Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Student Sharon Kenney Discusses World War 2


(Note: We have been studying the history of World War 2 at our school as we prepare for a field trip to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans. The official name of the museum is now the National World War 2 Museum. One of our students, Sharon Kenney, at left in photo, was especially interested in the subject and presents this essay below. Adrian)


What I've Learned About World War 2
By Sharon Kenney
Germany invaded Poland; Britain and France declared war against Germany. Here are the leaders: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Chiang Kai-Shek, Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini. World War 2 clearly pitted good against evil.
I learned about World War 2 that terrible things happen in war. It's very sad; people are killed for no reason. They had guns that could shoot for miles. Airplanes would fly and drop bombs. Babies, children and all kinds of people died.
My brother Walter went to war; he was in World War 2. At the time you only could serve two years. We were poor. My brother would deliver newspapers in the morning before he would go to school. When he made 18, he went to the military and served for two years. He was discharged in 1944. Then the war ended, and Walter went on with his life as a family man.

(How many men and women had their lives severely disrupted or destroyed by that war!? Our students are learning not just what happened in the war, but also why it happened. Many were initially unaware of many of the events, but we hope our visit to the D-Day Museum will help our students to understand how horrible the war was, how important it was that the Axis Powers be defeated. It was crucial that the world be freed from the evils of Tojo and Hitler. In our small group classes, our students were shocked by the terrible events on December 7th, 1941 which everyone compared to the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11; and everyone was horrified at the Nazi mass murders in the genocide known as the Holocaust. So, it is quite a serious subject to study.
-- Adrian)

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