In October, 1941, the usS. Reuben James, a destroyer engaged in convoy responsibility within the North Atlantic, was sunk by a torpedo from a Nazi U-boat. Nearly 100 American sailors had been killed on this assault.
When the acclaimed folksinger Woody Guthrie, maybe finest recognized for his tune, This Land is Your Land, heard of what occurred he was impressed by the names reported as casualties. To Guthrie, these names mirrored the extraordinary panoply of people that made up our nation and fought to guard it. He wrote a tune to honor the fallen and to acknowledge and name out the various identities of the completely different teams that had come to the US and now served in our army. Guthrie’s first model of the tune included the precise names of the casualties. He revised it to seize the generic connection between the fallen and their quite a few communities who shared their background and ancestry.
Guthrie wrote partially,
“Have you ever heard of a ship referred to as the great Reuben James
Manned by arduous combating males each of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free
However tonight she’s in her grave on the backside of the ocean.”
Refrain:
TELL ME WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES, TELL ME WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES,
DID YOU HAVE A FRIEND ON THE GOOD REUBEN JAMES?
“Now tonight there are lights in our nation so vivid
Within the farms and within the cities they’re telling of the combat.
And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding primary
And bear in mind the identify of the great Reuben James.”
Refrain:
TELL ME WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES, TELL ME WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES,
DID YOU HAVE A FRIEND ON THE GOOD REUBEN JAMES?
Guthrie’s tune is only one instance of many extolling what many Individuals thought-about a particular energy and advantage of the US, the range of our individuals. As we speak, that recognition is usually dismissed as a part of “woke” tradition and DEI applications. However American appreciation of the ethnic, racial, and spiritual range of the US existed lengthy earlier than anybody had heard of the phrase “woke.” And we lose one thing of true worth and an necessary a part of our historical past if our range is universally ignored, and even worse, condemned in all circumstances.
The message of this 80-year-old tune isn’t ambiguous. It’s an ode to the marvel and energy of America’s range—with particular recognition of range within the army. But as we speak one would possibly marvel if a songbook containing the lyrics of the Reuben James might be saved on the cabinets in some faculty libraries or included in authorities web sites.
For some Individuals, range, even within the army, is rejected out of hand as a discredited thought which contributes nothing to the energy of our nation. Do we actually imagine that? Was the decision to “Inform me … their names” a ineffective and divisive assertion? Or was it a tribute to our range and to what distinguished America from the Nazi regime we might be combating in World Struggle II?
Only a cursory evaluate of our army historical past demonstrates what range has meant to our nation. The Irish Brigade was a heralded army unit in the course of the Civil Struggle. And the “Preventing 69th” regiment, initially a part of that brigade, fought in lots of different wars and nonetheless performs a outstanding function in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. The 442nd “Go For Broke” Regimental Fight Workforce, comprised overwhelmingly of Nisei (Japanese American) troopers, was essentially the most adorned unit of its dimension throughout World Struggle II. The Tuskegee Airmen had been African-American fighter and bomber pilots in World Struggle II who distinguished themselves in quite a few fight missions.
These ethnic items got here to army service out of a society deeply embedded with prejudice and discrimination. Discrimination towards the Irish mirrored in “No Irish Want Apply” indicators had been prevalent in 1860. The Japanese-American troopers within the 442 regiment and the African-American Tuskegee Airmen served in segregated items and confronted pervasive discrimination at residence. However they fought for our nation nonetheless.
Different international locations included completely different ethnic teams of their Armed Forces. Mostly, these had been mercenaries, or troopers recruited from colonial empires. The British employed Hessian mercenaries from Germany to attempt to suppress the American Revolution. Nice Britain raised troops from East Africa, the Kings African Rifles, and France recruited troops from its Morocco Protectorate. The US was completely different. Our forces had been various as a result of our army mirrored the range of our individuals.
Maybe essentially the most poignant expression of the worth we connect to range will be present in our nationwide cemeteries the place active-duty veterans are buried. The Nationwide Cemetery Administration gives virtually 80 completely different emblems of perception that could be positioned on the headstones of decedents. These embody the emblems of quite a few Christian denominations (together with the Latin Cross, Armenian Cross, Polish Nationwide Catholic Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Mormons, and Episcopalians), Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikh, Shinto, Atheists, Muslims, Druze, and plenty of others. Removed from being divisive, I counsel that extending this recognition to all of our honored lifeless respects each our range and our unity. Certainly, in an necessary sense it displays what the phrase “Solely in America” conveys.
I acknowledge that our dedication to range has typically been extra aspirational than actualized. And variety as a mandate has raised normative and authorized considerations. However these criticisms have their limits. The respect for range intrinsic to “Solely in America” has been a part of our heritage and a supply of our morale. No matter the professionals and cons of the cultural and authorized conflicts about DEI could also be, we are not looking for lose contact with this respect and dedication.
TELL ME WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES, TELL ME WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES,
DID YOU HAVE A FRIEND ON THE GOOD REUBEN JAMES?
