A dark side of the "greatest generation"

From The secret war by David Wilson Guardian 03/27/07:

For the simple reality of both Marchant's film and Lilly's book is this: that young men - soldiers - who are given power over others, and have a structure surrounding them that closes ranks at the first sign of criticism, a structure which is, in turn, enclosed within a popular and political culture where members of the public want to invest in their father's or their brother's or their husband's decision to become a soldier and go to war with nobility and sacrifice are, in fact, the preconditions for abuse, torture and totalitarianism. As such, it is the duty of film-makers and historians and sociologists to expose that abuse - no matter how "noble" the individual soldier's sacrifice might seem.

Wilson is commenting on a book titled Taken by Force by Bob Lilly, first published in 2003 in France.

Tags: bob lilly, david wilson, second world war, taken by force, world war II