Archive for June, 2014

Who Will Remember?

Friday, June 6th, 2014

The 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion is today and getting a lot of press. As the son of a WW II veteran (since passed away) I know the stories well. We studied the war  in school, I heard stories from my father, and I read a lot about it on my own. My son, I believe, knows a good bit about it as well in part because he knew his grandfather. But will my grandson (due in September) know about it?

According to some reports (Cal Thomas: D-Day is dumb day for too many) knowledge about D-Day in particular and WW II in general is already fading from consciousness. We teach history, for the most part, as a dull series of events and dates. It is not real to people.

Stories are what people remember and we don’t always do a good job of telling stories in school. Without the stories of the “greatest generation” which they told sparingly, modestly and sometimes not at all, fresh in our lives will future generations remember the sacrifices, the suffering, the heroism or even the reasons for those traits being needed? I wonder.

Regardless, as they say up north – Je me souviens – I  remember. And my grandson will hear stories of his family from me if from no where else.