Social Education 77(5), pp 232–234 ©2013 National Council for the Social Studies Recovering the Lost Voices of World War II Preserving the Memories of World War II: An Intergenerational Interview Project

James A. Percoco

While addressing World War II U.S. veterans in 2001, Michael DiPaulo, a French senior capstone project requirement and consulate staff member, remarked, “We live in a free world today because in 1945 the also secure a Civics Seal on their diploma. forces of imperfect goodness defeated the forces of near-perfect evil.” The men and None of us realized just how dynamic and women who comprised the “forces of imperfect goodness” are now rapidly leaving life transforming “Capturing the Voices us. The Department of Veterans Administration estimates that each day 600–1,000 of World War II” would become. In its World War II veterans die and each one of them takes their story to the grave. Last first year, students interviewed over 450 year, the number of living American World War II veterans slipped beneath two veterans and people who labored in facto- million. Sixteen million men and women served in uniform from 1941–1945. It is ries and farm fields during the war. What estimated that by 2036 there will no longer be living members of what broadcast for the students began as a high school journalist Tom Brokaw dubbed, “The Greatest Generation.” The youngest living project quickly turned into a labor of love. veterans today are 86. Inspiration became the byword as stu- dents began to empathize with men and In 2004, the National World War II to ensure that the lessons, legacy, and sac- women two generations removed from Memorial was opened and dedicated on rifices of World War II not be forgotten. themselves. Tears and hugs were com- the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is now the most visited memorial in the monplace. Some veterans, who had never Its placement is fitting as just to the east nation’s capital. Many of the visitors are discussed the war with family members, stands the Washington Monument, the the aging World War II veterans them- often opened up for the first time, words nation’s tribute to its eighteenth-century selves, brought to see “their” memorial gushing from them as a cathartic relief. founder, George Washington. To the west, through the Honor Flight Network, a Family members who accompanied their along the banks of the Potomac River, non-profit that flies veterans from around loved one would often remark to me on sits Daniel Chester French’s majestic fig- the United States to Washington, D.C. the side, “Dad never told me this!” ure of Abraham Lincoln, inside Henry at no cost. One of my former colleagues noted, Bacon’s temple to the sixteenth president, After 32 years of teaching history at “History is a contact sport.” Never had the preserver of the Union—the defin- West Springfield High School in Fairfax that ever been truer than for the students, ing American story of the nineteenth- County, Virginia, I joined Friends as veterans, and family members. Not only century Civil War. Between these two their director of education in June 2012. were the students learning history in a commemorations, along 17th Street at We soon developed a groundbreaking powerful, dynamic, and meaningful Independence Avenue, is design architect project related to the Honor Flight pro- way, but they were also learning about Friedrich St. Florian’s seven-acre hom- gram—video interviewing veterans at the themselves, forging deep bonds, and age to World War II. Unlike the Korean memorial, and archiving these interviews preserving important stories for future Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam online in a systematic way that permitted generations. In these special moments, Veterans Memorial, the National World family members, teachers, scholars, and the National World War II Memorial War II Memorial honors not just those students to access them. In what is very transforms from stone and metal into a who served in uniform, but the entire much a race against time, we considered living legacy. nation’s epic story—both the battlefront this project a golden opportunity to bring “We believe that the student/veteran and the home front are recognized in the “latest generation” in contact with interview project is a unique and impor- granite and bronze. the “greatest generation.” Who better to tant way of preserving in our national The Friends of the National World conduct these interviews than high school memory the reflections of the veterans War II Memorial was established in students? who are able to visit the Memorial,” said 2007 to serve, in part, as an organiza- I asked nine students that I had taught Rolland Kidder, a National World War tion devoted to educating young people at West Springfield to join me in this proj- II Memorial board member. “It also pro- and visitors to the memorial in an effort ect, which would help them fulfill their vides a means of linking the experience

Social Education 232 Photo by James Percoco Photo by Duane Lempke for the Friends of the National WWII Memorial

West Springfield High School senior Shehroz Rauf interviews Navy veteran Richard Peter Thomas recites his poem at the 2013 Memorial Day pro- Oines, who navigated landing craft ashore in Normandy on D-Day. (October 2012.) gram at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2013.) of these veterans with today’s youth so to these people than you see in front of Thomas has followed the proj- that a new generation of Americans can you. Each one of them has so much to tell ect closely from his home in Naples, better understand what can occur when and teach us, but they often go unheard. Florida. His interview took place on our country is united in a just and com- This program helps put these stories out Memorial Day, 2013. “Many of us vet- mon cause.” there for newer generations to see. These erans have kept so many memories of For 18-year-old Claire Schindler, the men and women have sacrificed too much that time to ourselves. But through the experience was profound. She says that in their lifetimes to not be heard.” love and caring of these students, veter- she realized that everyone in World War Then there are the veterans themselves. ans have shared so many long ago memo- II had a story to tell, that there were a Peter Thomas was 19 when he landed ries—many for the very first time,” said range of perspectives, and that even those on Omaha Beach at midnight on June 7, Thomas. “As I was interviewed in the with a “more famous experience” weren’t 1944, as part of the 1st Infantry Division. shadow of the World War II Memorial, necessarily ready to talk about it. “I was He fought from D-Day+1 until the end I looked around and felt the overpower- particularly surprised how young these of the war, receiving a Purple Heart, the ing nearness of that generation. We came people were when they enlisted. They Bronze Star, the French Croix de Guerre, out of the Depression with very little. were actually our age, some even dropped and five campaign stars among other cita- Our parents couldn’t help us because out of high school or forged their birth tions. Thomas endured life in a foxhole they didn’t have anything to give. So we certificate just so they could serve,” said during the horrific Battle of Huertgen learned to depend on ourselves. That Schindler. “The passion and tears behind Forest, with German 88 artillery shells is why we were great soldiers. We knew every story just drew me in more and smashing around him, was pulled out the answer to everything we faced came more. ... It got to the point where I was for a week of rest and relaxation only to from within ourselves.” so emotionally attached that I didn’t keep find himself seven days later in frigid Eckehard Muessig, 90, a member of track of my hours and I actually lost my conditions fighting in the Battle of the the First Marine Division, saw heavy hours sheet a couple of times. It wasn’t Bulge. On Christmas Eve Day, his platoon fighting in the Pacific at places like about getting hours, it was about shar- lost their favorite squad leader, Sergeant New Britain and Peleliu, sustaining a ing history with people, which through Stamborsky. Before the war ended, he wound of such severity on Okinawa that this project I have learned is one of my participated in the liberation of the con- he spent seven months recovering in a favorite things to do.” centration camp at Noordhausen. Like hospital. He echoed Thomas’s senti- Will Stone, a junior at West Springfield most veterans, the war was the defining ments. “The young people conducting concurred. “I’ve learned that there is more moment of his life. the interviews made me realize that

