How long is my WWII fascination going to last? (Roman, events, Japanese)

[txfriend]

For me it’s not all that fascinating, if you see it closeup and witness the aftermath of WWII. A country destroyed and family killed. I saw enough of war from WWII, Congo and Vietnam. I don’t need to read about it.

[slowlane3]

I recommend the recent book "A Higher Call" - about the reunion in recent years, and friendship between a USAAF bomber pilot and a slightly older Luftwaffe pilot, who had inexplicably held his fire and spared the American's life as his badly crippled plane was returning to England after a bombing raid. They were able to identify each other, decades later, and pair up on speaking-tours.

Fly Boys, and Flags of Our Fathers, both books by James Bradley. The first one about the unit that George Bush, Sr. was in, as the youngest pilot in the entire Air Force, and his poignant reunion with a Hawaii-born reluctant Japanese veteran. It describes how propagandists such as the future "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, caricatured the Japanese people as pesky insects, with slanty eyes and leery grins, to be chased away by insecticide spray.............. The second book reviews the battle of Iwo Jima, how the island was insufficiently bombed before the horrifically bloody Marines invasion began, and it goes over the personal background of the 5 soldiers who were depicted raising the flag on the island - how each soldier came from a different state and background.

"Berlin Embassy" was re-published last year, in paperback, after being out of publication for decades. Written by an American Embassy staffer there in 1939- 1940, it describes the long lines of Germans desperate to obtain visas to catch the last ship or plane out of Germany when war broke out. The author traveled and had many contacts with common German people in social situations. Although the German populace must have observed the ratcheting up of armaments production in the preceding years, yet they were complacent and asked no questions. When war broke out after the first Polish blitzkrieg, the Nazi newspapers made no mention that the western powers had declared war. The press only said that a "special situation" called for the cutting off of postal service and communication with the West - and the imposition of severe food and clothing rationing almost as soon as war began. The author estimates that 60% of the Germans he knew secretly listened to BBC German news - as stores sold our of privacy headphones, the week of the Blitz. And the press never gave any accounting of the "Winter Relief" donations of small change, so diligently collected each week for poor Germans, throughout the war. The author says the funds were all fraudently spent of making more armaments. And all the savings, Germans set aside as personal down.payments on new Volkswagens, just disappeared. No one ever got their money back.

[txfriend]

Interesting side note, I was stationed at the same base my uncle was in Libya, but he was with the Afrika Korps.

[jeffdoorgunner]

Originally Posted by txfriend

Interesting side note, I was stationed at the same base my uncle was in Libya, but he was with the Afrika Korps.

that is interesting...……..any signs that it was used in WW2?

[Mathguy]

My interest in WW2 has waned slightly but only because it's hard to find something fresh and new I didn't know about.

But once in a while, I find a gem or two and it's WW2 GEEK-fest in my brain.

Some of my "obscure" recent favorites:
-Website of people sharing their WW2 experiences, Russians though. Female sniper and T32 crewman were excellent.
-Netflix had a thing on raids, one piece covered the raid on the heavy water plant. During the german manhunt after the raid one guy got spotted and chased on skis for like 5hours ending in a gun fight with the lone german able to keep up. They both ran out of ammo and then skied off in opposite directions....lmao.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by greatblueheron

I'm totally enthralled. Have read, read, read over the last several years. Particularly into Hitler (3 bios) and the Holocaust, most recently.

Guess this is a lifelong fascination for many?

My dad was a paratrooper/Purple Heart recipient, another reason I became so interested....hard to imagine my dad at 19 dropping into warfare. Still amazed at the courage of so many.

My Dad joined the navy a little before meeting my mom. He was sent to Hawaii and there they solidified their relationship, they married in Panama. He joined to get away from the ramily, old sourthern, and Mom staying with her mom and Dad moving along in life. He had dreamed about living in a different place for a long time. Then the war began in earnest and blood and she had a long visit with hid Alabama family.


She respected them, even if she mostly did not like their ways. When the war ended, they moved back to California. What you don't get about California and ends of wars is that it redefined everything for those who got home. It was time to move on. Get education and training, and do something better than their parents. Many were older than 'normal' but had spent their time and more in the military. And when all of them came home, it was with cheers that they arrived.


