** World War II -- mascots








World War II: Mascots


Figure 1.--Here we see an Italian boy adopted by U.S. soldiers and smuggled back to America when they returned home. The men look happy, but at the time this photograph was taken, they expected to be redeployed to the Pacific for the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. Italian mascots were very common because the United States was involved in battle there for nearly 2 years, beginning with the invaion of Sicily (July 1943). In contrast fighting in France was for the most part limited to only a few months and reltively few children were separated from their parents. The press caption read, "Troops bring Italian boy mascot home with them: Natale Kesic, 13, blond and blue-eyed Italian boy mascot of troops who brought him aboard ship in a barracks bag is surrounded by his pals at Commonwealth Pier today before he was taken in by Immigration officers. Soldiers of Co. L 21st Infanty, nicknamed the orphan Lad Chris and said they found him in a German POW camp where he was sent for killing a NAZI officer who abused him." The photograph was taken July 11, 1945. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find any further information about Natale. An Italian reader tells us, "Natale is an Italian name. Kesic could be a Slovenian family name. In north-eastern Italy (provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Udine) there is an Italian Slovenian-speaking minority. And the Italian Army occupied part of Slovenia during the War." Click the image for a fuller discussion.

The term mascot is most usully used to describe animals adopted by World War II soldiers. These were nostly, but not exclusively dogs. Virtually all armies had them, affected by popular attitudes toward animals in each combatant country. These mascots were different than the animals used in the war effort. Rather the animal mascots were pers to comfor the soldietrs. They were generally discouraged by commanders, but the desire of the men was so strong that this was difficult to enforce in practice. World War II was a massive cataclism that affected virtually every part of the world in on way or another. And because of the intensity of the War and the genocidal policies of German and other Axis nations, many more civilians than combatant were killed. While children were the most vulnerable, in mny cases it was the parents who were killed or transported for forced labor. As a result, Europe and Asia were awash with tens of thousands of orphaned children in desperate need. The soldiers who waged the war could not help but be affected by the plight of civilans. This was less true of the Axis countries because of the racist policies of their Governments and goals of destroying whole nation states and policies of ethnic cleansings. Some of the children, always boys, attached themselves to groups of soldiers. This was discouraged by higher command, but it did occur. There were several instances of this. We know more about the U.S. Army that other armies. It was most noted in Italy, but there wew mny examples in the Pacofic. There was also some noted mascots adopted by the Germans, mostly children they believed to be ethnic Germans. There were before the War, German minoritie scatterd all over Eastern Europe. A few of these children were actually Jews.

Animals

The term mascot is most usully used to describe animals adopted by World War II soldiers. These were nostly, but not exclusively dogs. Virtually all armies had them, affected by popular attitudes toward animals in each combatant country. A related topic is pets on the home front. This of course affected tge pets the men adopted overseas. These mascots were different than the animals used in the war effort. Rather the animal mascots were pets to comfort the soldiers. They were generally discouraged by commanders, but the desire of the men was so strong that this was difficult to enforce in practice. The fact that the men were away from home and separated from friends and fmilies only increased the desire to keep a pet.

Children

World War II was a massive cataclism that affected virtually every part of the world in on way or another. And because of the intensity of the War and the genocidal policies of German and other Axis nations, many more civilians than combatant were killed. While children were the most vulnerable, in mny cases it was the parents who were killed or transported for forced labor. As a result, Europe and Asia were awash with tens of thousands of orphaned children in desperate need. The soldiers who waged the war could not help but be affected by the plight of civilans. This was less true of the Axis countries because of the racist policies of their Governments and goals of destroying whole nation states and policies of ethnic cleansings. Some of the children, always boys, attached themselves to groups of soldiers. This was discouraged by higher command, but it did occur. There were several instances of this. We know more about the U.S. Army that other armies. It was most noted in Italy, probably the United States beginning wuth the invasion of Sicily (July 1943) was committed in Italy for nearly 2 years. This did not occur in France, probanly because combst operations were confimed primarily to 3 months and few French children were separated from their parents and a French Government was quickly organized by DeGualle. (During World War I, men of the American Expeditionsry Force which spent more than a year in France adopted a number of French boys.) There were also many examples of this among U.S. servicemen serving in the Paific. There was also some noted mascots adopted by the Germans, mostly children they believed to be ethnic Germans. One of the most famous World War II was a Jewish boy taken in by a Latvian working for the Germans. hile Axis soldiers took in mascots as well, there were differences beteen the Allied and Axis mascots. The Axis soldiers tended to taken in people like themselves, such as ethnic Germans in the East. There were before the War, substantial German minorities scatterd all over Eastern Europe. There was some sympathy for the Germans, eoecially in the Baltics and Ukraine. We note several examples of boys attaching thenselves to the Germans from the photographic record compiled by Germnan soldiers. A few of these children were actually Jews. One example was a Latvian boy. The American soldiers took in local boys which some times were very different ethnically such as the boys in the Pcific.After the War there was a desire of many of the men if the children cold not be reunited with family to adopt them and bring them home. The Italian boy here is a good example (figure 1). There were movies made on this subject. The best known is 'Europa, Europa' (1990). An American film and comic strip was 'Dondi'.






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Created: 7:59 AM 6/26/2012
Last updated: 6:30 PM 6/27/2012