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Showing results for tags 'World War II'.
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I'm sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, but people may had noticed that our flags were at half-staff. President Obama ordered this to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941 ("a day which will live in infamy") - the attack killed 2,403 Americans, and directly led to America entering World War II Within one hour of Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech on Dec 8, 1941, America issued a formal declaration of war against Japan (as I write this, today is the 75th anniversary of America's entry into World War II - something which was entirely justified, and has not been repeated since (and I say this with *full respect* for the victims of 9/11 - both events killed about 3,000 people). The reason I said it "has not been repeated" is because Pearl Harbor was an act of war; 9/11 was an act of terrorism (there is a fine line between the two, but 9/11 changed how we must think going forward; WWII was much "cleaner" in terms of defining the job which needed to be done). This post is written in honor of our military personnel, with an emphasis on those with relatives who died at Pearl Harbor, and a strong emphasis on all those who died that day. God bless all of you. and thank you for saving my life by giving up yours. (I apologize for my awkward writing in the previous sentence, but I'm a bit addled right now, as I've been up since 3:30 AM, and am getting very sleepy.)-
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Anyone who despairs of the dumbing-down of television programming (eg "Nat Geo") might enjoy this incredibly well-made documentary about the mission that ended World War II - and I'm not talking about the bombing of Nagasaki. Days after the second atomic bomb was dropped, with the Japanese still not surrendering, 134 B-29s of the 315th Bomb Wing were sent to destroy an oil facility in Northern Japan. But the attack itself wasn't what did it: on the way, the bombers passed over Tokyo and were spotted, triggering a power blackout that foiled the coup d'etat that was underway with the intention of preventing the Emperor's broadcast of surrender. I caught the last few minutes of it last night, and it's been a few years since I saw the whole thing so I don't recall the details of the beginning of the film. It's based on a book written by one of the crewmen on one of the planes (the Boomerang). It's meticulously researched, the re-enactments are totally believable, the archival footage is great, and the story is almost unbelievable - except that it really did happen, including the Boomerang almost not making it back to base on Guam after almost 17 hours in the air. If you're a nut about military history, you need to watch it. If you love a well-made documentary of any subject, you need to watch it. It's about ten years old now, but the Military History Channel re-broadcasts it every so often, including several times today. It's also available on DVD.
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Whether it's fiction or non-, my taste in books tends to anything that's well-written, no matter the subject. Every once in awhile, though, I trip across a volume that's so compelling the quality of writing takes a back seat to the story. Here are three I've read in the past few years. Near the end of World War II, American B-17 pilot Charlie Brown was shocked and terrified when he realized his crippled plane was being escorted by a Messerschmitt 109. In 1990, the two pilots actually found each other and shared their stories. Adam Makos, a history buff and reporter who didn't understand the difference between a German and a Nazi, researched the hell out of this true story and in late 2012 published "A Higher Call". The book focuses largely on Franz Stigler, telling the story of how a patriotic German who hated the Nazis came to commit a treasonous act as a matter of honor, but it also follows the American pilot's wartime career and delves into the aftermath. Well-researched and plainly told, It is truly one of the most compelling tales I've ever read. "Let Me Go" (2005) is Helga Schneider's memoir. She and her brother were abandoned by their mother in 1941, and decades later she found her mother again and heard the story of a woman who believed Hitler to be a hero and never repented joining the Nazi Party, even as she was dying in an Austrian nursing home while her daughter tried to come to terms with her mother's war crimes. The writing is plain and no better than anything you'd find on a latter-day blog, but again the truth of this story is so compelling I recommend it without reservation. Well, one reservation: it is profoundly disturbing. But it is important. Less compelling then the other two, "Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed" (1979) by Philip Hallie tells a little-known story of a village in occupied France that decided to do something about the atrocities around them, savings thousands of peoples' lives. A Higher Call Let Me Go Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed
