[Dilbert San Diego]

I wonder how much our own people know about our history.

How many people think Battle of the Bulge refers to people gaining weight in middle age?

How many people think the biggest atrocity of World War II was the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans in this country?

How many people know all about Stonewall, but nothing of Gettysburg or Ft. Sumter?

How many people know nothing of Jimmy Doolittle and his raid on Tokyo??

[max americana]

Interesting. I thought they would answer “is that a song from Abba? I love them!”

[hanamizu]

I taught Jr High history for many years. I really think a lot of what you point out is due simply to the passage of time. The last Civil War vets were dying off when I was in school, so the Civil War was still almost within living memory. There were lots of children and grandchildren of Civil War vets still alive to keep the memory alive. Today’s high school history texts cover about 1/10th the CW battles that my schoolbooks mentioned.

Then there’s today’s political correctness factor. I saw one textbook that devoted more space to the role of women in the CW than Grant & Lee combined.

The same thing is happening to the coverage of WWII. If the Battle of Guadacanal is even mentioned, it will rate a sentence or two at most. Patton, MacArthur (except for his defiance of Truman in the Korean War) and Halsey together are covered less than the Tuskeegee Airmen or women in the workforce. The internment of the Japanese is covered for several pages, the Bataan Death March, not so much.

[GreyFriar]

“Stonewall” wasn’t that a gay rebellion against the straight establishment in NYC back in the 60s?

Or were you referring to LTG Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson of the American civil war?

I’m guessing most lgbt-alphabeters know only of the former.

[yarddog]

I think just about everyone has heard of Gettysburg.

I suspect not many know that casualties on both sides were just about even. Some say one side lost more and others say the opposite. I think the best sources say the Union lost more.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

[Tennessee Nana]

Nana’s little hand in the air

I’ve been to both Gettysburg and Ft Sumter..

I know that if it wasn’t for the presence of American soldiers, sailors and marines in the Pacific my birth country of New Zealand would have been invaded and taken over by the Japanese..

The Bulge refers to the Maginot Line..

Jimmy Doolittle was later court-martialed..

[Verginius Rufus]

What was Napoleon doing in Iowa, anyway? He had already sold the Louisiana Territory to the US.