I got out of order on my prompts trying to fill spaces.
Armistice Day. I’m going to write about the war Tom Browaw forgets.
As a kid living in Germany, there were lots of things I saw related to the First World War.
98 years ago today, the fighting stopped, but I think a good argument can be made that the war’s never really ended.
I’ve been googling around, looking to see if I can find relatives who served. I know one of my great-grandfathers did. He was a Second Lieutenant in the Army. My great-grandmother used to tell the story of how they were let out on leave between training and shipping off overseas. The platoon sergeant told them not to go get married during their breaks. All but a couple in the platoon did (my great-grandparents included).
But, there’s so much that people don’t know about. How about the Rape of Belgium?
The quip about Tom Brokaw is related to this. So much of what Brokaw’s been doing since he “retired” is directly-related to the “greatest generation.” Yes, World War II was a disaster. Yes, the blame for some of its causes can be squarely pointed at the United States.
Still, the seeds of the war were planted as the European empires collapsed. Because we had an ineffective academic president (sound familiar?), his grand scheme to punish the Germans in perpetuity didn’t pass the Senate, and let the French and British set the state for the use of the Third Reich.
Also lot on many is the sheer number of people who died in a four-year war. I can remember my dad taking us to the Somme battlefield, and having no way of understanding what it meant that one million people. died in that single battle.
I was last in Belgium in 1993 or 1994. The town of Bastogne was invaded by the Germans at least three times, but when most Americans think of it, all people might know is General McAuliffe’s “nuts.”
I don’t remember much coverage of it when I was in high school, despite being in Germany. When I got back to the States, there was even less. I asked my wife about what she’d learned, and it was basically nothing.
As we’re now in the century mark since the war, there’s been bits here and there. Seeing poppies at the Redskins’ game probably befuddled many.
I watched the ABC/CBC/BBC documentary series on one of the streaming services (Netflix or Hulu). Just incredible. People just don’t know.
And today is Veterans’ Day, which is the US version of what was the commemoration of the armistice. The cease fire went into effect on the Western Front the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the month.