Dad's family mostly tried out farming. But then half of them, the sons, were involved in the new things our new culture was making necessary. After the war, many stayed in their new jobs. Not only my dad looked towareds the sky, but several of his nephews and two brothers. The farm finally got sold when the sons of the sons followed their dad',s amd eventually it was sold to one brother and parents.


To this day, their grandsons got involved in aeryspace and worked in it as well. Dad never talked about the war, but he also clearly loved the job he pickedj.



But it was a time when the details and events did not really ever become a converstation. Dad did not want to remember the war, but woulld sit and talk about how he and his buddies supported each other and they kept themselves from giving up. He did absolutely refuse Mom buy anything made in Japan for years. He started out a young farm kid on the edge of a horrible war.


I don't know why, but I still have a deep fascination about that war, but the ones I saw on tv over dinner in south Viet Nam left its own imprint. And As Dad and I am of as firm certainty sometimes, those sort of discussions were not allowed. We just waited until it was just Dad and me. But I think it helped make me take apart the absolutes and see what remains in histories. I loved asking the what ifs...what if some event had happened a little later, or earlier, what then? I still LOVE those and also enjoy writing alternate history in their stories too.


I think if Dad had lived longer, he'd like my stories. Its all about people, and how they order their lives, and how somehow we manage to muddle through, atleast so far....


I still wonder what Dad would have to say about ME deciding to move to Oklahoma when he did all he could to escape Alabama.

[Brave New World]

Originally Posted by greatblueheron

I'm totally enthralled. Have read, read, read over the last several years. Particularly into Hitler (3 bios) and the Holocaust, most recently.

Guess this is a lifelong fascination for many?

My dad was a paratrooper/Purple Heart recipient, another reason I became so interested....hard to imagine my dad at 19 dropping into warfare. Still amazed at the courage of so many.

I could happily spend hours in a good historic war museum, and WW1, WW2, the Cold War and a host of historic events are very interesting.

[txfriend]

Originally Posted by jeffdoorgunner

that is interesting...……..any signs that it was used in WW2?

The base was originally built by the Italian Air Force in 1923 and known as Mellaha Air Base. Later used by the Germans Luftwaffe for short range reconnaissance. In 1947 it was renamed to Wheelus AB. In 1970 after Gaddafi’s control of Libya, the U.S. was expelled and the base was renamed Okba Ben Nafi Air Base and used by the Soviet AF. In 1986 the U.S. bombed the base during Operation El Dorado Canyon in retaliation for the 1986 West Berlin discotheque bombing. The base is now Mitiga International Airport.

[odanny]

I've been reading about it since 1995. Two works that are the most searing, in my opinion, are grunts eye views of the war, and the two that stand out, amongst so many, are "With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge (A Marine in the Pacific whose book was the basis for "The Pacific" by Steven Spielberg) and "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer, a Wehrmacht soldier in Russia (yes, I know many say it is fiction, but it does not detract from the immense power of his story)

Another stellar and powerful read is "Prisoners of the Japanese" by Gavan Dawes, it is a meticulously researched and intense story about the network of POW camps run by the Japanese, and the story of those who were held in them. Both horrific and inspiring.

I'll assume you've read both volumes of "Adolf Hitler" by John Toland, the gold standard IMO on the biography of him, and the most viscerally memorable book I've read on the Holocaust is "The Theory and Practice of Hell" (cannot remember author) who was a Jewish physician at Auschwitz and survived because he was allowed to assist the Nazi's.

[Coldjensens]

I was fascinated with WWII as a kid (jr high school). Then I pretty much lost all interest until recently. I promised a friend and former partner I would write a book about his WWII adventures when I finally got time. He died before I had time to write the book, but now I have some time and I am researching it and it has re-sparked an interest. He fought in Africa and Italy which I never knew much about, and pretty much ignored, so I am learning all new things. To start on getting a feeling for the style of writing history as opposed to fiction, I read a book about the Destroyer Laffey which is mostly in the pacific and that rekindled my general interest in the war (great book but it also gave me some things not to do in writing such a book). I am not going to go back to reading nothing but WWII history books and reading them constantly, but I will likely expand my research beyond what I need for the book I am working on. It is all so interesting. Besides I need a general understnading of the times and events

Maybe I will re-read some of the old books I still have around from Jr. high school. I had some really good books, but most were about the Pacific theater.