"And can you say exactly when you remember?"
"Of course, I remember this well. It was 1947, and I remember that because I had just enlisted a few months ago, and was shocked as all hell when I realized I would be shipped to Germany from Nashville. I thought America would stay out of the War, but apparently I was just aiding the Brits, and not technically fighting the Germans, or whatever the Jack said."
"And what did you do there?"
"I was just there to sit out what I thought would be a few month tour before returning back to Meridith, but I was there for some 2 years until I heard it over the radio, 'Moscow has fallen", and we were all just.... dismissed? It was weird. And when I heard that Churchill signed a ceasefire, I was flabbergasted. The Germans... just won? Of course President Dewey never said that, but everyone knew it. I mean Moscow was now collapsed, and a fuckin' Nazi flag was raised over Red Square. And Stalin was dead, so it's not like he could be there to fight against this. It was so bizarre."
"And how was Europe when you first enlisted?"
"Well it was no more than a month after all of those French rebels were massacred and all of the contiguous French land was occupied. This was like February, 1947, of course. I kinda knew I was in for a long tour when I heard how far the Germans advanced. After Barbarossa failed in '41, I didn't think the krauts would do it again, but they did. They got the Urals and actually held it this time around, of course, that was, I think, '49 or 1950, it was all a blur, because I remember I was rushing to pack my stuff, because Patton just walked in with his cap off, and said "y'all are dismissed, there's nothing left for us here." and we were all scrambling about before the last plane left London."
"And how did you feel when you got back home?"
"Terrible. I mean basically all of Europe except for Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Britain had fallen to Germany, and we had fought for absolutely nothing. When I was leaving, our plane took a detour into Italy for refuelling, because we couldn't fly over German airspace, and the Italians were a bit friendlier. And so I took some time to check out Naples, and it was like an alien world. When I was a kid, Naples looked so magical when my family would take trips on occasion. It was just a place packed with military police when I looked around on our stop."
"And what do you think of Europe after your tour?"
"Well when I got back in 1950, the only thing I heard about was Hitler dying, apparently he overdosed on an amphetamine, and I heard the new chancellor, something like Bormann I think his name was, was a real hard ass, and started banning crosses, Bibles, and dismantling churches. You know, you could always tell when a movie was shot in Germany, because everyone was always smiling, and everybody spoke with such bravado, nothing bad ever happened; I think it was mandated to make Germany look good. And when news got out that the Germans were genociding minorities, I think the world was shocked, or at least America was. But apparently they've been doing that since the early 40s, and we heard all about it in 1956. That was some controversy."
“How do you think America is doing now, after the war ended?”
“When the war ended, I think America was doing okay, being stable, and such. It was all rather precarious, because Dewey assured the press that this was not a loss in his State of the Union, but now we lost most of Europe, and had to trade with Germany via Italy as a middleman, because their government didn’t hate America. I mean that was evident when Mussolini flew over to meet with some guys in Washington. I mean, and nobody would trade with America in Europe except for Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the UK. Shipping was so expensive, especially for goods within Europe. I think this was because of Italian prices.”
“What were your thoughts on the war?”
“Well, I never supported it, and I was glad America was kept out of it, but I can’t say we won, although it was repeated ad nauseum by the generals that we never joined the war, technically, and so we never technically lost anything. I mean it was very obvious people hadn’t felt optimistic afterwards. I mean when Eisenhower tried getting the Republican nomination, it was almost a laughable endeavor because, but that’s probably why Nixon was elected in ‘56. Nobody trusted Dems after Truman sent Americans to Europe after promising he wouldn’t, then playing these semantic games about “a special military operation”, and still being technically neutral. I mean everybody called him “collaborator”, for being associated with FDR, though this is a bit of a misnomer, as even FDR wasn’t a collaborator, Mussolini just liked his New Deal, but it’s obvious FDR didn’t reciprocate the admiration, although Truman was a bit more diplomatic with Italy, despite Italy being allied to the Germans.”
"And what do you think of Nixon, and those who label him a 'fascist collaborator'?"
"I think Nixon is just a pragmatist. When he visited Peking in 1957, I can't say he wasn't without sympathy, more like empathy to Japan's economic post-war harships, but it is very obvious he thinks of the Japanese Empire as a potential trade ally now that Tojo is dead, and Ushijima is the prime minister. I personally see it as something positive when Nixon visits places like Italian East Africa, Japanese Chosen, and such, as it means America is just a little less isolated. I mean the UK doesn't have much left, only really holding British East Africa, but even that is only nominally British, because their local leaders support the Italians. Basically, the last remnants of Britain are the Raj, Canada, and the British Caribbean, so I think it is good when the US diversifies."