I went to the opening of Ken Burns’ World War Two documentary called “The War” the other night in Waterbury Connecticut. My father and uncle are in some episodes and we got to see a preview of the fourteen hour series. Burns stated that there were two compelling reasons to get the documentary finished. One was the fact that one thousand WW2 veterans are dying everyday. Their stories are our national histories and heritage. The other reason was a statistic that frightened Burns. A sizable percentage of graduating high school seniors think that the US was allied with Germany to fight against the Russians. The teaching of history is being trashed at the risk of unimaginable consequences. Talk to your Fathers and Grandfathers. Ask them about their experiences. Get their stories so that their knowledge can live on. And teach your children well.
My uncle Raymond Leopold is in about four of the episodes. At 92 he did not forget one thing he experienced those many years ago. Unfortunately he died just last month but thank God Burn’s recorded his incredibly interesting and valuable story for history and for the rest of us.
