

War is not the heroic battlefield that many people believe it to be. Our society has been misled by propaganda and various other forms of media such as movies and TV shows to perceive war as a playground where every soldier is a hero. This does not allow society to understand the danger and tragedies that are present in combat that are vital to know in order to understand the hardships of history so that better choices may be made in the future. The poems "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" and "Dulce et Decorum Est" attempt to illustrate the horrific truths of war that media hides by depicting scenes of terror with the use of strong imagery. It is important to initially view these poems separately to fully understand each poem's specific meaning due to their differences in time periods and settings.

"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Randall Jarrell is a five-line poem that is a compact war narrative. It has a specific story arc that begins with birth, extends to life, and then ends with death (Bay 31). This format simplifies the idea of war by turning it into a system which begins in the same place and ends with the same outcome regardless of the extent of the life taking place in between. The poem uses one of the most terrifying situations you could find yourself in during World War II to illustrate the cycle of war, hanging under a B-17 Flying Fortress in Ball Turret. This is one of the many places in combat media doesn't show due to its extreme conditions and very low chance of survivability. The turret is a plexiglass ball that sites beneath a bomber housing two fifty-caliber machine guns and one man. There is no room to move around, the gunner must be bent over at all times. As the narrator of the poem states, "And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze." (Jarrell 2). It is clear that not only is this location vulnerable, it is unpleasant and difficult to maintain. Because of its misunderstanding of war, society may wonder why this position exist if it is so impossible to manage. A well-educated mind that is not influenced by the lies of media would know that although the mission of a bomber is easy in concept, the reality is far from it. Raids would include hundreds of bombers attacking a single target such as a city or military base in a strategy known as "carpet bombing." The danger came from the defensive maneuvers of the enemies in the case Germany. Although the bombers flew high to avoid anti-air fire from the ground, flak cannons were still able to reach them and acted as a deterrent to proceed. The flax would be fired into the air and set to explode around the bombers disrupting their paths and potentially causing them to miss targets. If that is not enough, fighter planes would be sent to intercept the bombers before they reached their targets. Although Allied escorts were flown to protect the bombers, they fighters did not have the range that the bombers did and could not carry them the entire length of their mission, leaving them vulnerable at times. The only thing protecting bombers when flying unescorted were each plane's own turret gunners. Here, the success of the mission could solely depend on the ability of a single gunner. The history behind military combat is important to understand in order to fully comprehend the poem and its concise yet clear representation of the horrors of battle that media leaves out.

Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" depicts one of the most common occurrences in a trench during World War I, being attack with mustard gas in the trenches. Similarly to the horrors of fighting in a ball turret, media did not capture the true experience of surviving a gas attack. According to Live Science, "mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical agent that causes severe burning of the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract (Palermo). First used in World War I, the gas incapacitates victims by causing the body to blister and deteriorate over a twelve to twenty-four hour period after exposure. The poem illustrates a group fighting in the trenches that must react quickly when being confronted with this horrible gas face-to-face. News reports may assure the country back home that their soldiers are protected from this chemical due to their life-saving gas masks, however not only did the masks not filter out the gas completely, it was a common to see men not affix theirs in time. As the poem illuminates, "But someone still was yelling out and stumbling / And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime ...  / Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, / As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In this gruesome stanza, the narrator watches a companion losing his life to the destruction of the gas." (Owen 12-14). He compares what he saw to watching someone burn alive, truly an emotionally painful sight. This sadly average day in the life of the trenches is forgotten about by the world, except for the narrator. He vigorously says, "In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He Plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. (Owen 15-16). The poem very plainly shows the horrors of the war and the effects on the soldiers who survive it. These painfully upsetting realisms are not broadcasted accurately to those not affected by it, allowing for misconceptions about the war and its participants. 

Both of these poems provide specific examples of the gruesome realities that are present in war. The ball turret gunner and men surviving the gas attack represent all of the horrific possibilities that come from fighting a war. Although they differ in time periods, there are many existing similarities such as the always possible manifestation of death. In both poems, the men involved must either overcome the presence of death, or succumb to it. In "Dulce et Decorum Est" the narrator must experience first-hand the agonizing death that must gas offers. He then must live his entire life haunted by this sight and never is free of it. The gunner in "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" does not have the same fate. Instead of being haunted by the devastation of war, he is a victim of it himself. He illustrates this tragedy with a harsh visual depiction of the outcome, "When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose." (Jarrell 5). Some may call these men heroes, as if to free themselves of the horrifying thoughts that follow the realization of truth. However, the more likely truth is that these men did not die fighting for their country, but in a vulnerable state placed there by their own people. Because of this, these men did not have a chance to die fighting for their country. As the end of "Dulce et Decorum Est" explains:

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori. (Owen 25-28). 

Here, the narrator is telling the audience that if they only could see for themselves what lies in the battlefields of war, they would not support it as they do. The final two lines express the falsehood that, "it is sweet and glorious to die for one's country." (Owen 27-28).

Each of these poems expresses the true nature of war in a unique way with vivid imagery allowing the audience to attempt to understand the horrors of war. They illuminate the problems with how the masses of people not fighting view war incorrectly, such as media depicting every soldier as a hero. Although it is impossible to fully be aware of what exists within a battlefield, "The death of the Ball Turret Gunner" and "Dulce et Decorum Est" present an accurate representation while raising awareness of the mistaken views from back home. 

