I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that even if you
are not a fan of history, but you participate in social media, or certainly if
you watch the evening news, you know that it is the 75th anniversary
of the WWII Allied invasion of France. Over the past eight years we’ve had a
number of significant anniversaries of our country’s military history. They
include the 150th anniversary events that took place during the
American civil war, the 100th anniversary of WWI battles, and now
the 75th anniversary of World War II and the 50th
anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landing. I appreciate these benchmark anniversaries
because like James Holzauer’s winning streak bringing new fans to Jeopardy, the
buzz about the anniversary of a significant historical event will make more
people take note and hopefully learn about these great trials and triumphs of
our past. The difference between the 75th anniversary of the
Normandy invasion and the other wars mentioned is that we still have a lot of
regular people who can tell us what it was like.
Surviving veterans and eyewitnesses to the Second World War
are in their nineties. I heard on ABC News the other night that over 300 World
War II veterans pass away every day. And the thought occurred to me that we
aren’t considering how many non-veterans we are losing who can tell us what it
was like on the home front during the war years. Of course I love my military
history, but one of the most fascinating and educational places I’ve visited is
the Rosie the Riveter and WWII on the Home Front National Historical Park. There
is a lot to learn from those who stayed home, worked, and sacrificed to win the
war.
And what about veterans and civilians from other countries? When
it comes to meeting folks from our “Greatest Generation,” I’m lucky to be a
baby boomer. When I was in my twenties most WWII veterans were in their sixties,
so I have met a few in my time. Moreover, having been stationed in Germany for
three years, I met a few German veterans and civilians who experienced the
tragedy of war first hand. My landlord’s father (I called him “Opa Willie”)
fought on the Russian front, but deserted at the end of the war so that he
could surrender to American forces. Good thing he did. I dated a German woman
for a while whose father was a POW held by the Russians. They did not
repatriate him for eleven years. And I met that girl’s apartment manager, who
was married at age 19 and only spent three weeks with her husband before he
went off to fight in the war. He never returned and remained missing in action.
She never remarried.
As an aside, do you think that Germany has learned from its
history? I think so. When I visited the concentration camp at Dachau, I saw
school children arrive on a bus for a field trip. That is just one example of
how the Germans don’t hide from their past. This week, Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked the Allies for “liberating Germany from the Nazis.” I’m sorry, but I
just can’t see the United States being that forthright, especially when you
read reports that say that only about forty percent (40%) of Americans can correctly answer the history questions on the citizenship exam.
I regret that I didn’t start a serious study of history
until after my years in the army. I believe my conversations with the veterans
I had met would have taken a different turn. Like many young people, I had
different priorities. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wish I could go back and
take the opportunity to conduct an in-depth oral history interview with all of these
people I’ve met over the years. Of course, there are members of this great
generation still with us. And it is not too late to hear their stories and it
is never too late to learn our history, so that we don’t have to repeat it.
