I love history. It's partly why I am so enchanted with antiques. I love to find something old and think about the people who would have used it when it was new. I love the old-time courage of the men, the feminine charm of the women, the attitudes, the reverence for God and country. I love, love history.
History stories I love the best are the ones that come from my own family. My grandpa has always loved telling us his stories from World War 2. He will be 95 this year. My grandma, his war bride, loves the stories too. Between the two of them is a treasure trove of funny, sad, and dramatic tales of life during World War 2.
Grams is Hungarian and fled to Munich during the war. She was in Munich right before the end of the war when the Allies were bombing day and night. Countless hours were spent in bomb shelters waiting, wondering, listening for the scream of the dropping bombs. Often they would go underground and return hours later to find rubble where large homes and buildings once stood. Ironically, as Grams was burrowed underground to escape the bombing raids, her future brother-in-law was flying overhead dropping the bombs!
When Gramps first saw Grams, he said, "Thats the girl for me!". She could barely speak English and on their first date, she put her head through the windshield of the car when Gramps hit a bump while driving through a field. I think he was chasing a deer which he shot and killed. So romantic. After they were married, and the European lands were divided into American Zones, Russian Zones and so on, since Grams was technically an enemy alien, she had to hide in the trunk of the car while crossing the various borders! She even did this when she was very pregnant with her firstborn son!
Grams was in Munich when the Americans arrived at the end of the war. The first jeep to drive into the city held a black man with the biggest, whitest smile Grams had ever seen. It was the first time that she had ever seen a black man. She remembers it as being the most beautiful thing she ever saw. As the trucks, tanks, and jeeps passed through, the people cheered- Americans were their heros. They brought law, order, compassion and hope to a people crushed by tyranny and battered by the evil that marched across Europe. The Russians were also fighting with the Allies, but they were not liberators. They were there to collect the spoils of war in gold, silver and human flesh. They routinely captured innocent people and imprisoned them or sent them to Siberia. One of Gram's close girlfriends was sent to Siberia for no reason where she spent 12 years in a labor camp. Americans were true liberators. They had compassion in their hearts for the suffering masses. They came to restore peace, to rebuild cities and to offer hope to those who had suffered the unthinkable.
My grandpa was a career military man, ending up as the military governor in Panama.
Years and years passed before Grandma worked up the nerve to tell a very funny story! She and gramps were traveling by train. She forgot to take toothpaste with her to the bathroom and returned to their little sleeper car to get it. She cracked open the door and faced what she thought was Gramp's bare bottom. Thinking she would pull a fast one on him, she reached out and gave that white bottom a pinch. She knew as soon as she squeezed that she was not pinching Gramps' hiney. It was some old lady 's glutes instead! Grandma was horrified and for years never told anyone about the night she pinched the old woman's butt.
History, a snap shot of life told and retold. Stories, memories, all important parts of our heritage. Foundations for the future, to precious to forget.
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