In order to fight the post-holiday blues, we planned a little trip to New Orleans as a family. This was inspired by my Aunt Diane and her husband, Gil, who were going to be in the Big Easy for a law professors conference. So, we packed up and drove on out in very cold weather...
Of course, the food was amazing... Acme Oyster House, Brennan's, The Upperline and Cafe Du Monde to name a few... we weren't short on good, rich and fattening food. And, the company was great. It was great to be with Diane and Gil, to catch up and to just share perspectives on life and everything in between.
And the National World War II Museum was really incredible. I was so glad to take Nate to it and to walk through all of the exhibits. He was very quiet, took it all in, and just now, some of the questions he has about that war and war in general are surfacing. The 35 minute movie they show in their theater was quite impressive as well. It felt like we were in the middle of it all - scary, sobering and the experiential nature of it lent itself to making it seem so real. The most memorable line from it was from a soldier writing about his experience... something like "nothing makes you a pacifist more quickly than being an infantryman..."
Sadly, there was one gaping hole in all of this. The only mention of the internment of the Japanese-Americans during WWII was in one sentence in a little area that dealt with the topic of minorities and women getting jobs in key factories, etc... because everyone's help was needed. Not one mention of it during the movie... not one mention of the 442nd (a unit of all Japanese-Americans fighting their way through Europe)...here were these incredible Americans who had had every civil liberty taken from them going off to fight for their country - and not once was this mentioned. This was the regiment that coined the phrase "Go for Broke!" The 442nd WAS THE MOST DECORATED REGIMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED SERVICES, with 21 Medal of Honor recipients... and NOT ONCE were they mentioned in the movie... and perhaps I missed something in the exhibit... but we went through every room and saw nothing about this. I was glad to see a whole section dedicated to the horrible racial stereotypes the government utilized against the Japanese race in their propoganda...
So... my assessment... go see it! It's well worth it and eye-opening, educational... I was so moved by the volunteers who staff the entry, the coat check, the various points along the way. They were all WWII vets and I was struck by how very soon this generation of Americans who served in this war will be gone. They experienced so much, and I don't want their experiences to be lost as time progresses - which is why the museum is so amazing and important. Having Nate see this was key. The media, the kids he goes to school with - they all glorify war. I wanted him to see how horrific it is when humans have to solve their problems in this way - how much death and sacrifice takes place in war... it isn't anything to glorify.
So, I'm off my soapbox... if you want to know more about the museum, click here http://www.nationalww2museum.org/. To learn more about the 442nd, click here http://www.the442.org/ and here http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/nisei/index3_442nd.html and here: http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210341/442nd/splash442nd.htm. Go for Broke!
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