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

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