of this extensive maintenance and logistical group. So, where was the combat zone? Where was mine? I suggest that the “combat zone” is not always out of the country and not necessarily in armed conflict but is determined by the organization and circumstances. In my case, it was Vandenberg Air Force Base where I was in direct contact with the test launching of the Minute Man III nuclear weapons system. This system was designed to destroy large cities and enemy bases, basically rendering the enemy no means of deploying their forces. However, when a nuclear weapon is launched, there will be no one left to govern nations or deploy any troops. So, was I in a combat situation? What about other supposed non-combatants who are exposed to combat dangers or consequences? What about those members of the military who have direct contact with deploying military troops to a combat zone or those who must receive the deceased troops? Where is their “combat zone?”

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War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers

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By Alan Beardsley

“War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” is a compelling personal narrative that offers an intimate glimpse into the life and experiences of Michael John Warrington Rogers during World War II. Spanning from the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, to the end of 1945 and the dropping of the atomic bombs, War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers entries chronicle the daily realities of war, from the grand strategic movements of the Allied forces to the personal struggles and moments of respite that defined his existence.

Through Mike Rogers’ eyes, readers are transported to the front lines of pivotal events such as the Dunkirk Evacuations, The Blitz and later in the War, the Battle of Normandy, the liberation of Paris, and the harrowing Battle of the Bulge. His reflections on the relentless V2 bombings and the bold, albeit ultimately unsuccessful, German Operations provide a vivid account of the war’s impact on civilians.

The accompanying website, www.wardiaryonline.com, serves as a digital archive and interactive platform where readers can explore additional content, including photographs, historical documents, and detailed maps. The website also invites contributions from those with connections to the events described, enriching the narrative with personal stories and memorabilia.

“War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” is more than just a historical document; it is a testament to the resilience and determination of individuals facing extraordinary circumstances. Through Mike Rogers’ detailed and poignant entries, “War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” offers a powerful and personal perspective on World War II, making it an essential addition to the study of personal narratives in wartime history.

“War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers” stands out for its raw, unfiltered portrayal of wartime life. The War Diary: The Diary of Mike Rogers project not only preserves the legacy of those who lived through these tumultuous times but also provides invaluable insights into the human condition under the pressures of war.

A Oral History Project: MemoGen

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The Legacy of the Second World War in the Memory of the Third Generation

Liberation of Bologna, April 1945 (Wikimedia – public domain)

We would like to share here with our readers the news about the launch of the MemoGen website.

MemoGen is a Oral History project aimed at collecting video interviews with people born in Italian families between the 1960s and the 1980s. The topic of the interviews is the legacy of the Second World War in Italian culture and society between 1945 and today.

A Short Guide to Successful Gardening in the Time of War

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By Olga Kornyushyna, in loving memory of Andriy Romanov, killed in action April 26, 2024

Courtesy by Olga Kornyushyna©

Between the day we received Olga’s story and today, the gardening company in Odessa mentioned in the text was destroyed during the Russian air strike on May 1, 2024. Thousands of plants and trees were burned, warehouses and offices destroyed. Luckily there were no casualties among the employees. The owners of the company released a video of the aftermath of the attack. 

Read A Short Guide to Successful Gardening in the Time of War

Book review: Deborah Rohan, “The Olive Grove. A Palestinian Story”, London & Berkeley, SAQI, 2008

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The Olive Grove by Deborah Rohan is a memoir of the Palestinian people told through multiple generations of the Moghrabi family and their friends and neighbors from 1913-1948, from the Ottoman through the British occupations and up through the Zionist invasions and the birth of modern Israel.

World history and great power politics put the Palestinians and the Jews in bloody conflict and collision since the world wars. Both peoples were denied adequate refuge, help or support by powers large and small. Both peoples were largely unwanted in the countries that voiced support for one or the other. Great powers gave little succor, first controlling their territories and governments, then forcing them into collision in the Holy Land so dear to both. This conflict, with only occasional abeyance but never a secure peace, has been raging for many decades. The present war is its latest horrific iteration.

Contemporary conditions make The Olive Grove an imperative read today.

Read the review by Edward Tick here

A testimony from the Ukrainian front: “Crimes” by Ivan Choopa

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Translated by Mariya Bahriy and Olga Kornyushyna

Ivan Choopa©

After each assault, the Russian occupiers would take a break from two to three days for pulling up the reserves, delivering more ammunition, and picking up their stiffs and wounded. The stiffs often remained unclaimed. The wounded would be picked up more often than not, but not on the regular basis.

If you caught this break, it was possible to daringly fuck around in the tree lines. The key was not to get too cheeky and keep out of the enemy’s line of sight. Or else.

Sometimes this moment of comfort came from our side as well. Then the silence was even scarier than hearing all those various bangs from both sides. On just such a day, we ventured into tree line number 18 with one aim only – to steal something…

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