History's keeper
One day last week, I walked into the dining room of a World War II veteran in Laconia. He had invited me to interview him for the Monitor’s “My War” series. Laid out on his dinner table were five thick leather-bound volumes.
In the volumes were hundreds of pages of single-spaced, typed letters that the man, Robert Graves, had written home during his service as a World War II flier. The originals were handwritten, but Graves’s father had carefully transcribed each one, using both sides of vanilla-colored construction paper. He had added photos, church bulletins, postcards, London theater programs, V-Mail facsimiles – anything that enhanced the telling of his son’s war story. In all, the five volumes contained more than 800 pages.
Graves is 92 years old. When I sat down to interview him, he knew his war experience in stunning detail. In part, this was because he had written it himself as it happened. He told me his children and grandchildren loved to read the scrapbooks his father had assembled. I imagine this led to discussions about his service that kept the fine points of it close at hand.
For several weeks now, Meg Heckman and I have been interviewing local veterans and others who lived through World War II. We’re still looking for subjects. The only criteria are that you lived through the war and live in the Monitor’s circulation area. You can reach us at mheckman@cmonitor.com or mpride@cmonitor.com or 224-5301 (ext. 313 or 302).
Meg and I have a lot of help on this project. Ari Richter is acting as the main editor of “My War.” Ken Williams is shooting photographs and helping us collect wartime pictures. Charlotte Thibault is making maps. Along with Margot Bowie and Todd Perkins, Charlotte is also working on the web presentation.
And there’s more to come: Students at John Stark High School are lending a hand. Once we have the project launched and moving forward, we hope to work with other students, too.
In the Sunday Monitor, “My War” will debut with Robert Graves’s story. In addition to the oral history in the paper, we’ll post a good selection of Graves’s letters at concordmonitor.com. As the series unfolds, we’ll be trying for other web content that tells the story of local people who were part of the World War II generations.
But for openers, my thanks to Robert Graves and a bow to the memory of his father, whose sturdy, low-tech scrapbooks continue to fulfill – and perhaps even exceed – his intentions for them.
Keeping the Memories Alive
Mike,
I'd like to add my thanks to you and the rest of the folks involved in this project. I was particularly heartened to read that younger people are also involved. That connection between the young and old is important in so many ways. I wasn't fortunate enough to have known any of my grandparents, and the older I get the more I miss knowing them. I kind of lost the connection between generations not having their wisdom and experience available as I was growing up. I've started realizing that more and more since my father died last April.
As many family members do, I hesitated asking too many questions about his experiences during WWII for fear that it would bring back painful memories. Things like [unknowingly] standing in human ashes at a death camp.
When we did speak of the war it would be about how he earned his Purple Hearts, of which he joked "I got blown out of the jeep I was driving and the Chaplin didn't get a scratch on him!". He never spoke about how he earned the Bronze Star or what it was like on Utah beach on D-Day.
I only learned about the death camp experience from a speaker at his funeral. Since then I've realized that there are so many questions I would have loved to have asked him but didn't, and now it's too late. Thank goodness for the mementos he saved, but they're a poor substitute for talking to him when I had the chance.
Any chance I get I encourage young folks (and the not so young) to talk to their parents and grandparents while they have the chance. Find the courage to ask tough questions if you have them. You'll be glad later.
This project and others like it help to keep the memories alive and in the process helps bring the generations closer. It can also provide valuable lessons to help guide us through the troubled times we now find ourselves in.
Thanks again for helping to keep the memories alive.
Mike,
Thanks for your efforts in bringing this series to light. My dad is a WWII veteran and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He is one of handful in his bomber wing that is still alive and we heard over the weekend that yet another of his crew mates is very ill. Dad, is healthy at 85, he doesn't say much, but it must be difficult to watch contemporaries pass on, one by one.
This particular friend has stayed in touch for over 60 years and the families visit almost yearly. Getting my dad and his crew mate together in the same room was a highlight of my childhood and I always loved to hear them discuss the missions and stories. What strikes me as interesting is how they were resigned to the fact that any day could be their last. They would speak about friends and aquaintances that were not as fortunate and were killed in battle; you could see the pain and sadness in their eyes. I think though, that the yearly trading of stories helped them weather this pain.
I think that your efforts are admirable, thanks and keep up the great work!
Bill Bunker