These programs are live captures of talks with audio and video.
Clicking the link will take you to YouTube and will play the program
in a new page.
You can click the full screen window to see a larger view of the
program!
Looking Back on World War II on the 75th Anniversary
The Sioux City Public Museum asked me to do a series of programs
commemorating three major battles of WWII, with a focus on Siouxland's
involvement. These are the programs. (D-Day and Iwo Jima have my audio, but at
this time only the slides are available for the Battle of the Bulge.)
D-Day Remembered, 75 Years Later
(link )
Bulge Remembered 75
Years Later
(link
- slides only )
Iwo Jima Remembered 75 Years Later
(link )
I started this series with the D Day invasion, did the second one on the
Battle of the Bulge, and Iwo Jima is the final part. Consider What we
learned in these three battles: 21,000 Japanese soldiers contested Iwo Jima
fight, and some 70,000 Marines participated over the month-long battle. Over
27,000 Marines were casualties and of those, 6800 died on the island. For an
island 8 miles square.
The first day of D-Day saw 156,000 Allied troops involved, and 4,413 died.
Is it any wonder there was a reconsideration of how many would die if the
Allies attempted an invasion of Japan?
To hear the Al Molskow AFRT interview
from the island of Iwo Jima during the battle,
Click here
These three programs feature numerous pictures and memories of regional
people, while attempting to keep the 'big picture' narrative of the battle.
At the Bulge talk in 2019: Veterans of the battle (Left to Right): Jack
Smith, Bill Merrill, and Mel Forsling.
(Photo by the Sioux City Public Museum.)
Perhaps
the best part was during the presentation of the Bulge program, I asked if
anyone there had participated, or had loved ones who had. The result was
three men who shared their stories, while the wife of a fourth man told of
her husband's experience as he had recently passed. We owe these men, and
their families, a debt that can never be paid. Thus all we can offer is
respect.
Mel's stories of a reconnaissance mission that stumbled onto Germans taking
the parts of American officers to try to lead them away from their objective
was riveting. Jack's experiences, among others, were of the foxholes filled
with snow, the biting cold, and trying to stay warm. Bill told a poignant
story that as a Tank Maintenance guy, he was just told to 'get in the truck,
we're moving out.' He added, you just go where they tell you. He would not
realize until the unit's 50th anniversary reunion in Europe that he and his
unit served at the famous Battle of the Bulge!
Sad to say, it appears Bill and Mel are gone now, as are almost all the
people I quoted in the three programs. But those of us who remain have two
duties: First, to pass on those stories as history, so those who come after
may learn. And second, to honor those who have passed.
It has been my privilege to recount the history of America. We honor these
men by keeping their memories alive.
|
