Rebecca Shapiro Thesis (11 May 2011).pdf - Brandeis Institutional ...

common, though somewhat indefinable bond." 138 Another reported that while passingthrough a cemetery, he saw the grave of a brother from another school. He promptlyarranged for a Star of David to be placed at the grave. 139The war brought some men closer to their religion and others closer to theirbrothers. One brother wrote, "the pleasure of our meeting would defy the writtenworld…fraternalism becomes dynamic to a degree that previously was unsuspected."Removed from the arguments about rent, mortgages and fraternity responsibilities,brothers enjoyed each others' company while surrounded by strangers. Some wrote to theZBT headquarters about a gathering of ZBT's. The men woke the entire neighborhood asthey boisterously sang the fraternity song "Oh ZBT, we sing to thee." 140AEPI offeredbrothers a Seoul, Korea convention just a few years later during the Korean war. 141 Inaddition to offering camaraderie, the fraternities commemorated their fallen heroes.AEPI reported the increasing number of gold stars on the fraternity flag. 142 ZBTsimilarly used gold stars to note servicemen who had lost their lives in the war. In total105 ZBT brothers were confirmed dead.As forces emptied onto French beaches on June 6, 1944, it was clear the end ofthe war was in sight. On May 7, 1945, Germany officially surrendered, followed by theJapanese on August 14, 1945. Brothers trickled back onto their college campuses upontheir return to America. In Spring of 1944, Congress passed the Servicemans'Readjustment Act, a bill that provided full education benefits to returning serviceman. 143138 Sanua, 267139 Sanua, 267140 Sanua, Here's To Our Fraternity, 158141 Toll, 246142 Toll, 182143 Sanua, Here's To Our Fraternity, 16239