Is your family talking about it today?

Is your family talking about what happened sixty-nine years ago today? I hope so.

Much of the world honors what happened on this day in 1944, D-Day, when American, Canadian, and British troops invaded Normandy, France. The event started the liberation of France and western Europe and led to the downfall of Nazi Germany.

Military and civilian casualties were stunning.  Melissa Marsh, World War II historian, describes that day as “a bloody, horrific and terrifying day.”

Melissa urges us to consider real people who experienced D-Day. Think about it: Whether you knew them or not, probably some of your ancestors were involved in one way or another. Be sure your children and grandchildren know their stories.

“Sometimes, we need to take a step back,” Melissa says, “and look at the individuals who made this invasion possible—the infantryman, the paratrooper, the tank drivers, the landing boat drivers, and on and on.

“It wasn’t just about military strategies and generals and officers,” Melissa continues. “It was also about the common soldier.

“It’s easy to group these individuals into one entity: the military. But,” she reminds us, “each one represents a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a sweetheart. Each one had a family, a friend, a wife, a sister, a brother, a daughter, a son, a lover.”

In my family, for example, on D-Day, almost every young man my mother knew lost his life. Almost every boy she dated, almost every boy who pulled a prank on her, went to church picnics with her, flirted with her: gone.

Her sister’s boyfriend, heading toward shore, in the face of enemy fire, jumped overboard. The boat’s motor blades took his life. (Read more and see a photo at Your Family and D-Day.)

What are your family’s stories? Where did they live during World War II? London? Canada? Germany? The US?

Today I have a treat for you. Take a couple of minutes to read this account of a French girl who was age six when the war started and twelve when the war ended. During those years, she and her family suffered severe hardships, food shortages, air raids, and bombings.

They also experienced D-Day. It was no dry material in a history book for them!

Recently, more than sixty years later, she wrote to her grandson, Alec, “Ah, unparalleled joy when, on June 6, 1944, we heard that the Americans and Allied forces had landed in Normandy.… What an incredible feat they accomplished that day. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of them!” (Be sure to read Lest We Forget: D-Day, June 6, 1944 at the blog, French Girl in Seattle. Her collection of photos is superb.)

If you include D-Day accounts in your memoir, keep in mind that this genre includes digging for deeper lessons.

You’ll need to ponder, examine, and unravel. How did D-Day impact your family, both positively and negatively? Why? What benefits do you enjoy today because of the sacrifices of so many on D-Day?

If you lost a loved one or friend, what did God do to comfort and provide for those left behind?

For those whose family members returned home after the war: In what specific ways did God protect them and give them courage and stamina?

How did the experience change their lives? Strengthen their faith? Change their lives’ directions?

What was God doing in the midst of D-Day—for your family, your parents and grandparents? Your nation? This world?

Those involved in D-Day and World War II experienced events that shaped them, and they in turn shaped their children and grandchildren, and they still shape who we are today. God uses such events to form important family values and attitudes that run through the generations.

What stories can you pass on to your children and grandchildren? They are important!

Here are excellent resources for you:

Melissa Marsh has her MA in History with a special interest in World War II. Her blog, The Best of World War II, has photos and a wealth of information.

The World War II Data Base includes photos and information about numerous countries.

For inspirational reading, “The Hardest Decision I Ever Had to Make,” by Erwin A. Thompson, World War II Hero. 

“One of the great challenges of the writer is to produce a text that will …”

Donald M. Murray tells about reading a World War II story and interpreting it through his own experience as a paratrooper in that war.

His wife worked in the Pentagon during World War II and when she reads the same book, “she will read a different book,” says Murray in The Craft of Revision.

Murray continues, “When my daughters, who were … raised during the Vietnam era, read it, they will each read a still different text.”

In the same way, your memoir’s readers will interpret your stories through their own experiences and historical eras.

Murray says:

“One of the great challenges of the writer is to produce a text that will cause readers to draw on their different experiences and still understand what we have to say.”

How can you write stories from your past that will resonate with readers growing up in a different epoch? Perhaps some of your readers have not yet been born!

“The first step,” Murray says, “is to recognize that our world may be different from the reader’s.”

In addition to recognizing readers will live in a different historical setting, he says, “We must recognize that our readers may not share our religion; our political party; [or] our economic perspective.…”

In writing a book about World War II, Murray says, “I must remember that my readers may not know what an M-1—our rifle—was, or a C-45—the two-engine troop-carrier plane from which we jumped. They may never have heard of the Maginot Line … or the SS …; may not even know of the Holocaust.…”

Imagine the year is 2040 and your great-grandson, age twenty-five, is reading your memoir.

Will he understand that when your house caught fire in 1962, you could not run outside with your phone to call the fire department because phones were attached to the wall with a cord? And that’s why you had to stay inside to call for help, and that’s why your pajamas caught fire? And that’s why your legs have scars?

If you came of age during the Vietnam era, especially if you or a loved one was drafted into the military, you’ll want readers to understand the political, social, and religious factors that divided and rocked our nation during those years. (You’ll probably need to explain what the draft was, too.)

Charlie Hale has compiled several brilliant pieces about both World War II and the war in Vietnam, including I Remember: Viet Nam, my friends, and Memorial Day.

Over at Diana Trautwein’s blog, she writes “It was the mid 1960’s and the escalating war in Vietnam brought deep soul-searching for many men of draft-able age. My husband had a unique up-bringing which led to an unusual choice, a choice which took him far away from the jungles of [Vietnam].… A saving grace in the draft process was to register as a 1-W—a ‘person opposed to bearing arms by reason of personal religious conviction.’ And that’s exactly what my husband had done.… He had registered as a conscientious objector (CO) … [and] that meant two years of service offered in lieu of joining the military. My husband wanted to do those two years somewhere far from home.…” (from An African Journal—Post One: Beneath the Surface)

If you want to witness a master craftsman make history come alive, take seven minutes at Charlie Hale’s blog for his video, The Images, Stories, and Songs of War. He uses black and white photos, songs of the era, and his concise narrative to capture both World War II and Vietnam—and their stark differences. It is a riveting piece.

Learn from Donald M. Murray, Charlie Hale, and Diana Trautwein. Capture the social, political, religious, and economic milieu of your life stories. Your history and your world are different from those of your readers but with a bit of effort, you can do what Murray says: “produce a text that will cause readers to draw on their different experiences and still understand what [you] have to say.” 

Your family and D-Day

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Monday was the 67th anniversary of D-Day. Melissa Marsh* describes it as “a bloody, horrific, and terrifying day.”


This week the TV news, newspapers, and Internet made, for the most part, only brief, general references to D-Day.


For example, according to Canada Remembers* on Facebook, the Canadian forces’ “courage and skill helped lead the Allied advance and soon, the Canadians had captured three shoreline positions.”


But Melissa reminds us not to settle for brief and general. She urges us to consider real people who experienced D-Day:


“… Sometimes, we need to take a step back and look at the individuals who made this invasion possible—the infantryman, the paratrooper, the tank drivers, the landing boat drivers, and on and on.


“It wasn't just about military strategies and generals and officers...it was also about the common soldier.


“It's easy to group these individuals into one entity: the military. But looking at those men's faces reminds us that each one represents a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a sweetheart. Each one had a family, a friend, a wife, a sister, a brother, a daughter, a son, a lover.”


Your relatives probably played a role in D-Day events. Perhaps some served as soldiers while loved ones remained home.


Has your family recorded those stories?


My mother chronicled vivid memories of World War II. She and many women carried out both women’s and men’s work by day and huddled around radios by night, eager for news from the warfront.


On D-Day, June 6, 1944, my grandparents, mother, and aunts lived in Ontario, Canada.


On that day, almost every young man my mother knew lost his life.


Almost every boy she dated, almost every boy who pulled a prank on her, went to church picnics with her, flirted with her—gone.


The boys and young men whose pictures fill Mom’s photo albums—almost every one died.


My aunt’s boyfriend might be in this photo. Allwyn was among Canadian troops heading toward shore on D-Day.

In the face of enemy fire, rather than engage in horrors awaiting him on the beach, Allwyn jumped overboard. The boat’s motor blades took his life.

We can only speculate why he jumped. Perhaps he was terrified of being killed.


On the other hand, maybe he recognized he did not want to kill.


What are your family’s stories of D-Day?


If you include D-Day accounts in your memoir, remember: As a memoirist, look for deeper lessons. Pondering, examining, unraveling, musing, wondering, and retrospection are necessary ingredients in memoirs. Looking back, what is your understanding of D-Day’s impact on your family? On you?


If you lost a relative or friend, how did God comfort and provide for those left behind?


If your loved ones returned home, in what ways did God give them protection, courage, and stamina?


How did the experience change their lives? Was their faith strengthened?


Whether or not you lost someone, in what specific ways did God act on behalf of your family?


What lessons can you pass on to your kids and grandkids?


Write your story!


Here are excellent resources for you:


Melissa Marsh has her MA in History with a special interest in World War II. Her blog, The Best of World War II, has photos and a wealth of information. http://bestofww2.blogspot.com


The World War II Data Base includes photos and information about numerous countries. http://ww2db.com/index.php


For inspirational reading: “The Hardest Decision I Ever Had to Make,” by Erwin A. Thompson, WWII Hero. Who to choose for a dangerous night patrol? And, how to get back alive?
http://www.riehlife.com/2011/06/06/the-hardest-decision-i-ever-had-to-make-by-erwin-a-thompson-wwii-hero-who-to-choose-for-a-dangerous-night-patrol-and-how-to-get-back-alive

*Since links still aren't working, copy and paste this link to Marsha's blog post about D-Day:  http://bestofww2.blogspot.com/2011/06/67th-anniversary-of-d-day.html

and here's a link to Canada Remembers on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/CanadaRemembers