Transcripts For CSPAN3 American World War II Orphans Network 20170827

How they coped with their losses. This program is part of the friends of the National World ii veterans conference is conference and is over one hour. Good morning and thank you for coming. A great opportunity for all of us to learn to some of the greatest resources to world war ii that we have. Session two, is connected with American World war ii orphans network. I am the morning anchor karen washington d. C. In this is my first exposure to this network, so i am interested in trying to learn with you. I am also an education reporter, too. So i can infuse that in some of my reporting. I learned today by doing research and talking to our panel here that 183,000 children were left fatherless as a result of world war ii. These folks are among them. Joining us on the panel this morning, we will start on the other side. , an is bob meake industrial engineer and serving as a staff member of the congressional person and senator. Next to bob is nancy craig. And i hope i pronounce the rest of this right. American defenders and society. Is inea of Expertise Technology and she graduated from ucla. We will let her go through the amazing thing she has been a part of, having to do with navigation and aircraft. And up next is walter carter. His father was an army doctor and world war ii. And arthur shelton. In the civily Rights Division of the justice department. With ted kennedys campaign. If i could start with bob. Experience, how losing your father, how old you are, what was it like for your family in those days, and how did you end up with this organization . Bob i never knew my father. My mother was four months pregnant with me when she got the telegram that he had been killed in action in italy. She was able to keep me close my paternal grandparents. She remarried when i was five. I had a wonderful adoptive father who died at the age of 61 from colon cancer, which was contracted by being among the first troops that went to nagasaki at the end of the war. My mother ended up losing two husbands to world war ii. Through at about this book. Memberseen a member 18 i have been a member 18 years now. 183,000 documented children at the v. A. Paid to children. The mother was from another theiry, and they lost fathers, too, but they did not get v. A. Benefits because of the lack of marriage. Craig, craig nancy your experience with losing your father, and how you were able to achieve so much because i also have a mother who lost her mother very young. You have achieved a lot. Nancy thank you. I am a little older than you. I was in the philippines. She looks much younger though. [laughter] doctor. Y dad was a he was posted to manila. I was with my parents during the war. They were evacuated in 1941. The only picture i really have a earlyher with me was in may in 1941 when they found out we would be evacuated. Parentsts without my went outside of their quarters and took parents my parents went outside of their quarters and took turns taking pictures of me on their laps. Fathers tour of duty was to be up in 1941. So, she decided to stay on the there whento be ther the he arrived. All, they were abandoned by the government, who did not seek reinforcements when they were attacked. , there wererrender two surrenders, one in maine one in june of 1941. My father was listed as missing in action for a year. He was finally registered as a pow. Story and i dont know how much you want me to go into it right now, but he spent japan. Ears in used as slavee labor. Ship out ofe last manila in december of 1944. I have a picture of the ship burning because we bond it. Most of the men swam to shore and were rounded up, put on a second ship several days later. Bombed. She did not know that for probably six month after he died. I grew up in l. A. He was referring to my career i think. I became a Computer Programming in 1959 working on the air forces for Surveillance System called sage. 1960s, i was a part of the Apollo Space Program and had a long career in i. T. And retired in 1999. That is an inspiration, right . Very inspiring. When i looked at mr. Carters by outcome i saw International Relations, and i wondered, did International Relations come to because of your farther . Because of your father . It was a combination of history, political science, and economics were my field and undergraduate. I only stayed in the International Relations program for a year before transferring to an economics phd program. My career was in economics. You wrote a book about your father, yeah . Yes. He was a doctored who volunteered for the doctor at a time when doctors one fathers were not required to serve, but he volunteered in 19 42, which was also the year he left for basic training to england. Requested a transfer out of thehospital in england to 29th division, which was training for the invasion of france. He wanted to be closer to the soldiers in the field, and he served as a Battalion Surgeon in the 29th division, landing on omaha beach on dday. 17 tryingled on june to rescue a wounded soldier from beyond the front lines. Old at the time of my older brother i was four years old and my older brother was seven years old. My mother did not remarry and i grew up trying to accumulate a oral history of my father, which was somewhat difficult because my mother did not want to talk about the experience. But after she died, i found that she had kept in her attic, a collection of letters between her and my father dated only that the 1920s when they lived across the street from one another as childhood sweethearts. And grew up and finally married each other. In the collection of letters included 150 