This blog is an endeavor to shine a light on some of those humble heroes of the WW II.
If you ever think back to the long ago (longer for some of us) days of grade school, what do you most remember? Recess, of course, and if you were lucky to have wonderful cooks like Mrs. Demming and Mrs Nigg, the aroma and to-die-for cinnamon rolls, breads, and casseroles will always be a special memory.  Running a close race for my favorite memory is the time after lunch if our teachers often read to us. This was when I could enter magical worlds and become a part of the story. I could fly away to tropical islands with Robinson Crusoe or could overcome problems with Meg and her sisters in Little Women. However, a very small book, one not nearly as well-known as many, was much more influential in my future life. Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan ignited a love of history. Set in Norway during WW II, the book describes the clandestine activities of the children who risked their lives to save more than nine million dollars of gold from the national treasury. They had to sled wealth of their country past the Nazis who had taken over their land.  Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan ignited a love of history.

This book and others in the historical “fiction” genre made me realize that real heroes were seldom famous or even recognized.  It’s the common things people have done day to day throughout history to defeat injustice and insanity that have preserved our culture.  The stage manager in Thorton Wilder’s play Our Town states, “Babylon once had two million people in it, and all we know about ’em is the names of the kings and some copies of . . .  contracts for the sale of slaves. Yet every night all those families sat down to supper, and the father came home from his work .  . . And even in Greece and Rome, all we know about the real life of the people is what we can piece together out of the joking poems and the comedies”. . .and histories.   The play goes on to show that the everyday person who does what needs to be done each day is the true hero we seldom appreciate.

 Babylon once had two million people in it, and all we know about ’em is the names of the kings and . . .

This blog is an endeavor to shine a light on some of those humble heroes of the WW II. When Tom Browkaw published The Greatest Generation, my first thought was, That is the book I was going to write someday. I wanted elderly friends and family to be recognized, if only for a few moments, for their sacrifices. As I researched my soon-to-be-published-novel,  it suddenly occurred to me that I paid to take two graduate level WW II college classes. The contributions of women were never mentioned. Seems the War was fought and won by the generals and admirals.  Hopefully this blog Nurses, Airmen, and the Home-front will begin to remedy that oversight as some less academic books have done, and perhaps the blog will whet your appetite to learn more about the generation that did so much to change the world. When my book is finally published late this year, Just Doin’ Our Duty will relate much more.

If you were a visitor to my defunct blog, (below), which died from TD –technical difficulty-you may recognize a few people and ideas from the posts on the “Humble Heroes.” With help from some tech savvy friends, I am hoping that you will be able to leave comments and share stories if you want.  Your ideas will be appreciated and I will do my best to reply.

Inspiration and Meditations Prompted by WWII Nurses, Humble Heroes & Homefront

Thoughts inspired by the lives and ideals of parents, relatives and friends during WW II