Whenever I want someone to believe that I am younger than I look, I tell them that whatever they are talking about was "before my time." And in the case of D-Day in France 70 years ago on June 6, "that was before my time." In fact, it was four full years before my birth. So I am not even a war baby. My parents had not met in 1944, and they were still finishing up their teens.
But years later when I taught at the American School of The Hague, I visited France many, many times with my 7th Graders on Project France. Although we never visited the exact 50 mile stretch of beaches where the Allied forces landed on June 6, we always followed the signs of General George Patton along the road to St. Malo. And we toured with the children (and I sometimes as the guide) some of the cities that made up that historic crusade.
So what was "before my time" became part of my "time." In fact, I spent probably almost 20 weeks of my teaching career traveling where those brave soldiers marched.
You might enjoy Life magazine photo editor John G. Morris's shots of newly liberated people and towns in Normandy in the weeks after D-Day 1944.
Click Somewhere in France
God bless those brave men and women who risked their lives and stormed those beaches.....and God bless the teachers who don't let us forget.
ReplyDeleteJa, dat wordt een grote ceremonie aanstaande vrijdag.
ReplyDeleteHet is goed om te blijven herdenken.
Met lieve groet,
Gerry
I will have to remember that phrase! :-)
ReplyDeleteOh- I can remember hearing my parents talk about D-Day! That was well before my time, too. God bless those service people that did what they felt called to do for duty and their country. How wonderful you could do that with all your students- xo Diana
ReplyDeleteIt must have been an interesting topic to teach.
ReplyDeleteYes, bless those who served and lost their lives for us! One of my uncles served under Patton...refuses to talk about it...any part of it. God bless him!...:)JP
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