We All Have a Story To Tell

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The shock of entry into World War II proved to be energizing to the nation and to us as a people.
Rather than the grand actions that historians would have us believe is the story of war, these stories are human stories, stories of the men who put their life on the line out of a sense of duty, of responsibility, of patriotism, of loyalty to comrades. Mostly though, their choices came about because they were in situations that gave them the choice of doing what was needed, of dying, of redemption or for some battlefield situations, of escaping into insanity. Within the civilian population something can be seen of their effort and their sacrifice that produced the goods of war that made winning possible.
Not thinking of themselves as heroic or unusual, their stories, for the most part, were unknown to the families of the individuals telling them.
I have been fortunate that within family and friends I have uncovered the previously untold stories of civilian as well as soldiers that provide a broad picture of involvement in a spectrum of actions during that period of time identified as WW II. These stories range from the commonly accepted stories of battles and battlefield action to the story of a young woman living through the occupation of Holland and resulting starvation as well as that of her cousin who spent the war in Germany as a labor prisoner, where he endured with the German people the massive bombings that killed at least 12,000 people in the city of Frankfurt.
Much of the military action described is of campaigns in the Pacific Theater where I spent 22 months in a non-combat role. Twin brothers were also there and engaged in six major campaigns beginning with Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, and Okinawa to provide an unforgettable picture of ground war action. One friend was living in Honolulu during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Another friend was involved in the Normandy attack, a cousin was badly wounded i