unemployed primitive writing novel about World War II

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6780045

Oh my.

A PoP with literary aspirations:

Lerkfish  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-15-09 07:50 AM
Original message
 
any WWII veterans or their families? I have a question

don't know if this is the right forum or if anyone knows.

Since I've been unemployed since Dec., with nothing to do with myself besides endlessly applying for jobs I don't get, thought I"d try to write a novel.

I have an idea, but I need a technical questions resolved before I plunge ahead.

I want one of my characters, a soldier, to have lost a limb (arm, leg) and need to find a job so he becomes a janitor.

This is important to the plot, but is it logical in that time (I'm 50, so I don't know)?

I need to know if:

1. he would or would not receive money from the govt. to support him (like benefits of some kind) and if he did, and would it really be enough to live on?

2. if he went everday to reenlist, would they politely but firmly refuse or would they offer him instead some sort of job (desk work, etc.) even though he was 4F?

thanks in advance.

I want the character to find himself HAVING to become a janitor (nothing wrong with being a janitor, but I need him to be a janitor in a specific place to witness something).

I want the character to feel like he wants to continue serving the country but is frustrated, either through the recruitment requirements or something personal.

If you know, or if a relative of yours might, please ask them. All of my relatives of about that same age have passed.

sarge43  (1000+ posts)      Thu Oct-15-09 08:23 AM
Response to Original message
 
1. Did he lose the limb in combat or service related accident?

If so, then he be entitled to med care from VA, artificial limb, physical therapy, etc. He'd probably get a full medical discharge which give him his base pay which depending upon rank and time in service wouldn't be much -- put food on the table is all. For example during WWII a buck private made about $30 a month. My starting pay early sixties was about $100 a month. So at best he'd probably be getting 50 to 70 bucks a month from Uncle.

If he lost the limb post service, he'd still be entitled to VA bennies, all honorably discharged vets are, but not base pay. He might get a little something from Social Security, certainly not enough to live on.

And no way he could reenlist. Frankly unless he'd totally lost his grip on reality he'd know this. Go for something personal.

Lerkfish  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-15-09 09:38 AM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. thanks, this is great... one clarification

yeah, I want him to lose a limb in service related.

sarge43  (1000+ posts)      Thu Oct-15-09 01:34 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
5. Happy to help

Unless it'll be a key plot point, you won't have to go into detail. Suffice to say he'd be receiving a small stipend and gov't med care.

Lerkfish  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-15-09 02:12 PM
Response to Reply #5
 
6. not in of itself its not a big plot point, only to make him need a job on top of benefits

so that he takes the janitorial job and is in the right place at the right time.

sarge43  (1000+ posts)      Thu Oct-15-09 02:47 PM
Response to Reply #6
 
8. Well, keep us posted on progress. Sounds like an interesting story.

One more point on back story: As his motivation is a job to keep body and soul together, then as noted, his stipend from Uncle was pegged on rank and length of service. So he was a lower grade enlisted, at best private first class, to keep the pay low end. I'm assuming Army here, WWII or Korean War era.

Lerkfish  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-15-09 03:03 PM
Response to Reply #8
 
11. would the same rules apply if he was, say, a bombardier in the air force?

I would think a pilot would be higher paying, or what would be the lowest paying air force WWII person that would have seen at least some time in flight?

sarge43  (1000+ posts)      Thu Oct-15-09 03:29 PM
Response to Reply #11
 
13. The only enlisted on WWII bombers were the gunners (not sure about radio man, anyone?)

The rest of the crew, pilots, navigators, bombardiers were officers.

A gunner on a B-17 would be a good choice. Newly assigned PFC or corporal, if he was with the 8th Air Force in England, just about certain he'd earn a Purple Heart. And good possibility of a non-combat accident on or off the ground - combat aircrew, definitely not the safest way to make minimum wage.

For the record, during WWII it was Army Air Force (AAF). The USAF came on line as a separate branch in 1947.

southernyankeebelle (607 posts)      Thu Oct-15-09 09:47 AM
Response to Original message
 
3. Back in those days I am sure if he lost a limb during combat than he would get some type of disability payments. I would suggest you contact the nearest military post commander's office,and ask to speak with the PR person and I am sure they can tell you where to go find that kind of information. Also go to your nearest Veterans of Foreign War Clubs. Look in your local phone books.

