You know — we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by read more

You know — we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being fought by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that the wars were fought by babies. When I saw those freashly shaved faces, it was a shock. 'My God, my God —' I said to myself, 'it's the Children's Crusade.'

There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have read more

There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come.

There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it.

There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it.

Carry on, carry on, for the men and boys are gone,
But the furrow shan't lie fallow while the read more

Carry on, carry on, for the men and boys are gone,
But the furrow shan't lie fallow while the women carry on.

No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.

No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to read more

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.

She is a wall of brass;
You shall not pass! You shall not pass!
Spring up like read more

She is a wall of brass;
You shall not pass! You shall not pass!
Spring up like Summer grass,
Surge at her, mass on mass,
Still shall you break like glass,
Splinter and break like shivered glass,
But pass?
You shall not pass!

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

The history of those who shed those other tears, the history of those anonymous millions, is what Terkel wants readers read more

The history of those who shed those other tears, the history of those anonymous millions, is what Terkel wants readers and listeners to come away with. What's it like to be that goofy little soldier, scared stiff, with his bayonet aimed at Christ? What's it like to have been a woman in a defense-plant job during World War II? What's it like to be a kid at the front lines? It's all funny and tragic at the same time.