Thank you, Lesley. As you know, I've been more interested in the civilian stories, but this is all so sad. The killing of the German boy soldier stands out, which tells you how these individual stories are so important in trying to gain some understanding.
Please disregard my questions from the previous post. I see now that you'll write about your father next time.
Yes, poor man. For the record, he was 22 in 1939 — and since I forgot to put that in my post, I’ll have to make sure to add it. He was a few years older than many of the young men who died in Italy: 26 in 1943 and a sergeant.
Ian Cosh interviewed some Italian civilians in his book, but I can only report distantly on what he and others write. Instead, I’m planning to write a future post about women and war, since WW II opened up opportunities for women in my family that had been unthinkable before.
Write it, I mean, in between batches of sour cherry and red currant jam.
Fascinating and heartbreaking. I'm always keen to read about how people endure after these kinds of experiences.
My wife's paternal grandfather flew for the RAF in a bomber in the Battle of Britain (among many other campaigns), lost the best man from his wedding along with countless other people, then came home and became a school teacher and, according to my father-in-law, never mentioned the war again. Not once! By all accounts, he wasn't a drinker, never particularly lashed out at anyone... and I'm always wondering, how did he carry all of that? And was he okay, or was he privately suffering terribly? It must have affected him deeply, and cost him dearly not to show it.
I hope some of the WWII folks are able to say, at least, that it was defeating the Nazis, and fascism, which was obviously as good a cause for fighting a war as there's ever been... but still. I'm so struck by the moment you describe where the Canadian soldier had to stab a sixteen-year-old—what a thing to carry. These infantry soldiers, in particular, and especially in more recent wars with less obvious overall benefit to humanity, I wonder how they survive the aftermath. I guess many of them don't.
It's certainly very helpful to share these stories of peoples actual experiences, and their way of coping with memories. "Screen memory" is such a fascinating concept.
Anyway, I'm endlessly curious and wondering about these types of stories, so I'm grateful you're doing these reviews and interviews. Thank you for this, Leslie!
If he flew in a bomber during the war, he would have been in constant danger of being shot down. Planes — and men — were lost at an alarming rate, and surely that sat heavily on him. Not just losing close friends, but the thought every time they took off that he could be next.
Of course, some survived being shot down, and especially in Europe there were men who managed to evade Nazi imprisonment with the help of the local Resistance, who took them out through Spain.
My uncle was a navigator on an RAF bomber that was shot down over Thailand in 1943. The Thai people protected him, refusing to turn him over to the occupying Japanese army. But the Thai government still kept him in a POW camp until the war ended, and he came out pitifully thin. We’ve got family photos of his release that make him look like a little kid wearing a military uniform.
My uncle was one who never talked about the war, like your wife’s grandfather — although when he got home, he defended local Japanese-Canadians people against the racism they faced. I remember him as a kind and gentle man. But he must have been storing up a lot of angst. He died at 52 of a heart attack.
Indeed. What a story. And for your uncle to live as a kind and gentle man after that... I'd so love to have been able to hear more of what it was like for him, and my wife's granddad.
I’ll have to look up the Hanks podcast. The trouble with so much military history is that the generals and politicians are in the forefront and the guys going up in planes 5-6x a day can get left out.
I’ve inherited a lot of family memorabilia, and a future project is to sort it all out. I pulled out my father’s military records for the next post, but there’s lots more, most of which I won’t write about it.
Daily life for regular people. I find it fascinating.
Thank you, Lesley. As you know, I've been more interested in the civilian stories, but this is all so sad. The killing of the German boy soldier stands out, which tells you how these individual stories are so important in trying to gain some understanding.
Please disregard my questions from the previous post. I see now that you'll write about your father next time.
Yes, poor man. For the record, he was 22 in 1939 — and since I forgot to put that in my post, I’ll have to make sure to add it. He was a few years older than many of the young men who died in Italy: 26 in 1943 and a sergeant.
Ian Cosh interviewed some Italian civilians in his book, but I can only report distantly on what he and others write. Instead, I’m planning to write a future post about women and war, since WW II opened up opportunities for women in my family that had been unthinkable before.
Write it, I mean, in between batches of sour cherry and red currant jam.
Looking forward to reading more war stories! Sort of.
Fascinating and heartbreaking. I'm always keen to read about how people endure after these kinds of experiences.
My wife's paternal grandfather flew for the RAF in a bomber in the Battle of Britain (among many other campaigns), lost the best man from his wedding along with countless other people, then came home and became a school teacher and, according to my father-in-law, never mentioned the war again. Not once! By all accounts, he wasn't a drinker, never particularly lashed out at anyone... and I'm always wondering, how did he carry all of that? And was he okay, or was he privately suffering terribly? It must have affected him deeply, and cost him dearly not to show it.
I hope some of the WWII folks are able to say, at least, that it was defeating the Nazis, and fascism, which was obviously as good a cause for fighting a war as there's ever been... but still. I'm so struck by the moment you describe where the Canadian soldier had to stab a sixteen-year-old—what a thing to carry. These infantry soldiers, in particular, and especially in more recent wars with less obvious overall benefit to humanity, I wonder how they survive the aftermath. I guess many of them don't.
It's certainly very helpful to share these stories of peoples actual experiences, and their way of coping with memories. "Screen memory" is such a fascinating concept.
Anyway, I'm endlessly curious and wondering about these types of stories, so I'm grateful you're doing these reviews and interviews. Thank you for this, Leslie!
If he flew in a bomber during the war, he would have been in constant danger of being shot down. Planes — and men — were lost at an alarming rate, and surely that sat heavily on him. Not just losing close friends, but the thought every time they took off that he could be next.
Of course, some survived being shot down, and especially in Europe there were men who managed to evade Nazi imprisonment with the help of the local Resistance, who took them out through Spain.
My uncle was a navigator on an RAF bomber that was shot down over Thailand in 1943. The Thai people protected him, refusing to turn him over to the occupying Japanese army. But the Thai government still kept him in a POW camp until the war ended, and he came out pitifully thin. We’ve got family photos of his release that make him look like a little kid wearing a military uniform.
My uncle was one who never talked about the war, like your wife’s grandfather — although when he got home, he defended local Japanese-Canadians people against the racism they faced. I remember him as a kind and gentle man. But he must have been storing up a lot of angst. He died at 52 of a heart attack.
May they all rest in peace.
Indeed. What a story. And for your uncle to live as a kind and gentle man after that... I'd so love to have been able to hear more of what it was like for him, and my wife's granddad.
I was just listening to the new Tom Hanks-hosted WWII podcast (https://www.history.com/shows/world-war-ii-with-tom-hanks/season-1) and they said of the Battle of Britain, the RAF fighter planes were going back up 5-6x a day. It's well worth listening to.
I'm so glad you're writing about all of this. Looking forward to more.
I’ll have to look up the Hanks podcast. The trouble with so much military history is that the generals and politicians are in the forefront and the guys going up in planes 5-6x a day can get left out.
I’ve inherited a lot of family memorabilia, and a future project is to sort it all out. I pulled out my father’s military records for the next post, but there’s lots more, most of which I won’t write about it.
Daily life for regular people. I find it fascinating.