How did the experience of gay Americans serving in World War ll compare to that of other minority groups?
1 Answer
The experience of gay soldiers in WWII.
Explanation:
Being gay in America at the time of WWII was quite a dangerous thing to do. Most people who were gay at the time kept it quiet and didn't say anything about it. There was a news story recently about a gay soldier who wrote letters to his boyfriend while serving in WWII. I think the collection of around 300 letters are in a museum now.
If a soldier was captured by Nazi Germany and they found out the soldiers was gay, then they were usually sent to a concentration camps instead of a POW camp. And if they were found out to be gay by their own military (depending on which country they served) there were some cases of them being shot, as homosexuality was illegal.
I don't know of any soldier who was openly gay and fought in the military along with heterosexuals without any repercussions or segregations. Today we have found letters and correspondences that show there were gay soldiers, but they kept it quiet.
Maybe other contributors can find something that I couldn't.
