Sharing Your Family’s World War II Story

Everyone has a story! Do you? I am talking about World War II family stories that are slowly finding their way into our hands and hearts. Some of them are even in the bookstores in the history or memoir section. Many of these accounts have been buried in the memories of our parents and grandparents. Fortunately some have been recorded and saved in letters and scrapbooks that are now being discovered by surprised family members. I continue to hear poignant tales from friends and colleagues who are both curious and inspired by what they are learning about their relative’s role in the war.

Recently I was introduced to Marie who lives in Manila but has family in the Bay Area. Her father was part of a little-known army division of Filipinos who were trained to return to the Philippines and fight for their Motherland. She has been uncovering important research about this division’s efforts at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. During our animated conversation, we both felt an immediate connection as daughters seeking and uncovering hidden details about our father’s service in the Pacific. I am eager for our next conversation when she returns to the Bay Area in November.

Another friend recently shared fascinating details about her grandfather who had been an army officer in Saipan during some of the most dramatic Pacific battles. His letters and photos were lovingly put together in a massive scrapbook by her mother and presented to the family members as a memorable Christmas present. I was so grateful that she shared that scrapbook with me. We both cried as we read his letters and got to know more about this man and his challenges so far from home.

As D-Day approached this summer, I had another unexpected conversation with a friend. We have known each other for almost ten years but she had never talked about her uncle, a paratrooper who participated in the invasion at Normandy. After the war, he and his army buddies sometimes celebrated this D-Day Anniversary by returning to the beaches to replicate their historic jump. She was very close to her uncle and realized that she had not yet recovered from his tragic death in a recent parachute accident. It was very difficult for her to talk about him without crying but she was glad to have a friend who was truly interested in her family’s history. I have encouraged her to tell his story as a way to heal and preserve his memory and contributions. I hope his D-Day saga will eventually be highlighted here.

These are only a few of the many encounters that I have had since working to preserve my parents’ World War II story. In each situation, I have gotten to know these women in a deeper and a more personal way. This has indeed been a gift for both of us. We are now connected on a different level and share a greater sense of understanding and support for each other. In one way or another, we all have been impacted by the “Greatest Generation,” but often we are not even aware of the full impact. Regretfully there isn’t an obvious venue to have conversations about its often painful impact on our family.

Most of our parents’ generation was so eager to move forward that they were silent about those challenging war years. Today as we are finding these personal war era artifacts, we are not always sure what to do about them. While there are excellent World War II museums and knowledgeable historians, sometimes we just need someone to listen to our story first and then encourage us to further explore our family’s involvement.

One of my goals for the Letter’s Project is to help others tap into the resources for researching their family’s World War II story and to eventually share their findings. To help facilitate that, I am encouraging friends and colleagues to be a guest blogger on this site. I am excited that the next post will be written by a colleague who will share her highflying family war story. If you want to talk with me about researching your family’s story, you can send me a note from my contact page by CLICKING HERE.