letters from his two years in the army. I was inspired by those letters to try to put together the story of my fathers lifeanddeath, which led not only to the publication of the memoir about also led me to discover organizations such as the orphans network. The 29th division association, which was my fathers unit of national officers. And to a group called normandy allies, which is a nonprofit that take students and teachers to normandy every july for about a 12 day history study tour of the beach. I distributed a flyer about that. They do have funding to some for teachersavel and students, so if youre interested in an indepth study tour of normandy, the landings area, you may want to look into that. The next trip is in july. And i went on a trip as one of the Group Leaders for about 12 or 14 years. And i still serve on that board. In my life, i have continued to get more deeply involved in the history of telling of the story of world war ii. How old were you when you lost your dad . He shipped overseas when i was 10 weeks old and was killed when i was 11 months old. You never know your dad . I never knew him. Actually, he was killed after the war was over. He survived the war only to die on his way to headquarters in brussels, where he was going to be processing the paperwork to bring his unit back home. And he was killed in an Automobile Accident in a collision with a truck. Youre kidding . Yeah, not everyone who dies in war is a hero, and not everyone who dies it more, diane battle. Die in battle. It is random. And you have been able to process your experiences with your family over the years, and you see the ongoing conflicts we have around the world. Mystery of lost another missile today and that possibly in the sea of japan. I had a chance to interview some families who have lost loved ones in these current conflicts. When you see those stories on the news, does it immediately give you a pain in your stomach . How do you deal with that emotionally because it is something you dealt with as a child, now youre seeing other children go through it. I just got goosebumps when you said that. It is very personal to me because two of my three son knows are on active duty two of my three sons are on active duty. I am retired. I serve 32 years. In my experience with all of this, i have come to believe in serendipity, or whatever you want to call it. , will thegritty circle be unbroken. Two incidences. Gentleman sitting in the seat was a first kernel and i was second lieutenant. And the Tuskegee Airmen unit were involved. We were all connected. Obviously, when my own sons were deployed, it was very nerveracking. I have beeny to many blue to gold ceremonies were mothers, wives, children traded their blue Service Stars for the goldstar. When we say this is the goldstar , you never want because you have a Family Member that has died in service. And i get lots of talks. I go out and talk about my father as often as i can. I try to keep it upbeat and then talk about his legacy of his short life. He is survived by men, three grandsons and three great grandsons, greatgrandchildren of this point. It is very nerveracking. Something that can make it pertinent to your students, by the way, even though i was an engineer, i have a ba in American History and my mother is a retired high school in which teacher. I taught english parttime at the high school level. When the kernel was talking about the invasion of japan, do when iis a soldier was talking about the invasion of japan, did you know that there were hundreds of purple arts ordered there were hundreds of purple hearts ordered. Higher quality because they make them better back then. They were not made in china or wherever. [laughter] that is a way to related, and yes, we are still losing troops, and personnel in combat, but it doesnt make it any less painful for those members of those families. It also reminds me of the situation. The big difference i think is that after world war ii, the widows were considered a threat to the married wives because they did not have a father or a husband. People did not want to talk about it. They thought it would be better off. Today, the military offers much better support. My old boss has even started a foundation for the caregivers to the wounded. And there are all kinds of grief camps, particularly for the children to learn to do with it. So i think in that sense, we have learned something from that. But the biggest thing is, i guess now, people talk more about it. But it does not lessen the pain any. Yous. Craig, how old were when you lost your dad and how did you cope with it . Nancy i was seven. So old enough to understand what was going on . Nancy yes, yes i did. Up a goodhad kept facade for four years. For birthdays and christmas, my sister and i would get packages in the mail as if they were from daddy, as if daddy was ok. It was difficult to deal with the fact that he was not coming home because she had kept up this facade that everything was going to be ok. Know how awant to 10yearold child processes this information, i did not know until just now whether i would read this and not. I owe this poem to a man in crowded as who wrote a poem. He so captured in reverse my experience as a 10yearold that i had never been able to verbalize that i rewrote it, and with his permission, i am going to read it now. This is a 10yearold. , who to thisher day, remains are unrecovered. And to thought someday her father was going to walk out of the jungle having suffered from amnesia, or not knowing that the war was over. In my other life, my dad survives the war and comes home to his wife and daughters. In my other life, my family moves to other