My mom tells me of how, when she was a teenager in 1937, she observed first hand, (while visiting in Berlin), the creepy sight of Hitler Youth “sieg-ing Heil” by the thousands in homage to Hitler and the Third Reich. She also said that America was still fairly isolationist prior to Pearl Harbor, and that there were actual anti-war demonstrations even after we had been attacked. History bears this out, and the odd mix of socialists, labor movement organizers, communists, pacifists and other “ists” that coalesced into campus demonstrators were, for awhile, a loud voice in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s.
However, at the same time, another voice, that of Frank Capra, (who produced It’s A Wonderful Life), joined with others at the behest of the US government, and produced a 7-hour documentary entitled Why We Fight. It was produced in conjunction with Walt Disney Studios, and took footage of battles, enemy propaganda films, speeches given by Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo, captured enemy films, and numbers of interviews to educate both the American soldier as well as the American public in regard to what we were facing.
Capra had a burning mission statement and challenge: “Let the enemy prove to our soldiers the enormity of his cause-and the justness of ours.” His statement is so brilliant I can hardly take it in, and it proves that once upon a time, if only for a moment, there was a government, a military, a people and an entertainment industry that came together and that would stop at nothing to prevent fascism from becoming the global order of the day. Would to God that were the case in 2015.
Fast-forward 70 years, and we are slitting our own throats with our pens and iPads. We can’t say there is a global jihadist threat, we are told to redefine the attack at Ft. Hood and the beheading of a woman in Oklahoma as examples of workplace violence, and that we deserved as well as planned 9/11, as insane as that sounds. ISIS has gone so far as to tell us that the filmed beheadings of Westerners are an act of mercy, because they prove ISIS is serious, will prevail, and is kindly offering us the chance to surrender in order to decrease the shedding of blood.
While I was in Iraq, Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 was allowed to be viewed by our soldiers if they so desired, and most of them found it laughable. A push-back film called Faren-hype 9/11 exposed its untruths and was far more popular. But nothing has ever been produced that begins to approximate the scope of Why We Fight, and thankfully, it can still be seen.
While in Israel, I spent a good chunk of time with World Net Daily co-founder Joseph Farah, and learned of several projects that are currently being produced by WND, and about which I am excited. They have made it possible for this classic to be seen again, and I am grateful. I have no doubt it will be seven hours well spent, and while I know that the vast majority of those who live in Athens need no reminder of what was accomplished for us by the Greatest Generation, we still have a responsibility to mentally arm our soldiers, our kids and ourselves with the truth of who we were, and who we can become again. For under $25 you can get an education that is priceless and without peer in its forthrightness and refreshing patriotism. For more information on how to purchase the 4 DVD re-mastered version of Why We Fight, go to WNDsuperstore.com.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
