Yesterday was June 6th, the anniversary of D-Day. I saw two mentions of it on Facebook -- far fewer than the Bruce Jenner/Caitlyn publicity of a few days ago. Yet D-Day shaped so much of the world today. I was sort of disgusted that more attention was not paid to this important anniversary.
More than 9,300 American soldiers died during that invasion.
Here's why it's so important, for those who may be fuzzy on their history: "The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe."
D-Day was the turning point of World War II. It was the day that marked the beginning of the end for Hitler and Tojo and Mussolini. If we had not won, the world would be a profoundly different place today, a nightmarish place in my opinion.
Three of my four uncles served in World War II, and all three saw some horrific things that changed them forever. My uncle Lewis was on an island in the Pacific. My uncle Bobby Hasty was in Virginia but his job was to pull bodies out of training planes that crashed, and he saw a lot of death -- at 17 and 18 years old. My uncle Bobby Thompson never really explained to me what he did but he told my brother it was no picnic. All three of my uncles are dead now but if they were sitting here and I asked them this question -- was it worth it? -- I know they would all say YES. They were part of a huge effort that changed the world.
What history teachers so often fail to really emphasize is that the way to teach students about war is to teach them about humans, not dry facts about battles and alliances. War is about people. It's a mosaic of thousands of individual stories.
I just finished the book All the Light We Cannot See, and it is an excellent read, albeit not a "feel good" book. Not a light confection of a book. No, it's substantial. Author Anthony Doerr clearly researched exhaustively the French Resistance, Hitler's training of boy soldiers, gemstones, radios -- so much amazing detail packed into one very rich book.
One thing I loved about it was that it uncovered stories about how civilians handled World War II. There have been so many books and movies about that war, but far less has been written about what it was like to live through the war as an ordinary person in Germany or France, a person dealing with shortages and dangers and bombs.
The stories of how ordinary people dealt with World War II has always been a great fascination of mine.
I remember years ago [1987] watching a movie called Hope and Glory, about English civilians during World War II. Fascinating portrait of a fascinating time in history.
If I was trying to teach a unit about World War II this is a film I would show my students -- well, if they were 6th grade or older -- because it is about the war from a small-scale, from an intimate, human perspective.
I think where History teachers fall short, so often, is they present history as HISTORY -- dry and dull. A recitation of facts. I remember hating history after writing out all the major imports and exports for several countries. All that writing. All those dull facts.
I probably missed my calling. I probably should have taught history. I think I could figure out ways to make it exciting and meaningful for my students, AND make sure they understood the important points. Movies can be a great starting point for discussions.
If I was teaching a unit about World War I the students would see [possibly an edited version of] this movie, In Love and War:
I was talking to one of Michael's teachers not long ago and I pointed out that for most kids in this digital video age, videos and movies and games are great teaching tools. Some heavy, dry history book really can't stand up to a video or movie when it comes to teaching. Kids accustomed to a fast-paced world, a moving image world, are going to get excited about learning when they see stories. We have to modify how we teach.
Just my two cents' worth...
