My dad's mother died last fall. She grew up in England during the Depression and served in uniform in World War II; I've discussed her service in a previous post.
I'm fortunate to have inherited decades of listening to nana's stories. This Thursday I get to share them.
My principal has agreed to fund a substitute for me while I share her stories with 4 different US History classes at my school. I'll talk about the night Coventry was hit big, about what it was like to walk home after an air raid. I'll share nana's story about holding the equivalent rank of sergeant in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, a "women's arm" of the military--and about her service in a mixed-gender anti-aircraft battery. I'll share pictures, coins, and paper money.
For me, World War II isn't some black-and-white-picture war from a book. It was real, and I hope to make it real, and make it interesting, for 4 classes' worth of students this week.
If it isn't too much to ask, would it be possible to get a recording of one of your lectures?
ReplyDeleteWho has such recording devices anymore?! I'll see if I can scrounge up a voice recorder.
ReplyDeleteReminded me of a video:
ReplyDeletethe war was in color
...well worth watching for those who haven't seen it.
That sounds great. I wish I were a kid in one of those classes.
ReplyDeleteWhat a video. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed the part about the mixed-gender AA battery. Violette Szabo, who became an underground agent in occupied France, served in one of these batteries.
ReplyDeleteMost of the kids will have a voice recorder as part of their mobile phones and/or MP3 players. You could ask to borrow one of those, depending on how it would fit in with school rules.
ReplyDeleteDad's mother? I'm terribly sorry for your loss, but at the same time, so glad you got to walk this earth with her for as long as you did. Folks like that are a treasure. A natural resource that is quickly disappearing.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure she's proud of the work you're doing, keeping it all alive.
My father served in the Army Air Corps in WWII. Before he died in 2001, he wrote several stories about his Life Before TV.
ReplyDeleteA few of them focus on his time in Europe.
Good stories. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDelete