History May Not Repeat, But Do Generations?

ROTC Graduates

Vicksburg, May 22 1863

USS Zeilin. burial service off Tarawa, Nov, 16 1943

Generations

The debate over history repeating itself has been the fodder for historians and pundits of all stripes since the earliest records were kept. The recent interest in looking at history from a more social aspect has given rise to examine the influence that a generational cohort group may have had on the course of human civilization. Seventeen years ago, a book was published that traced the generation cycle through American history and into the future. Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 by Neil Howe and William Strauss, has become a sort of Rosetta stone for defining generational characteristics.

Thomas Barnett author of Great Powers: America and the World After Bush, has used the theme of generational patterns in three of his successful books to illustrate how the failures of some generations to lead with vision will pass to introduce the next generation that will be instilled with the traits that propelled this country forward in the past, to achieve the next great rung on the ladder of civilization.

My cruising of the blogs today uncovered this revealing post on Tom Ricks Foreign Policy Blog where he writes about a new phenomenon that is being seen on the campuses of top universities.

It immediately brought to mind themes I had read in Howe and Strauss and Tom Barnett's books and in my own study of American history.

Ricks begins:

After I spoke at Princeton the other night, I was surprised by the stream of young men who came up to told me that they are joining the Marines or Army after graduation.

On reflection, I shouldn't have been, because lately I've been noticing this phenomenon of graduates of elite universities going into the military. This isn't a tidal wave, or even a fad, but I think a steady self-selection.

Read more:

From Ivy League to olive drab

In a short and insightful post, Ricks has pulled at a thread that caused me to think back to my own families past history when a generation of young men, would step forward to take up the banner to serve their country. Working backward, my father, Jay B. Wade, joined the Navy at 17, the day after Pearl Harbor and served in the Pacific, taking part in operations that stretched from Guadalcanal, to the Aleutians, back to Tarawa and after a short break, on to the final day off the coast of Japan. A Thanksgiving Tribute to my Dad and Tribute continued: My father wasn't an Ivy League college boy, far from it he had dropped out of high school to help support his siblings after their mother died. What possessed him to join? He was only 17 and needed his father's permission, but he went willingly and as he later related. "It was the right thing to do."

Looking back further in time, I am reminded of two great uncles whom took up the cause of preserving the Union and ending slavery in the Civil War. One, Sgt. John Campbell, joined the 77th Illinois Infantry and fell on the ramparts of Vicksburg May 22, 1863. His brother William upon learning of his brothers death, left home to find out what happened and joined the 2nd Illinois Artillery in New Orleans, to fulfill his brother's commitment. Ironically, they were part of a reactive generation whose traits in youth were marked with rebelliousness, perhaps an insight on the level of our brutal self inflicted Civil War that saw kin kill kin in a savage fury that would not be seen again until the summer of 1914.

ILLINOIS CIVIL WAR DETAIL REPORT

Name
CAMPBELL, JOHN F
Rank
SGT
Company
A
Unit
77 IL US INF
Residence
PEORIA, PEORIA CO, IL
Age
22
Height
5' 8
Hair
LIGHT
Eyes
BLUE
Complexion
DARK
Marital Status
SINGLE
Occupation
FARMER
Nativity
PEORIA, PEORIA CO, IL
Service Record
Joined When
AUG 7, 1862
Joined Where
PEORIA, IL
Joined By Whom
M V HOTCHKISS
Period
3 YRS
Muster In
SEP 2, 1862
Muster In Where
PEORIA, IL
Remarks
KILLED IN CHARGE ON ENEMY'S WORKS AT VICKSBURG MISS MAY 22, 1863

.

Name
CAMPBELL, WILLIAM W
Rank
JR 1LT
Company
A
Unit
2 IL US L ART
Residence
PEORIA, PEORIA CO, IL
Age
26
Service Record
Joined When
DEC 16, 1863
Joined Where
NEW ORLEANS, LA
Joined By Whom
MAJ MALONEY
Period
3 YRS
Muster In
DEC 16, 1863
Muster In Where
NEW ORLEANS, LA
Muster Out
JUL 27, 1865
Muster Out Where
SPRINGFIELD, IL
Muster Out By Whom
CPT HALL
Remarks
COMMISSIONED CAPTAIN BUT NOT MUSTERED

American history is filled with stories of millions of young men and women who found pride and purpose in assuming a civic responsibility. We seemed to be blessed with such a generation again as those born in what has been defined as the Echo Boomers seem to be instilled with many of the characteristics possessed by their grandparents of the G.I. Generation.