Cara’s Blog

A few things stuck out to me as similarities from previous texts. The first was Alvin York’s strong connection to his religion. Many times in his diary he wrote about praying, being saved, and the how he turned to God while he was at war. This reminded me of the accounts of Sam Watkins from CO. Aytch. Through out the text Watkins and York referred to God as a force that gave them faith even through the horrors of war that they witnessed. York seemed to be more deeply rooted in his faith than Watkins however. It seemed like every other diary entry made a reference to his faith. I would find if hard to keep my faith under the same circumstances.

I noticed that the term Citizen-soldier was used over and over again in the other reading. This is something that was first brought up around the Revolutionary War. I’ve also seen it referenced in newspapers from time to time. The “Doughboys” book referenced the civil war several times, which I felt was important. The Civil War seemed to repeat too many mistakes that were made in the Revolution because it was not learned from. For WWI people like President Wilson looked back on the previous great war to make more educated decisions to avoid issues such as desertion. If we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat it, which I think the people of this era realized.