Growing up, I heard first-hand accounts from parents, grandparents, relatives and their contemporaries about how they heard about the bombing at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on a December 7, 1941. My parents were kids; my grandparents, who remembered WWI, carefully navigating their way out of the Great Depression that devastated a generation. My mother-in-law remembers because it meant the Americans would soon be there to help defend Australia against the Japanese. (See the recent film "Australia.")
Everyone remembered most clearly the speech by President Roosevelt "...a day that shall live in infamy..."
But will it?
I thought about that today. And I wondered: Were there significant dates in past centuries on which later generations listened to stories about where people were during previous wars? Perhaps about Lexington and Concord, or the burning of Atlanta? Perhaps, to those eye witnesses, those events were as infamous as Pearl Harbor.
The existence of mass media will keep events like the sinking of the Lusitania, or Pearl Harbor or 9/11 vivid in the memory of history. But I just wonder what it was like to sit and listen to those events recounted.
Showing posts with label WWI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WWI. Show all posts
Monday, December 07, 2009
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Has Everyone Forgotten The Great War?
Growing up I used to sit and listen to my grandfather tell stories from his navy days during WWI. He was only enlisted for a short time but he had a lot of stories. When I rode with him to "caddy" when he golfed at Fort Snelling Golf Course in Minneapolis, he would sing (and I would learn) WWI songs: "It's A Long Way To Tipperary", "Smile, Smile, Smile! (Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag)", "Over There", and "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm? (After They've Seen Paree?)" to name a few.
Lately, however, the litanies of wars in which Americans served seems to be missing WWI. It misses some other wars too, such as the Spanish-American War, but World War I is different. It was the first World war. It was the first modern weapon war, the first to use chemical weapon. Just into my 50s, I'm not that old, but old enough to have a grandfather who told stories of both world wars, and from an adult perspective. He was in college when he enlisted for WWI, and a father who had successfully supported a family through the Great Depression when WWII rolled around.
So it saddens me that all too often WWI is relegated to minor skirmish status. The Australians still celebrate Anzac Day, and they were only involved in the war because they are part of the British Empire. What we celebrate now as Veterans' Day in November was originally Armistice Day when the treaty to end the war was signed. But how many people know that? Not many, I imagine.
Someday, thirty years from now, will WWII become a footnote? Will people stop going to Normandy because it was all so long ago, last century?
We mustn't forget WWI. After all, WWII is #2 because of #1. It was a time when Americans felt compelled to pitch in and help their allies without hesitation, when the U.S. still was the strong nation that had the luxury of being the guys who had their backs.
We remember the Revolution, the Civil War, WWII. Let's not forget WWI.
Lately, however, the litanies of wars in which Americans served seems to be missing WWI. It misses some other wars too, such as the Spanish-American War, but World War I is different. It was the first World war. It was the first modern weapon war, the first to use chemical weapon. Just into my 50s, I'm not that old, but old enough to have a grandfather who told stories of both world wars, and from an adult perspective. He was in college when he enlisted for WWI, and a father who had successfully supported a family through the Great Depression when WWII rolled around.
So it saddens me that all too often WWI is relegated to minor skirmish status. The Australians still celebrate Anzac Day, and they were only involved in the war because they are part of the British Empire. What we celebrate now as Veterans' Day in November was originally Armistice Day when the treaty to end the war was signed. But how many people know that? Not many, I imagine.
Someday, thirty years from now, will WWII become a footnote? Will people stop going to Normandy because it was all so long ago, last century?
We mustn't forget WWI. After all, WWII is #2 because of #1. It was a time when Americans felt compelled to pitch in and help their allies without hesitation, when the U.S. still was the strong nation that had the luxury of being the guys who had their backs.
We remember the Revolution, the Civil War, WWII. Let's not forget WWI.
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