American Soldiers preparing to land in Nazi-Collaborationist French North Africa, in America's first major involvement in the European Theatre in World War 2 (November 1942)
American Soldiers preparing to land in Nazi-Collaborationist French North Africa, in America's first major involvement in the European Theatre in World War 2 (November 1942)
Technically called the european theatre but more like the european-north african-middleeastern theater.
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The soldier at the focal point in this picture looks like a child, no older than 15.
If you zoom in they all look so young. They are all basically kids. And in a couple hours a good chunk of them will have been killed/disabled for life and/or done the same to another human.
War is a terrible thing. Entire generations of teens and men are lost. It's why Putin's war is unbelievably wasteful. There was no reason to fight, he just did it to keep unrest down. People like him are monsters.
People like him are monsters.
Hear hear.
True, but that guy in particular looks ridiculously young. If I was just seeing his face I'd assume he was 11 or 12.
Yeah I listened and started studying the faces. I dont like what I saw. I'm pretty sure I'm older than many of the dudes in this picture (at the time it was taken) and I'm not that old.
Trust me, it only gets more tragic as you age.
He's a corporal, so he's been in the Army a few years. He's probably 22 years old, unless he was an Eagle Scout before joining, then he might be 19, since Eagle Scouts get an automatic PFC rank after basic. So he's somewhere between 19-22, he just has a baby face. The average age of US soldiers in WWII was 26 years old, but skewed younger as the war dragged on. These men would have been between 17 years old (with parental consent) and their late 20's.
I'd say I'm relieved but not really. Thank you for the information nonetheless. That is definitely a baby face if I ever seen one but the man has a soldier's record.
I like that you're bringing facts into this, but that still seems fuckin young. Maybe I'm just getting old though
I felt like I had it all figured out when I was 19 in the Army. It wasn't until a few years later that I realized I didn't know shit. These men are young, kids really, but it doesn't feel appropriate to call them boys considering everything they've done to get into this picture, and everything they did after it was taken. They had the weight of the world thrust upon them, and they shouldered it like men.
How does the corporal stand to the others in the picture?
Here you go. They're listed in ascending order, left to right, top to bottom. The only exception is Specialist and Corporal. Those are both E4 rank. The difference depends on if the job is combat arms, or not. Corporal is combat arms, specialist is not. The guy with the armband that has a visible M on it is Military Police. They have ranks, but they're considered outside of the hierarchy while on duty, which is essential for them to be able to effectively do their jobs. That's why his armband covers his rank.