 | 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry: WWII History of the 14th with the 71st Infantry Division |  |
Excerpted from
"THE RIGHT OF THE LINE"
14TH INFANTRY REGIMENT NEWSPAPER
published in "ON GUARD" by Gerald McMahon, 1990
"I and E"
"What We’ve Been Doing"
During the past seven weeks the Information-Education program, as carried on in all companies of the Regiment, has touched on many things, on redeployment and on occupation, on the war in this theater and the war in the Pacific, on the record of our allies and on the problems of peace.
It was not by chance, but by deliberate War Department order, that the first topic we considered was of personal interest. That was "Redeployment and Readjustment," better known as "Two Down and One to Go." We saw a motion picture by that title. Yank, Stars & Stripes, Army Talks, and clippings and letters from home made us familiar with the main points of that subject. We saw some of our friends depart for home and we knew that the program was in action.
As members of the "Farthest-East 71st," we reviewed the "ETO Record" from D-Day to V-E Day. We learned what it had actually required to defeat Nazi Germany. In our discussions we recalled what other members of the team have done to cleanse Europe of a rotten political system.
The third week we took up "Pacific Round-Up." With the aid of the map, "Your War in the Pacific," we saw what has been going on on the other side of the world. And we have read the news dispatches from Okinawa, Borneo, the Philippines, Burma, and China and kept up-to-date on the Pacific news.
Appropriately, as we ourselves returned to Germany from Austria, the topic for the fourth week was "Our Job in Germany." The four main objectives of occupation are: 1) Destroy German militarism; 2) Root out Nazism; 3) Help create a condition where there will be a "hope for a decent life" for the Germans; 4) Eliminate or control German war potential.
"The Record of Our Allies" was the subject two weeks ago. We have known all along that we were not fighting the Axis alone and a review of what our Allies have done was wise. V-E Day was reached only through the united efforts of Great Britain, France, Russia, and the United States, and all the other allies.
Last week we discussed a topic that is vital to all of us, "Building a Peaceful World." We have won Part I of World War II. Even before Part II is brought to conclusion, it is imperative that we make plans for a world at peace in the future. The San Francisco Conference and the meetings of United Nations leaders which preceded it have shown the way toward peace. They have outlined a blueprint for peace. It is up to us, "We the people," to see that that blueprint is used and that the peace is maintained.
Note: All of the articles ran from July 45 through February of 46 when the 14th
was attached to the 9th Div. and the 14ths newspaper died from atrophy when
the entire staff derosed back to
Conus.
Bob Wilson