Re: Gold star in the window

On Apr 29, 12:43 am, Opry phantom <xanthus...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Apr 28, 5:01 pm, "John Dean" <john-d...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've been re-reading Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. In 'The Crossing' I
came across a reference to the hero drifting through northern Texas and New
Mexico in 1945 and the quote that "... there was hardly a ranchhouse in all
of that country that did not have a gold star in the window."
Research online suggests that the gold star signified the death of a family
member in the services during the war.
I'm a little surprised that he suggests so many places had suffered a death
in service. The USA, like the UK, had less than 1 per cent of the population
killed in the services in WW2 so I'd expect well over 90% of the houses
*not* to have a gold star. Or was there some special reason why casualties
were greater in that part of the USA?
--
John Dean
Oxford

Guess what segment of society usually get the lion's share of
casualties?

In the USA the casualties were quite evenly distributed among the
population, except that blacks were not allowed in the front lines.
They were truck drivers, etc. So blacks suffered a lower casualty
rate and earned no Medal of Honor. OK, political correctness cause
Clinton to award 6 to black WWII servicemen. I will not comment on
whether they were "earned".

GFH

.

Relevant Pages

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