Ever since I was a kid, WWII has fascinated me--I must have been 8 or 9 when I stumbled upon a simple WWII book for kids at school. I distinctly remember seeing a color drawing of a German Stuka attacking a Polish man on a farm, armed with only a rifle that fired in vain as he was ripped to pieces. Knowing my Grandfather was born in Poland, it hit me that the man could have been him if he didn't leave before the war. It also dawned on me that I would have had relatives in Poland during the war...perhaps some of them were killed. I can also remember my Grandfather telling me about Hitler and the war, but at the time I didn't pay the old man much attention. Maybe a year or two later I read another WWII book at school, this time about the Battle of Midway. I was surprised that a whole other war was going on at the same time, but on the other side of the world. The fact that a war could involve so many people over so much of the world intrigued me. As I grew up I got into other things, but the movie "Schindler's List" rekindled my interest in WWII. Something about the true story amazed me and I was totally enamored with Spielberg's filmmaking. A few years later I saw "Saving Private Ryan" (on opening day) and I was hooked. I couldn't get that opening Omaha Beach scene out of my head so I began reading Stephen Ambrose's D-Day. After that, I read any WWII book I could find, and it's almost become a hobby. At least one thing has come of it, though--a newfound appreciation for freedom, this great country, and the men who have fought to keep it that way.
© 1999
