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BostonUniStudent t1_iy21tfk wrote

I met Zinn on campus at UMass Lowell many years ago. I was much younger. Still in high school. He gave me some great life advice.

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Difficult-Ad3518 t1_iy2vc50 wrote

What did he say?

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BostonUniStudent t1_iy381xt wrote

First, he discouraged me from joining the Army. Which I took under advisement and still joined. He had a lot of regret about his time in the service.

Second, I thought maybe there was something fishy about the way senator wellstone had died in a mysterious plane accident right after being one of the lone voices of dissent against the war in Iraq. Zinn understood what I meant. Kind of sighed. The road to conspiracy theories used to be more left-oriented. CIA crack theories, World Bank, etc. He explained that there's enough to worry about that we have confirmation is real. There is a lot above the water to fix first. We can worry about the rest of the iceberg after working on the tip.

Lastly, he gave me some follow-up book recommendations and recommended law. I wound up going to BU and finishing law school recently.

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Cal__Trask t1_iy3ewnu wrote

Pure curiosity; was his advice about the army correct in your case?

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BostonUniStudent t1_iy3fase wrote

It was hard for me at the time to understand why he would regret fighting the Nazis. But I think he just had a natural aversion to civilian deaths.

I don't regret my time serving. I don't think I had to do anything regrettable. I have friends who did though.

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I_Am_U t1_iy4d24c wrote

> It was hard for me at the time to understand why he would regret fighting the Nazis.

In mid-April 1945, the war in Europe was essentially over. Everyone knew it was ending, but Howard Zinn was still ordered to fire bomb the Germans stationed near Royan, France. It was the first use of napalm in warfare actually. His actions wound up burning most of the French men, women, and children in the town to death. This badly traumatized him and likely explains his reluctance to encourage people to fight for the military.

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josef_k___ OP t1_iy4fu32 wrote

"Jellied gasoline" they told the bombardiers it was (napalm, they basically just wanted to test it out)

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