October 2 013 233 whatever we achieved will be carried Friends of the National World War II forth by this generation and improved Memorial wants to encourage teachers upon.” across the nation to engage in similar OMAHA BEACH Parents, too, see the value of this proj- activities and encourages educators and ect. “As a parent of one of the first stu- students to reach out to local Veterans By Peter A. Thomas dents involved, I have had the privilege of Foreign War and American Legion When we went in, the beach had been taken of watching this project develop from Posts to find veterans in their own com- The living fought on, the dead forsaken the beginning,” said Susan Simmons. munities to share their stories with young We were dropped into water up to our shoul- “With each interview, each life captured, people in an equally dynamic fashion. ders I have witnessed history being docu- It is the hope of our organization that We waded in—a group of green soldiers mented. What an incredible honor for we can be the repository of these video Onto that thin strip of beach So many had tried to reach. our daughter and our whole family.” interviews and will work to help students They were the ones who went in first After the war, American poet and teachers facilitate such a project. Among the machine gun fire and shell burst Archibald MacLeish, also a veteran, As a teacher, I always enjoyed the They went to watery graves wrote “The Young Dead Soldiers Do moment when a student’s preconceived Sinking under the waves The water was red Not Speak” a eulogy to the carnage. notion was turned on its head, like when Red from the dead Like others, MacLeish was searching Andy Chen, who confided in me, said, Red from the dying to make sense of such a human catas- “I thought that this would turn out like In agony crying trophe. His line, “We leave you our any other project…. I didn’t realize Those who made the land deaths, give them their meaning,” is the importance of the lessons that this Were not able to stand They fell on the sand the apogee of the meter and was part project held until my very first interview. Writhing in pain of the World War II Memorial’s initial During that first interview, I could hear Screaming for help in vain. design to be etched in granite above the the emotion in the veteran’s voice as he field of 4,000 gold stars, each one repre- recalled his memories of the war. I still Every advantage was on the hill They murdered our men at will senting a hundred lives lost, during the remember some of what he said, and I The rain of death from the cliffs never stopped war. As is often the case in the give and hope that I will never forget the lessons But we just kept coming in from the sea take of national memorial building that and sacrifices of these veterans.” Wave after wave, as far as you could see quote was abandoned. However, the Sheer courage and determination students and veterans who have partici- Not believing they were done James A. Percoco is the director of educa- Dictated the victory that day. pated in the “Capturing the Voices of tion for the Friends of the National World War II Others in the future will say World War II” project have resurrected Memorial and a member of the National Teachers When they stand on that mighty height MacLeish’s words in a way that no one Hall of Fame. And look down on that thin strip of beach could have foreseen. They’ll say, “I don’t see how they ever did it.” They fought for every inch of it Up the sides of that fortified wall You can locate “Capturing the Voices of World War II” on the Friends of the National World War II Memorial’s Over the tops of those cliffs so tall. website, www.wwiimemorialfriends.org I’ll never forget that beach I’ll never forget the men Ten years after disembarking his landing craft and trudging up the bluffs of In the ships Omaha Beach, at midnight on June 7, 1944, Peter Thomas penned a poignant In the air and on the land tribute to the events of D-Day on the shores of Normandy, France. A member of And those who died on the sand the 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One, Thomas fought across all of Europe And in the water. engaged in heavy combat in the breakout from France, in the Huertgen Forest, They lie now beneath thousands of white the Battle of the Bulge, and liberated the concentration camp at Nordhausen, crosses Germany. During World War II, he received the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Five And Stars of David Campaign Stars, and the Croix de Guerre. Above the beach While you might not recognize his name, you would his voice, as Thomas is Those wonderful soldiers who died so young the most ubiquitous voiceover narrator in the United States of the last 50 years. They died so we Thomas has narrated hundreds of TV commercials for Coke, for Listerine, for IBM, Could be free and Cool Whip among many others. His voice is heard in numerous documentary films produced for the History Channel, PBS, and Discovery. Born in 1924, and How can we ever forget what they did still active in veterans’ affairs, Thomas works from his home in Naples, Florida. We honor them this day To see and hear Peter Thomas recite “Omaha Beach” visit the Friends of the We salute them National World War II Memorial website: www.wwiimemorialfriends.org and go And we humbly beseech to the May 2013 Memorial Day Ceremony Video, Part I, at 22 minutes. Dear God, bless the men who died on Omaha Beach.

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