exotic places that the philippines, where she was when the war started. Only now, we are at peace and i grew up in a two parent family. In my real life, my dad dies as a prisoner on a japanese ship. And my mother raises her two daughters alone on her widows pension and what she earns of the Public School nurse. A sum that pays for a modest home in a nice neighborhood. My mother works and i have no father. I spend hours each day turning the pages of stories about wizards, giants, and captive princesses. In my real life, i choose a nontraditional career and work for equality for women in the workplace. I become a Founding Member of the american defenders of the memorial society. Hard is it to read Something Like that . You didnt very, very well. Nancy five rated about 25 times. I read it about 25 times. [laughter] that helps. Are there organizations like yours that helped like yours that helps families . More hasorresponding each war has corresponding organizations, but they do not like to talk about each other. Is sons andst one daughters in touch, which are the children of vietnam. We need to do more . Do we need to do more for these kids now . Other organizations . Can we connect the knowledge that you have two new generation to help . We allalk about talk about reading of the past and the line, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. I think every generation goes through this. How the new generation wants to listen to an older generation. When you add one thing asked about the news about current conflict having an impact. It has an impact on all of us. In addition to what has already been set because there are that the political people make to send people into war. And the consequences dont stop with soldiers, minute women, who might be killed or wounded, permanently affected by the events they have witnessed. The consequences filter down to their families, children, friends. For every soldier who is buried at it American Military cemetery somewhere, they let parents, brothers and sisters, and many of them left thousand children. So, the impact is not just of the one soldier. The impact extends to everyone in society that we live in. And politicians need to understand that for the cavalierly send people off to war. I want to open some questions up to the teachers who might have something they like to say. Sharing the stories, i imagine, could really bring some of these images home because theyre talking about stories of when they were seven years old, or eight, or 10. And some of your students on the younger side are not too far motive of that, even if they are in middle school now. That is something they could probably grassed, especially because i have a sevenyearold and an 11yearold. And i am on the news. So when they ask me about terrorism or if we are going to be bombed by north korea, have to come up with answers. I know students in your classroom probably need answers. Can you think of some questions you can ask our panel that can help you relay that message . Or if any of you been put in that particular position as you try to teach some of these modernday lessons . Does anybody have any questions . We can keep going if you dont. Weaken continue on. Im sorry. I did not see your hand, i apologize. Hello. This is for the whole panel. This morning, we heard a presentation from the American Battle and monuments commission. I think the purpose is to commemorate and to ponder. Im sure you may have gone to some of the cemeteries and memorials. How do you respond to them . Memorials bringing measure of closure or purpose to this, or are there things that the memorials and cemeteries still leave open . Well, my father is buried at one of those cemeteries. He is buried in the netherlands. The first time i wife and i went, my mother never went there. She can never bring herself to do that. The first time my wife and i went there when i was 30 years old, i had never seen a more peaceful place. I had never seen a place that seemed so appropriate to be the final resting place an american soldier place for an american soldier. Besides the netherlands, there besides theeople netherlands, 13,000 people memorialized. Soldier has been adopted by a dutch family, and the dutch families come to the cemeteries on a regular basis, leave flowers. Many of them have communicated with the families to the soldiers buried there. We had the privilege of meeting the family that adopted my fathers grave. There was something done several years ago called the faces of mark broughton, where the group got together to get photographs of his many of the soldiers buried there is possible. Now they have over 4000 photographs. They put the photographs next to the grays and over one weekend in may, over 20,000 dutch and came tond belgian folks visit the cemetery to see those craze. Es. Grav we met the organizer of this, 22yearold young man. We asked him, why did you do this . It wasnt for those soldiers, i would not be here, or i would not be free. So yes, those cemeteries are meaningful, and i think they do a lot of wonderful Educational Programs there for people in those countries. His years for 22 years old. That is special. The cemeteries are a means of closure. I have been to the American Cemetery in normandy numerous times when my father is buried. But a point i want to make is at the American Cemetery in normandy, like most of the others, they are putting films and visitor centers. We saw fragments of them in this mornings presentation about the lives and deaths of soldiers buried in those cemeteries. In one reason why they did that as young people, Young Students were coming to the cemetery having seen movies like saving private ryan, would ask of the staff, are all of those headstones movie props. And they wanted to have some means of conveying to the visitor that eat headstone that each headstone marked a life that is missing and a family that is impacted. Those cemeteries are also doing the job of conveying to the new generations that it was a very personal affair as well as a geopolitical affair. Nancy i would like to say something. Died. Fathers case, he he waser always said buried at sea. That is it. Remains unrecovered. It is been a Lifelong Learning process to find out what really happened, and it continues to this day. Bodies ofut that the the 300 men who died in that bombing were loaded onto carg it turns out that the 300 men who died in the bombing were loaded onto cargo nets. After the war, those bodies were exhumed, but only 27 were identifiable. So, none of the families of those men were ever notified that that is what happened. So years of research by various people have unfolded this story. The bodies that were exhumed, they were taken to punch bowl of reinterred in 20 graves mixed remains in each grade. 400 mene are about represented in mixed graves. It says in a row and unknown, generally nice, 1945. I discovered this over of period of years. Point in time, the organization that i belong to, the american defenders is negotiating with the v. A. , who runs punch bowl to place a memorial stone on their memorial walk, telling the story of those men who died. The negotiation is about the language we use in describing their condition and the horrific deaths they incurred. We are being pressured to downplay that language because we should be in a period where now we are in a period for conciliation. So, for me when people talk about closure, i dont talk about closure. I talk about connections and reconciliation. Who have had of us that kind of experience, it has been a lifelong process. Invitedivileged to be to pearl harbor in december when Prime Minister abbe and president obama appeared together at the pearl harbor at pearl harbor and made some remarks. And one of the things that Prime Minister abe talked about was further education in both countries. And that is what we support, and what is needed in order to achieve reconciliation for those of us whose families have that experience. I am in Elementary School teacher at dixon Elementary School in North Carolina. Are school is located yay anyway, my school is right lajourn. I have a large number of students where their parents are deployed or are in the marines and navy. As people who have lost their parents in active duty, and now that you are older and can reflect on that, is there something that someone like me who has a connection with a child and the relationship with a child, should be doing to help support them . We lost several of our parents the summer and the last several weeks. It wasnt overseas, but here in the united states. Is thereing something as an educator i can do to make the children more aware be more supportive to the students . Was interviewed by the Charlotte Observer right after 9 11 about the children that lost their parents in that. My suggestion is always, always to do as much as you can to encourage the family and the children to keep the memory of their parent alive. I was very blessed in that my mother was not hesitant to talk to me about my father. And i was close to my paternal grandparents. So, i learned a lot about him through them. Knowof our members virtually nothing about their father. As i mentioned earlier about the silence, they thought it was better. I would encourage those children to write maybe a story or a memory of their parent. Because in this case, it could be a father or a mother. Or both, and hopefully not both. And to share that with their friends, and maybe with the class. Have the whole class write something about one of their parents. I know when you live in a military community, i am from North Carolina and lived in fayetteville. Where fort bragg is. There is more of a group that understands what they are going through then there may be another community where there is not much military around. Main thing is to try to remember, or if they were too young, get other Family Members to tell them stories about their arents, so it is just not picture on a wall or a cross at the cemetery, or a name on a piece of paper. Actually buried in italy, in sicily, rome. I was in ano, interview that end up being 3. 5 hours. It is on you to come apart of it is on you too, so if you google me. Uniforms, you can see that land in those countries are dated in perpetuity to the united states. Is unique in that the dutch people are particularly appreciated, sicily, rome gets a quarter of a million visitors a year, which 90 are italians. When i went, there were three flower vendors at the gate and i as a superintendent, you are lucky because they are usually gone by 10 00 because they are sold out and everybody has bought flowers and put them on graves. A couple of interesting facts, stars ofe for the david are not far from the cemetery that my dad is buried. When we get a picture of the cross of the star of david, they actually take sand from omaha beach and white it into the etchings so you. Can see it stand out with the name and dates and all the etchings so you can see it stand out with the name and dates and all. I may pick those two places specifically because they were cemeteries, and their involvement of American Military in those areas. ,nd encourage them to remember or to get people to tell them to remember. I would just add to that. I think one of the aspects of or trauma of being orphaned, having a parent away is feeling isolated and alone. So, any sympathetic listening by you or other adults is beneficial. In sympathetic connection with other kids whether the same experience, or similar experience, helps break down that feeling of isolation and is a healing influence. Would add ishing i sometimes as you know as teachers, kids can be cruel. And i think it is important to involve the entire class in the process, so that they can feel it as well. And in your school because theyre so mel and kids in your school may have a different instead of kids in a secular environment. They are going to be ok and will have a different growing of experience than other kids in the class, but they are going to be ok. Because you are also young relatively, did you have fear . Did you have fear that other bad things are going to happen in learning that your fathers were not coming home, were you able to try to process that specifically and go on little by little . When you are a kid, your own experience is with a normal is. If you grew up without apparent, that was the normal, that was the way you grew up. I think it would affect kids are older, learning that their war. T had been killed in nancy i was terrified that my mother was going to die. I think it affects young kids. I think the fear of getting hurt and the fear of having a inationship broken is taken by 2yearold. And it lasts. Trauma last. Somebody once said, the Job Description of an infant to be the center of his parents hostage universe and when the parent is taken away, it is a very commodity spirits that have longlasting effects whether they cannot regulate that are not. Anti and children sometimes do not voice their fears are asked the questions because they are afraid of the answer. I never told anybody about that fear because i was afraid if i asked, the answer might be, yes, she could die any minute. And how did you specifically try to work through that . Was their counseling involved . Nancy there were no support groups are counseling, nothing. And so, how do you try to take a step forward . One foot in front of the other and that is it . Nancy right. And as you get older, you start to get a little broader perspective and understand a little more about the world and how he happen to die, and that my mother was not in the war and the chance of her dying were pretty low. Do any of you still have nightmares from time to time related to this, or has that subsided in your daytoday life . Stress dreamslled. Dreams of failure, dreams of harm in some way. They are not related to work in particular or a Family Member, but they persist. Yeah. [laughter] anxiety about things, yes. I agree. My wife is in the audience, so i hope i dont embarrass her, but having been a soldier myself, i did not let on to her how much stress it was when both are sons were deployed at the same time. Inclination tost say, no, you cannot do that . Said, i lost my father in world war ii, i was my friend to vietnam, i know my friends are losing their children in the current situation. As a military person, you develop a sense of fatalism about it. Survivors guilt. Whod i met the man pleaded the mission my father was killed on, and he was in his 80s at the time, and still felt guilty because he had set the course. And if you know anything about world war ii bombing, once they make the run, they fly flat and level, which makes them great targets. My fatherually seen killed because he was in the plane next to him. And all those years, he had carried survivors guild. We talked for two hours. As a soldier myself, i understand that feeling. What if the person next to make it killed . How did i get through . That is a large part of posttraumatic stress disorder. That is what you saw the gentleman earlier. Luck,just a matter of not but fate of one does, and one doesnt. You just have to bravery is not the absence of fear, but the ability to push through it. We are tougher than some people because my circumstances were probably a lot easier from that standpoint, both financially and emotionally, but we have some members that grew up really, really hard. One member of our organization who was been in a long time, his mother went clinically insane, was committed to an asylum when she found out about her husband. His aunt and by uncle. His father was dead and his mother was in a mental institution. You get a thick hide. How often do you connect with your boys . Im staying with one nbc right now. [laughter] that helps. And we just got back from visiting one in england. Thank you for them and all of you. Any other questions as we move through . Just fine to touch base with everybody. These stories are amazing and helpful to all of us. Hopefully, we can continue to move this narrative forward and maybe at this tour teachings of world war ii. Until today, i had not learned as much as i have so far. Yes, sir. I have one other comment. Of the parents being buried in the cemeteries. One of the hidden facts of the world war ii memorial is on veterans day 1995, soil from the 14th overseas cemeteries were scattered into world war ii memorials. To the teachers and others as a volunteer of these memorials, round becauseed of that swell in that connection. One other comment about the world war ii memorial, the founder of the group founded the ign and convincing italian found the design and convinced the italian designer. To change it to the wall of golden stars because that is what the families used in world war i and world war ii to symbolize that. , if youn go out there go from left to right, i continue which are represented my dad because each star u. S. Personnel who were lost or missing in action. Gets a little over 4000 stars. I need to get my math right. Anybody . What can some of these teachers take back about the personal tories you guys have all had try to better explain of this impacts families and not just the people serving . Company try to tell a story on a more personal basis as opposed to, i met this person who lost their dad when they were two . What are some of the emotions they can share to bring the story home for them . Is it maybe you remember back at the time when you were seven or missing fatherson baseball games, or the nightmares you had that did not subside until you were in college . What are some of the personal anecdotes that people can understand that children just your age in this classroom had to go through that during world war ii . How can we relate is better to our students . Fathers day was always the hardest day for me. A kidou are growing up as in Elementary School, everybody in the class had to make a card for their father. Well, i did not have a father to make a card for. That was a really hard thing for me when i was 7, 8, 9 years old. To do fatherson basketball dinners. If you are on a High School Basketball team or Something Like that. I think schools are more sensitive to stuff like that these days. Hard to survive as a kid, not really understanding that there were other people who let other issues and maybe i did not know about. And i think we need to be more sensitive to that stuff. Students, ifr there is some way of conveying , and amongs costs the costs is grief and suffering by those impacted. If students can be led to understand that that is one of the dimensions of war, it may be helpful to get a handle on the history of the event. Nancy um, i would like you to talk about the morality of war, and about the process of grief, suffering, and reconciliation. And i am one to tell you a story. I just recently found this out at our meeting this year. Our keynote speaker was Clifton Truman daniel, Harry Trumans grandson. We went through the truman library. Primarily spends his time working with a library and is also spent a lot of time working with survivors of the atomic bombs in japan. If you are not familiar with the paper cranesko the , you need to look it up. Wheno was a twoyearold they bombed hiroshima. She survived the bombing and later at 10 years old, developed radiation. Ffects of somebody told her that if she would make 1000 paper cranes, she would get well. That was an old japanese tradition. She started making paper cranes. She made 664 before she died. Brother presented the last paper crane that she made to clifton for display in the truman library. Now that is reconciliation. I forgot the question now. [laughter] sorry, i just had to collect myself there. Um, i think one of the reasons that people will remember things , and teachers, correct me if im wrong when i cover stories, and kids get out of their seat and do something with their hands him a sometimes they can remember it, or if there some minute touches their heart or mind, they can recount the story so much faster. So the goal is how can we emotionally connect them to something so far in the distance to somebody who is 10 years old or 11 years old today, trying to search to make this an easier story to tell to build young kids, middle school kids, High School Kids . It can be really complex. And felt like it is coming from 30,000 feet and the kids have no emotional connection. And that is what i was trying to reach for with these teachers. We call is the operational tempo of what has been going on for the last 15 years. That are a number of those get deployed were known to a lot of communities and they may well be folks in those units who have ,een deployed either to iraq afghanistan, or maybe now syria. If you can get some of those to come in and talk about their experience, their children are probably contemporary with a lot of children your teaching. I remember, i did a thing years ago, went in and showed kids to obey what a soldier would carry in combat. They were fascinated with mres of meals no one could open or eat. [laughter] that was their big thing, then i did another one more recently. And one ticket asking questions, have you ever shot a machine gun . He was fascinated with machine guns. To comean get people talk about the military experience, more than likely they know are no of someone who was seriously wounded, or who was killed and could talk a little bit about how that affected them. That gives the children some relative things. I have a friend that is an acquaintance, history professor at west point. He said that vietnam is ancient history. And i said, wait a minute, that is my age group. [laughter] yes, the more current you can make it with people who have been involved, i think it brings it home to them. And they can go, sometimes when you have an armed armory there. Youngertary and children, seeing military equipment, just trucks or whatever, they love climbing on that stuff and looking at it and all that. And that kind of makes it pertinent to see what the military uses and that kind of thing going on. And gives them an activity to get out. Have any military organizations around you that have any kind of an open house, or class trip or Something Like that, might make it more relative and permanent than just reading about it in a book. Has been athe abmc footage they have taken of cemeteries. And i think that if you show some of these videos to kids that this is the price that our country pays for engaging in military activities around the world, and this is how many of the cemeteries there are many people are buried there, you know one of the things, i dont know if you felt this, but when i was growing up and first thought about my fathers death, it was really affecting me and how much i lost by not having a father. As i got older and really understood what my mother had lost, that affected me, but as i became an adult and was married and had kids of my own, what i really understood was how much he lost by not having survived the war. He lost a wife, child, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren. And that is something you can translate, i think, to kids. Teachers oftentimes, when i have been in classes doing stories, we talk about the mechanisms of war to help students understand that this was done for this and that. Do you or can you relate to some of the personal stories . Is it too heavy for you as a teacher to try to translate that . Is at something you involving your curriculum, or not . Yes, sir. I teach in virginia. Ruralught was from the community that we are from, so many of our children are throwaway children. Parent, ifave one that. It is under different circumstances that they have one parent or no parents. There is still a commonality. If they can relate to a certain extent and take it a step further so they would have more empathy that you guys have. Be hugedenise to understanding and Common Ground i think there needs to be huge understanding and Common Ground. Is irv james. My students are primarily from urban cities. And so, there is a good deal about what she just described. And i think part of what i do is i try to motivate them, and encourage them to think about having grit and being resilient. And when you suffer life does not end. You have to move forward under less than under what some might consider lesson ideal circumstances. It is obvious you are able to work through it. And think about what that means for you. When you have a family. I can see how our students might benefit from that. And maybe it is time to get this organization and to some classrooms so you can chair some of those abilities to make it through tough circumstances. Any others . One of the things i do when i going to a classroom is i ask, how many students of the difference between veterans day and memorial day . I and usually surprised that help you know. People come up and thanked me on memorial day for being a veteran. I say today is not about me. It is about all my friends that i wear bracelets for. You can talk to me on veterans day. Today is about the ones who did not come home, for came home in a body bag. I had a student. We were watching the 9 11 attacks live on television. A student in my classroom who lost my father at the pentagon as she was sitting there. Horrific on every level. I just wondered if you can comment on the new war on terror s about whois fognes is the bad guy. Japanese, germans, what happened. Because she could not put her finger on who she was angry at. Elseo comment on something i dont want to make a political statement. Children in my school had parents who were taken away on immigration things. If its in that whole mode. If it is right or wrong is another question. I have seen that also, very dramatic obviously. Anybody like to respond to that . They lost a parent under different circumstances, but you understand. Losing your parents under any circumstances is certainly psychologically damaged in very traumatic to the child. About apparentgs dying in the military service is many people refer to them as heroes. Yes, they were heroic innocence they give their lives. I guarantee you, if you line all 410,000 of them up from world war ii, none of them would volunteer to die. You are kindmyself of you take a fatalistic approach to it and you do your job and you push through. You know it could happen. In the military we call world war ii the last good war. It was clear who we were fighting and what were fighting for. In vietnam, it was really hard to make the africanamerican soldier hate the north vietnamese. It wasnt real horrors when you hell ships to the make the americans hate the germans on the japanese. My father had germans in his family but he was killed by germans. The japanese committed her in this atrocities against not just americans, by chinese, southeast asians, filipinos. Enemy, time now, the whatever you want to call them, is a little bit more amorphous. Its an ideology we are dealing with that does not like our way of life, but it is not an organized governmental entity. The military grapples with this every day. I talk to my sons in the military a lot about it. It is hard to shift your thinking about how you deal with war on terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic, not an entity. That i think is a problem, other than to say people were killed by terrorists were certainly victims of a hostile ideology, just like our parents who are either killed by the japanese or the germans or in japanese custody were killed by an ideology. Ahat was a governmental government run ideology. It is tough. I agree with you. Ultimately the child does not care how their parent when away. They are gone. Thank you for sharing your stories. I have a story. I did not lose a parent but i did was my best friend, my brother jimmy. It took a lot of time for us to get the body back home. I bring his flag into the classroom. I have them pass it around. I tell them the story about jimmy in high school and jimmy in the military. By the time i am done there is probably not a dry eye in the classroom. Last year, i got a call from one of the parents. He said my little girl has been crying all day long. I said i apologize, i was just sharing a story. It is veterans day this coming monday and wanted to share this story. She said im not calling to yell at you. Im calling to thank you. Her great grandfather had died in world war ii. She had heard that story connected with her. Three generations are still grieving. That is a healthy thing. To my fellow teachers, dont be afraid it might be too emotional or two traumatic for middle school students. I get a lot of accolades. I dont do it for accolades. I do it for my own selfhealing. All these years im still healing because my best friend is no longer with me. Sometimes i feel cheated. Thank you. You mentioned your brothers flag. My fathers is in our living room in a display case. It is in my living will that i will be buried under that flag. All, thank you for being here today. We do it because we take our students to the oklahoma bombing memorial. Displaythink it is on anymore. The children who started the Foundation Set these beautiful golden cranes to Oklahoma City in response to that. One thing we did one year, it was after the test [laughter] we had our students create folded paper cranes. Each one had to do with a minimum number and they can do as many as they wanted. We still had 1000 pape cranes. They put the name of someone they lost in the crane. It made it personal even a terrorism is hard understand. That feeling will transfer to your students if you can just have them plug into their own grief and make it connect to an event. Thank you for sharing. I did not know that thing about truman. That is a beautiful idea. I love that. Anybody else . How is everybody feeling . A little cleansed right now . [laughter] as we start to wrap things up is or anything you would like them to leave here with as we start to try to connect our personal stories with the classroom . We have been talking about the personal dimensions of war. Perhapsthe point is to look at these as a way of understanding what, to me, is more a geopolitical episode. I think somehow it is more important to understand world war ii from a geopolitical system of government or ruling than as an issue of personal loss. But how do you teach that . I dont want to convey the idea the personal dimension is not important. It might be a very fruitful approach to understanding the war in larger terms. I would not want to lose sight of that. Good point. Man in thes a young area i live the data history day project on the pow situation. In doing the research he interviewed people. He found people to interview who had been in the philippines. The personal contact i think makes a huge difference. If you can find somebody personally involved to come talk to your classes and make it personal with the paper cranes , because there is a huge personal toll that gets lost in the numbers. Maybe if we understood the personal told that are, there would be less war. To support her point, i think each of us would say have story, will travel. Another thing i would comment. I was on active duty when the transitiond when we transitioned from the draft to the volunteer army initially. Had an ongoing battle in my mind from a philosophical standpoint about the drafted army versus the volunteer army. As a professional soldier, i like to volunteer army. As a citizen, lesson 1 of congress are veterans. The end of world war ii, i think it was close to 60 . Our world war ii generation is dying off much faster than any of us like to think about. Iv a nonis starting to drop like flies now my vietnam generation is starting to drop like flies now. One of the things that helps is a mix of what nancy just said about understanding any war, any largescale animosity amongst team and kind humankind has consequences way beyond the immediate fight or whatever it is. And they go on forever. I think we have all come to terms with our situation, but i will never, ever forget my father. Even though i never knew him. I think the decisionmaking part of it is the part is the lesson i would want to teach. The decisions are important and decisions have consequences. Sometimes the consequences have very painful results. It does not mean we should not made a decision, that we should not make the decision without understanding there are going to be painful consequences. Are those consequences worth making the decision in a particular way . To kids and adults in our daily lives. It has geopolitical consequences as well. We cannot thank you enough for sharing your stories today. You have added so much heart and soul to this conversation. Thanks again to bob meek, nancy craig, walter, and arthur. Thank you so much. [applause] [crowd noise] interested in American History tv . Visit our website, cspan. Org history. You can view our tv schedule, preview upcoming programs, and watch college lectures, museum tours, archival films and more. American history tv on cspan. Com history. Day, thet on human lives of Winston Churchill and george were well. We talked with thomas riggs about his book, churchill and orwell the fight for freedom. They never met, but the hero of 1984 was named winston. Churchill read it twice and love it. Interestingly, orwell, a real leftist all his life, admired churchill across the political chasm. He wrote really he was the only conservative he admired. Tonight at 8 00 eastern. The 1950s and 1953 korean war is sometimes referred to as the forgotten war, even though the Korean Peninsula remains a major concern of u. S. Foreign policy. Up next on American History tv, former director of the harry truman president ial library Michael Devine gives a presentation entitled the korean war remembered. Using photographs, posters, and artwork, hollywood films and personal experiences, he examines the public and Popular Culture memory of the korean war. The Woodrow Wilson center in washington, d. C. Hosted this hourlong event