While you have left, OESY, you might read this tomorrow.
"The Great Raid" was about an event that happened when I was 10 years old:
"On Jan. 30, 1945, Prince's battalion prepared for a rescue raid behind enemy lines on Luzon Island about 50 miles north of Manila, Philippines."
I was 7 1/2 when Pearl Harbor happened.
We were able to at the Saturday matinees see Fox Movietone films about all areas of the progress of WWII, so I remember well everything that happened.
As for parents today wondering if they should shield their young children from 9/11 and the war against terror and possibility of danger here, I say without hesitation, TELL THEM ALL OF IT!"
At 7 I was playing digging 'foxholes' in the empty lot next door with the boys; participated in air raid drills in Miami/Coral Gables (German subs surfaced right in Biscayne Bay, and often Germans tried to come ashore farther up on empty beaches to mingle and sabotage something), closing the black curtains over the windows and filling the tub with water to use for the toilet if power were lost; could identify OUR planes and German ones; gathered scrap paper and metal to turn in for The War Effort...etc.
I remember clearly the brutality of the Japanese, who after the Philippines swept through China and all the way to Burma.
Something my astute mother remarked then stuck with me..."Yes, the Japanese are horrible to the Chinese as they went, torturing them and taking all they had; but mark my words - 'the CHINESE are going to prove to be a worse opponent!'"
Look at their power and numbers today!
Let me say I GAINED ENORMOUS strength from all I knew, explicit horrors and all - . I learned what it meant to have courage under adversity, and 'play-acted' being a POW of the Japanese and the Germans, creating the scenes and conditions and coping with them, if need be.
That took away any possible 'fear,' since I knew I might break, but was determined to hold out so long as humanly possible.
That kind of preparation for courage stood me in good stead through some mighty tough times in life...take each moment as it comes, to the best of your ability
It was much the same during the Cold War with Communism...a parent then, my little boys had drills at school on what to do if a plane dropped or missile launched an atomic bomb on the States...
Do NOT shield them - PREPARE them, I strongly advise...
Wonderful stories, as usual. I agree with you, we need our kids to know the reality of war--and of life. That's why there are so many young people who haven't a clue what's going on--their parents shielded them from everything--and they will do the same when they are parents. Makes us too soft!
Very good advice. We need to know what happened so as to be better prepared next time.