Summary: Children On The Battlefield

Soldier Boys is a novel by Dean Hughes. The story takes place during World War II and tells the story of two teenagers, one American (Spencer Morgan), the other German (Dieter Hendrick), who join their respective armies and fight at the Battle of the Bulge to show their parents that they can do it. Both the boy's families are saddened by their leaving, and have many things in common. Both have a playful little brother and some sisters, as well as concerned parents. When Spencer helps an enemy back to his battalion he dies but Dieter will never forget how he tried to save him.

These past three weeks I read a book called Teens at War by Allan Zullo. This book is about teens who sign up for the military, risking their lives for their country. We hear multiple stories of these teens. Some of these teens are underage and some of them are not. This makes some of the stories more interesting than the others.

The title of my book is A Boy At War which is a novel of Pearl Harbor. The author of my book is Harry Mazer. The setting of A Boy At War was located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The time period of the book was December 7, 1941 and around the attack on Pearl Harbor. The main characters in this book is Adam Pelko, His father Emory Pelko, Marilyn Pelko, and Bea Pelko. Adam is a high school student, a military kid, good at sports, lives in New York, and has dark hair. Adam's father is Emory who is a Lieutenant commander of the Navy who is assigned to the ship Arizona. Adams mother who is Marilyn is a navy wife and is Adam and Bea's mom. Another character is Bea who is Adam's little sister. The summary of the book is that Adam meets a new friend named Davi

In the article, “In a war, children without a childhood,” by Los Angeles Times, the central idea was that children lose their innocence because they lost their childhood. For example, many children lost their childhood because they’ve watched their parents become victims of murder. According to the article, “Children have seen their parents killed and watched as boys and girls just like them were hurt.” Well, when children see their parents get killed, they tend to grow up with brutal, aggressive tendencies, which causes them to lose their innocence. In addition to being orphaned, children will grow up making mature, adult decisions, also causing them to lose their youth. In conclusion, when children lose their childhood, they lose their

The article “Children of War”, by Arthur Brice, is about several children who had to flee the war in Bosnia and immigrate to the U.S. First of all, these children’s lives before the war were comfortable. However, many kids were affected by the war in Bosnia. In the process of fleeing, these children lost their family, friends, and homes. After being a refugee in Croatia for a long period of time, some of these children were able to relocate to the U.S. Here in America, these children have a good education. Also, they have an opportunity to live a better life away from the harshness of war. Still, these kids miss their friends, family, and country that they left behind. Although these kids are living in the United States right now, they

Boys between the ages of 18 and 25 have to register with the U.S. Selective Service. You have to fill out a FAFSA application form and certify it and either be a U.S. Citizen, or have

The continental army had boys at 10 years of age assisting the patriot cause along with elderly men. At first George Washington did not want elderly, Negroes, or children in his rank would succumb due to “new recruits urgently needed and numbers of free blacks wanting to serve, he would change his mind and in a landmark general order authorize their enlistment” (Mccullough 37). The Patriot cause was deeply undermanned and was forced to recruit the rabble of society without objection due to the lack of support the colonies provided to the revolutionary

Many inspired and encouraged the young boys to join the army as drummer boys. These drummer boys were all under 18 and too young to be considered men, but still members of the army. They were officially said to have never partaken in any battles, but many felt compelled to toward the end of the war as Union soldiers invaded the South (Articles). All young children attended school and were taught to have massive amounts of patriotism by their teachers, being the main reason they were all so eager to take part in the fight

Bang! Bang! “At that instant several gunshots, which sounded like thunder striking the tin-roofed houses, took over town. The sound of guns was so terrifying it confused everyone” (Beah 23). In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah conveys his amazing journey through war and hardship as a child soldier. Sierra Leone--a country on the western coast of Africa--was embroiled in a bloody civil war in the 1990’s. Battles multiplied as bloodshed abounded and as a child, Ishmael Beah was forced to survive, find food, and face unimaginable dangers. Running from the battle front was also a routine ordeal. At age 13 Beah was captured by the military and brainwashed into using guns and drugs. As a child soldier, he perpetrated and witnessed a great deal of violence. At 15 he was rescued and taken to a rehabilitation center. With time and continual treatment, Beah was able to recover, to some extent, and reconnect with his Uncle Tommy, who adopted him. He was later chosen to speak to the United Nations in New York City about his experiences as a child soldier. When he returned to Sierra Leone, war broke out throughout the city where he lived, causing many deaths including his Uncle Tommy. Eventually Beah escaped Sierra Leone and managed to reach New York City, where he began a new life. Through the book A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah conveys a central theme of having to survive, at a young age, through the hardships of war with the use of imagery.

A prominent theme in A Long Way Gone is about the loss of innocence from the involvement in the war. A Long Way Gone is the memoir of a young boy, Ishmael Beah, wanders in Sierra Leone who struggles for survival. Hoping to survive, he ended up raiding villages from the rebels and killing everyone. One theme in A long Way Gone is that war give innocent people the lust for revenge, destroys childhood and war became part of their daily life.

Imagine being stuck in a civil war crisis all by yourself when you were 12 years old. In A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, an 12 year old , Ishmael Beah, becomes a soldier for the government to fight against the rebels. Beah lost both of his parents during the war. He was eventually put into rehabilitation after two years of fighting. Also, in an biography of John Clem, John joined the army as same age as Beah. John joined the army during the civil war in the United States. These two kids fought in a civil war at an age 12. Anyone can do anything even if you are too young because these two kids fought in a civil war.

Children exposed to violence within their communities are left with emotions of hopelessness, insecurity, and doubt. Historical events such as the war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tragic events of September 11th have had a detrimental effect on the entire nation, including the children. Although every child is not directly affected by the aspects of war, it somehow has an emotional effect on all. The involvement of a nation with war affects every individual differently, whether it is out of fear, anger, doubt, hope, or love. In the short novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he narrates the story by telling his own involvement in the Civil War in Sierra Leone as young boy and the many issues he faces while living in

The actions of the child soldiers usually are not decided by the child, but rather by a general or commander. When the child is told to do something they succumb and act on the plan because they are still children. As an adult, though, soldiers have the state of mind to evaluate the situation, and decide what would be best for their country; and them. Child soldiers are raised in an environment of severe violence, experience it, and subsequently often commit cruelties and atrocities of the worst kind. This repeated exposure to chronic and traumatic stress during development leaves the children with mental and related physical ill-health, notably PTSD and severe personality changes. Such exposure also deprives the child from a normal and healthy development into society as a fully functioning member. Pertinent Laws of War anonymously state that the enlistment, recruitment, use, and/or deployment of child soldiers under the age of 15 are actions that are war crimes according to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. These two guiding, international instruments have even been advanced by the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which states a ‘straight 18’ approach to recruitment in the 2002 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The 1990 African Charter on the Rights

Throughout the world children younger than 18 are being enlisted into the armed forces to fight while suffering through multiple abuses from their commanders. Children living in areas and countries that are at war are

Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game shows what our society would be like if the