GI Talk in WWII

Hi hdmdc - Welcome aboard. Could you be a bit more specific on your question? Are you trying to get a handle on manner of speaking (dialogue and slang), what was going on in the world the GI's would be interested in (pin-up girls, music), or what was going on in the war they'd be interested in? I suspect there are some good movies from the period that would help you a lot but it's to early in the morning for any to pop into my head. You could go to Amazon.com and search for WWII movies as a start. Puma

The same things GI's have talked about forever...the girl back home, what they're going to do when they get out, music, movies, how much they hated the Army.

I would get letters from my uncle with sketches he did of German tanks, airplanes, trains, and other things that were different than ours. He couldn't get postcards, so he did the same thing with drawings.

He had a macabre sense of humor regarding the horrors of war and it was reflected in his letters. After he came home, he said it was the only way to keep your sanity.

As in any war, soldiers developed a strong bond with their friends and he always talked about them, both in his letters from Germany and years later.

Have you at least watched the canonical WWII films? (Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Longest Day, etc, etc?) Read period newspapers, especially "Stars and Stripes"? How about WWII comics like Sgt. Rock, G.I. Combat, etc? Interviewed a veteran? If you're really starting from scratch on topics of conversation, slang, etc. then I can't see how you'll write this scene convincingly.

I still suggest some of the American movies made during or right after the war as one of your best resources. But - they'd talk about their pin-up girls, the most recent USO show, their girls back home, other enlisted men or officers, the price of cigarettes in the canteen, the terrible C rations or what they were served for dinner, the last movie they saw, the newest song on the hit parade (think it existed during the war), getting a car once they get back home (or the car they have back home), etc. People really don't change much in what they talk about. Puma

A few others have mentioned Band of Brothers. I'd recommend reading the book (and Citizen Soldiers, also by Stephen Ambrose). Ambrose used letters, memoirs and interviews with the actual soldiers for both projects.

Also...with the miniseries...watch it with the commentaries on. A lot of them feature the actual veterans who are being portrayed, and their thoughts and the way they talk would probably be invaluable for what you're aiming for.

Can't add more resource suggestions.

Although it's from the Civil War, I think the "War is 99% boredom and 1% terror" quote is applicable to WWII as well. Just after a battle, the conversation might be very different than after two or three days of marching toward an enemy who doesn't want to be found. It would also depend on the where and when of your platoon. Is it after D-day or during the Battle of the Bulge? Or have they been slogging toward Germany from Italy and North Africa? Summer? Winter? How many of the original group remains? and where are they from in the states?

Dad wasn't in Europe, but he served on a carrier in the Pacific from '43-'44. One thing I remember him saying, when we watched WWII movies together, is that he and his buddies didn't use the same quantity of what he called "blue language" during those times. It must've been rather jarring to him, or he wouldn't have commented on it. He just wasn't a motor mouth kind of man.

Of course, this is the same guy who cussed a blue streak in German, under extreme provocation, when I was just a toddler...so take the above with some salt.