Abstract
First World War-based ex-servicemen's organisations faced an ‘existential crisis’ with the emergence of the Second World War. That another war broke out just 20 years after the previous conflict had concluded, and that it involved so many of the same actors, challenged veterans’ understandings of the war they had fought between 1914 and 1918. Moreover, it cast doubt on the relevance and significance of the veterans and their organisations as the world once again fought a war that, due to their generation's sacrifices, was not supposed to be possible. Furthermore, another generation of veterans would be added to the ranks of those who had survived the previous conflagration.
This book builds on previous scholarship which has chartered the development of the British and American Legions. Graham Wootton, Brian Harding and Adrian Gregory have written about the British Legion's history and place in national remembrance activities. Work on the American Legion has been done by Thomas Rumer, William Pencak and Christopher Griffin. With this book, Garber offers the first comparative study of the two Legions. Focusing on the monthly periodicals that were published by each Legion – the British Legion Journal and the American Legion Magazine – this book draws on a rich seam of material that charts the discourses of the two organisations. The wealth of information contained in these publications is considerable; with news articles, editorials, short stories, local announcements, advertisements and illustrations, the re-evaluation of veterans’ concepts of previous and current events can be seen very clearly. This allows Garber to show how the British and American Legions adapted existing narratives of the previous conflict in their understandings of, and attitudes towards, the new worldwide conflagration. However, Garber recognises that these publications speak mainly to the experiences of white, male veterans. Those who served in the Imperial British forces are mainly absent from the British Legion Journal, and African American veterans are rarely mentioned in the American Legion Magazine. While the British Legion did have a Women's Section, and the American Legion Auxiliary enlisted the help of female relatives in their activities, female and non-white veterans continue to await a historian who can fully explore concepts and questions of gender and race, as well as class, in the activities and discourses of veterans’ organisations.
Veterans’ concepts of the relationship between the past, present and future were challenged as the Second World War forced them to renegotiate the meanings assigned to these conflicts while the latter was actually happening. Garber underlines that the book is charting the Legions’ responses in ‘real time’. This is a useful term to describe how she charts the ways in which contemporaries processed the events throughout the years 1938–1946, emphasising the uncertainties of events and the Legions’ reactions to them as they occurred. This lends the book a more complete understanding of First World War memory at the time of the Second World War, not from sources produced after 1945, seeking to avoid the distortions of history, experience and memory. The focus on ‘banal commemoration’ – prioritising the mundane references in everyday life over the ‘flashpoint’ approach taken by most studies of post-war memory – underlines the value of this more granular ‘real time’ approach.
The book is organised into three parts around a comparative framework. Within each of those three parts there are two main chapters, each one separately assessing the British and American Legions, with a few pages to conclude each part. Part I investigates how the Legions’ veterans discussed concepts of duty and service in the growing shadow of the approaching Second World War. While the British Legion was predominantly keen to keep the peace between 1938 and 1939, the American Legion had more time to consider its position before the United States’ formal entry into the war in December 1941. Garber highlights that, as the war was seen to be approaching in 1938, the meaning of the First World War was not entirely settled among the men who fought it and those who wished to commemorate it. Part II looks at trans-generational comradeship in both Legions during the first two years of each combatants’ involvement in the fighting. The decision to admit Second World War veterans into the Legions required fundamental changes to the charters of both organisations to ensure that the memories and the men of both conflicts were included. The similarities and differences between national wartime narratives are closely observed. For example, the re-enlisted First World War veteran featured prominently in American Legion discourses, while his British counterpart is rarely mentioned by the British Legion. This is due to the British Legion's need to distinguish ex-servicemen from the civilian population, a task complicated in the Second World War by the involvement of British veterans in the Home Guard. The third part examines how each Legion discussed the social contract and post-war planning, from being ‘one war’ to ‘two war’ organisations. Distinct national differences regarding the treatment of war veterans, particularly over pensions and post-war employment, are important points discussed.
This book is a welcome addition to the study of both world wars. It offers valuable insights into the ways in which veterans were treated in two major combatant countries before, during and after a war which they had previously fought to prevent. The utilitarianism of the comparative approach is useful in highlighting the similarities but more so the differences between British and American attitudes towards their veterans, and of the ways in which the Legions responded and adapted to the events of the Second World War. As such, this book has signposted future avenues of research for historians, particularly in relation to race and gender, and it should be on the reading lists of all scholars seeking to enrich their understanding of the two world wars.