That is wonderful project, Randy!
I'm sure it was a valuable experience for both of you. I do hope you find the strength to revisit your recording again.
My father was 20 in 1940 and in the army during the Blitzkreig (All men had to do a one year service in the army).
Later he escaped the forced labour program, was caught anyway and sent to a Straflager and even to a concentration camp later on.
He and some others escaped after the bombing of Dresden and succeeded to catch up with the allied forces liberating Germany.
He was a rather tall man for his generation, just over 1.80m and weighed 80Kg before the war. When he reached the allied forces, he weighed 48 Kg after those camps.
He did recuperate and regained his weight but the worry (fear) for going hungry never went away.
I always felt my father was a rather closed man but now I realised he told us more about his experiences in the occupation than some men.
Also about his teenage years during the depression, come to think of it. I suppose I'm lucky and he was not so closed after all.
... I worry sometime we're forgetting
I don't worry anymore. I'm sure that is already the case: look at the success rate of the populist parties all around the world.
Some of our 'politicians' even dress in a style that Hitler and his inner circle wore.
he passed 5 years years ago at 92. He grew up in NYC during the depression and had a very hard life. He came back from WWII disabled from shrapnel. I interviewed him once, to make a record of his life for my kids. We mostly discussed WWII and what he did and saw there. I am very proud of him and respectful for what his generation did for us. I worry sometime we're forgeting
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