Friday, March 22, 2013

Only One Regret


With Samuel Bean’s high school graduation occurring in the aftermath of what was then dubbed the Great War, the Oakland Tribune was quite ready to characterize Sam’s response to the draft as if it were an echo of those famous words attributed to the American Patriot, Nathan Hale. Among the accolades poured upon Sam in the May 11, 1919, article leading up to the graduation ceremonies, the Tribune observed:

“Sammy” Bean has only one regret in life. And that is that he was not able to fight for his country. His name was the first one called in Alameda county during the first draft and twice he was summoned for physical examination. Each visit resulted in the [keenest] disappointment to him.
Revisiting that actual Tribune report just after the draft’s first drawing, we see the article providing what was then the colloquial term for Sam’s malady:

Samuel W. Bean, the second man drawn, is disqualified physically from serving. He is deaf, dumb and blind.
Of course, since we know the rest of this saga, it’s quite obvious that Sam was not “dumb” in that era’s sense of the word, for he not only recited poetry—including his own—before public audiences, but later embarked on a speaking tour to promote his writings.

He was, however, disqualified from military service—as one would expect. The Alameda County draft board, in addition to having to deal with the “muchly married” situation noted in yesterday’s post, reported to the Tribune on August 16 that of the seventy-five names drawn, they were obliged to disqualify twelve men. Of those twelve names listed in the article, the very last name belonged to Sam Bean.

Remembering the skeptical note included on Sam’s draft registration card—“seems to be deaf and blind”—it appears, at this point, there was no doubt of the medical conclusion. The draft board officials must have gotten over any residual apprehensions of having been duped by yet another draft dodger.

Sam, however, had an entirely different take on the matter, according to his words quoted by the Oakland Tribune right after his name was pulled in the draft.

When he learned from members of his family that he had been drawn he wrote: “I am mighty sorry that I cannot go and help whip the Kaiser.”


8 comments:

  1. I don't want to sound cynical, but those are brave words for someone that knew he wasn't going "over there."

    I wonder how much Sam understood about the conflict and why he thought the Kaiser needed whipping?

    Other than this countries roots being with Britain, I'm not sure why it sided with the "Allies".

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    1. Admittedly, Iggy, those are brave "fighting words"--however, keeping in mind that, without someone else telling him what was happening, Sam had no way of knowing what was going on in the world. It wasn't like he could absorb the news by osmosis. I suspect he was merely adopting the attitude of whichever messenger was providing him with the reports.

      Since Sam had such close relationship with the teachers at his school--as well as a paying job via governmental contract of a military type--I imagine his news sources were very one-sided. A different sort of censorship, but that's what it basically ended up being. Of course, in the context of the nationalistic fervor of the time, he was in plenty of company with an attitude like that.

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  2. I have read where similar thoughts were expressed. Some men really had a fighting spirit:)

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    1. I think that was pretty much a widespread attitude at the time. Well, and couple that with Sam's family's propensity to have some rather strong attitudes about things...remember, this is the family with head-strong sister Leona and mama-bear Ella.

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  3. I think Sam was as brave as the others who enlisted after him. Like Intense Guy stated, we may not know what made him side with the Allies. He sure doesn't sound like a dumb person at all.

    On another subject...Yep, you found me, Jacqi! lol!

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    1. Too funny, Betty! Pinterest is definitely absorbing! Someday...

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  4. I didn't realize the draft board might have thought they were being duped. Do you think it's ironic that Sam had a patriotic fervor without the ability to fight, whereas with others called it may have been exactly the reverse?

    Sam is a character that I'll never forget.

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    1. Mariann, I think Iggy found an article about it a while back. They didn't call them draft dodgers then, if I recall...something like "slackers." On the other hand, it was interesting to see how the quota system worked. Evidently, cities like Portland had enough young men "rarin' to go" that they didn't need to participate in the first draw of the draft.

      In Sam's case, though, I think one reason he wore the dark glasses is that one eye was damaged badly enough to warrant removal of the eye, itself. You'd think someone would see that and figure it out.

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