The banal anal primitive:

annabanana  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-15-09 09:55 AM
Response to Reply #3
 
4. He would also get GI benefits, which would pay tuition for College. 

If he could get in.

And then the primitives suggest, unwittingly, a classic Ronald Reagan movie.

[Karin]

Well good luck to him and his writing, and it was nice of Sarge to help out. 

Do you think a lefty can write effectively in the WWII historical period?  The philosophy pervading the country was much different than they get in their echo chambers. 

[docstew]

I would think he would want to do objective research on this, and leaven those facts with input from vets, but that would be the way I would do it if writing a novel set before I was born.

Problems just with what I skimmed there: There was no DOD, no VA, prosthetics were primitive.  PFC's were not gunners on bombers, at least they didn't stay that rank long.  There is a well documented story of a SSG offering to trade jobs, rank and all, with a corporal infantryman.  When the infantryman finds out the SSG is a gunner on a -17, he says "go to hell"

[GOBUCKS]

This book would be an instant DUmp classic, if it were ever written. The most important ingredient is that the author apparently knows nothing whatever about his subject. He's asking a bunch of halfwit DUmp lunatics the most fundamental, elementary questions about his proposed subject matter, it's hilarious! This guy has gotta be dumber than stevenumbers!

DUmmy Mythsaje is a pre-eminent authority on shape-shifting, time-travelling, paranormal vampire sex criminals, and his books are still unintentionally comical. As bad as Mythsaje is, DUmmy Lerkfish has a mountain to climb before he'll reach the Mythsaje level of incompetence. He should consider including a chapter of line drawings for coloring.

[The Village Idiot]

Well good luck to him and his writing, and it was nice of Sarge to help out. 

Do you think a lefty can write effectively in the WWII historical period?  The philosophy pervading the country was much different than they get in their echo chambers. 

I hope the dummie doesn't use todays prices on items or has the internet operating during WW2 or something equally as stupid.

Maybe the character joins an anti-war group and protests "the evil war of choice and conquest"

[DumbAss Tanker]

I would think he would want to do objective research on this, and leaven those facts with input from vets, but that would be the way I would do it if writing a novel set before I was born.

Problems just with what I skimmed there: There was no DOD, no VA, prosthetics were primitive.  PFC's were not gunners on bombers, at least they didn't stay that rank long.  There is a well documented story of a SSG offering to trade jobs, rank and all, with a corporal infantryman.  When the infantryman finds out the SSG is a gunner on a -17, he says "go to hell"

Yeah, I believe the air gunner slots were mainly sergeants, though a new guy might be a corporal briefly.  Rank was done entirely differently in those days and technically distinguished between AUS vs. Regular rank, but you basically got the rank that went with the slot you were in, regardless of all the modern issues of time-in-grade, time-in-serve, serving in the next junior grade, etc.  The agency stuff does depend a lot on how long after the war he sets the tale, when the protagonist loses the limb, and how long he spends hospitalized and getting rehabbed afterward.

Sounds like it's on its way to becoming a DUmmie manifesto about 'And he became a stalwart dedicated Commie because Amerikkkan Capitalist pigs screwed him, hurrah for the Revolution!' 

[Chris_]

Well good luck to him and his writing, and it was nice of Sarge to help out. 

Do you think a lefty can write effectively in the WWII historical period?  The philosophy pervading the country was much different than they get in their echo chambers. 

The purpose of the book will be to show how WWII was the fault of the BFEE.

[thundley4]

The purpose of the book will be to show how WWII was the fault of the BFEE.

His janitor will be working at a bank that Grandpa * operated for the Nazis.

[crockspot]

The purpose of the book will be to show how WWII was the fault of the BFEE.

While using his peg-leg prosthetic mop to clean the School Book Depository, our hero witnesses Poppi Bush showing Lee Harvey Oswald a corner window...

[GOBUCKS]

While using his peg-leg prosthetic mop to clean the School Book Depository, our hero witnesses Poppi Bush showing Lee Harvey Oswald a corner window...

More likely that Oswald will show Poppi Bush the corner window.
And then a description of the failed plan to implode the School Book Depository, but with valuable lessons learned for use in a later operation.