Untold History of the United States

[Gawdzilla Sama]

How much WWII time in the classroom is devoted to Oz?

[JimC]

How much WWII time in the classroom is devoted to Oz?

It's certainly a component, it is definitely taught in the secondary history course. Not being a history teacher, I'm not sure of the % time given.

It is emphasised as a turning point in our change from reliance on Britain, towards a relationship with the US...

[tattuchu]

I guess that Seabass's point was that you, and a significant chunk of America, do not share the "white cowboy hat" view of the US, Tatt...

My impression is that it's not a significant chunk but more like a small minority.
We are the good guys, by the way. Or at least we're supposed to be. We ought to be. It really bothers me when I found out we're not. And even finding out we're not is difficult, what with all the flags waving in my face

You mean the small minority that voted Obama into the White House to...... stop torture, bring the troops home, close Guantanamo, etc?

Honestly, I think you have a very distorted and pessimistic view of American society.

I think I have a very realistic view. Even in liberal Massachusetts, you have to be very goddamn careful what you say and to whom regarding politics. There are a whole lot of blindly patriotic flag wavers here.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

How much WWII time in the classroom is devoted to Oz?

It's certainly a component, it is definitely taught in the secondary history course. Not being a history teacher, I'm not sure of the % time given.

It is emphasised as a turning point in our change from reliance on Britain, towards a relationship with the US...

I'm betting a good chunk of time is devoted to Oz's participation. As I said above, no different from most of the countries that fought. A friend of mine in Brazil is being supported by the government as he accumulates information on Brazilian contributions to the defeat of the Axis. And that's an interesting story in itself.

[tattuchu]

I guess that Seabass's point was that you, and a significant chunk of America, do not share the "white cowboy hat" view of the US, Tatt...

My impression is that it's not a significant chunk but more like a small minority.
We are the good guys, by the way. Or at least we're supposed to be. We ought to be. It really bothers me when I found out we're not. And even finding out we're not is difficult, what with all the flags waving in my face

I'm really meaning people who are not "boosters" for the US, who can see many examples of things where the US was at fault, while still appreciating many other aspects of your way of life. Those who unthinkingly accept the "US can do no wrong" premise are not a majority, I would hope...

They are the overwhelming majority, at least from my personal experience.

How much WWII time in the classroom is devoted to Oz?

It's certainly a component, it is definitely taught in the secondary history course. Not being a history teacher, I'm not sure of the % time given.

It is emphasised as a turning point in our change from reliance on Britain, towards a relationship with the US...

What relationship? We don't even know you fools are down there, down there on the wrong end of the world
No but seriously, we never even give Australia a second thought. Or a first thought for that matter

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The story of the Kokoda Trail and the CBI is not given much time in the US.

[JimC]

Tattuchu wrote:

What relationship? We don't even know you fools are down there, down there on the wrong end of the world
No but seriously, we never even give Australia a second thought. Or a first thought for that matter

Not true, Tatt. MacArthur came here straight from the Philippines, and had his HQ here for a long while. Lots of US servicemen were based here too, and Yanks and Aussies fought together in part of the Papuan campaign, some very bloody battles indeed (e.g.. Buna, bloody Buna...)

[tattuchu]

The story of the Kokoda Trail and the CBI is not given much time in the US.

The what and the what, now?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The story of the Kokoda Trail and the CBI is not given much time in the US.

The what and the what, now?

Green hells.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Tat, find the movie "Cockleshell Heroes".

[tattuchu]

Tattuchu wrote:

What relationship? We don't even know you fools are down there, down there on the wrong end of the world
No but seriously, we never even give Australia a second thought. Or a first thought for that matter

Not true, Tatt. MacArthur came here straight from the Philippines, and had his HQ here for a long while. Lots of US servicemen were based here too, and Yanks and Aussies fought together in part of the Papuan campaign, some very bloody battles indeed (e.g.. Buna, bloody Buna...)

MacArthur was in the Philippines? And, seriously, I ain't never heard of any of those battles. If Yanks fought alongside of you, God bless them. But I've never heard anything about that ever

[tattuchu]

Tat, find the movie "Cockleshell Heroes".

Hells bells. I looked on my shelf with all my other DVDs but I didn't see nuthin there? Should it be there? Where do you reckon it went?

[pErvinalia]

The textbook isn't the most important part. The curricula is. There is no such thing as Australian exceptionalism in our curricula. There's no such phenomenon in our society, outside John Howard's and a couple of his lib buddies heads.

Not in the US league, sure, but I think you're underestimating it...

Fair enough. My personal experience isn't that we are like that. There's certainly the bogan element here, like we saw at the Cronulla riots; but that's a different phenomenon.

[pErvinalia]

Tat, find the movie "Cockleshell Heroes".

Hells bells. I looked on my shelf with all my other DVDs but I didn't see nuthin there? Should it be there? Where do you reckon it went?

But in all seriousness, it's not really surprising that little is known in the US about our involvements and battles together. They are only a very small part of your history, but a much larger part of ours. From our perspective the Aussie and US troops and particularly the "fuzzy wuzzy angels" in PNG saved our bacon. Our government/military planners had drawn up a 'line in the sand' called the "Brisbane Line". Anything to the north of that was going to be left undefended against the Japanese. We were going to take our stand from Brisbane down. It was that close!

[JimC]

Tat, find the movie "Cockleshell Heroes".

Hells bells. I looked on my shelf with all my other DVDs but I didn't see nuthin there? Should it be there? Where do you reckon it went?

But in all seriousness, it's not really surprising that little is known in the US about our involvements and battles together. They are only a very small part of your history, but a much larger part of ours. From our perspective the Aussie and US troops and particularly the "fuzzy wuzzy angels" in PNG saved our bacon. Our government/military planners had drawn up a 'line in the sand' called the "Brisbane Line". Anything to the north of that was going to be left undefended against the Japanese. We were going to take our stand from Brisbane down. It was that close!

My dad spent part of the war (after returning from the middle east) camouflaging gun positions along the Queensland coast, preparing for an invasion that never came...

(in his spare time he built fish traps, and did fancy tricks with a .22 target pistol in the mess...)