WWII Field Trips, and Bomber Activity

When she heard we were learning about World War II, one of our neighbors volunteered to tell us about her father and father-in-law's experiences in the war. We went over to her house one day and listened to stories about her father working as a radar operating aboard a submarine in the Pacific, and some of her husband's dad's memories about life before and during the War. It was fascinating! Hearing about what life was like in Salt Lake City, for regular families a lot like us, was a whole different perspective than the more generic one we got from most books about "War life in the United States." And, our friend also had her dad's old navy uniform and coat, which she showed us! It was pretty sobering to see Abe holding it up and think about how boys only a few years older than him were going off to war.

Warm lining from the Navy-issued coat her Dad wore

Another day, we drove up to the aircraft museum in Layton. We're always happy to have an excuse to visit the Hill Air Force Base, but this time our field trip was made extra awesome because we met friends there—and THEY brought their friend, a World War II Veteran, to talk to us! He was amazing. It was an honor to meet him.

The museum owns one of the very kinds of planes he flew in the war. He told us about being shot full of holes over Germany, and making an emergency landing with all his engines out. He was miraculously unhurt, but some of his crew were killed at their posts on that mission. It was incredible to hear about all this firsthand.

We also got to see one of the Norden bombsights, a cool innovation during the war that we'd read about in several airplane books

We didn't spend as much time on military planes as we might have, having covered them earlier during our Aviation Unit, but we did do an activity where we tried to drop gummy bears into paper cups on the ground while running past them at full speed. This is a very small taste of what pilots had to do when dropping bombs (and which the Norden bombsight helped with!). The children loved it.

Some of them took "at full speed" more literally than others...

The atomic bomb

We did a whole unit on Nuclear Energy a few years ago. It was one of our favorite units! You can find all the posts about that unit aggregated here.

The Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.

Hydrogen bombs vs. atom bombs

Great article on why we dropped the atomic bomb. And some more good resources on the same subject. Definitely worth watching and teaching. I found a real lack of good information on this subject elsewhere, as most children's books and other modern resources have a sort of glib "we all know better now" sensibility on the subject.

Abe and I LOVED this book, Bomb, by one of our favorite authors, Steve Sheinkin. There is SO MUCH intrigue and so many behind-the-scenes details I had never before heard about. It reads like a mystery novel.

I can also recommend this book (for adults and older children), Hiroshima Diary, which is a journal written by a doctor in Hiroshima in the weeks immediately following the Hiroshima bomb. It is fascinating, sad, and surprisingly good-humored as well. The author seems like a pretty amazing man.

WWII D-Day resources

Image from wikipedia

Innovations used on D-Day

Why was it called "D-Day"?

Scenes from D-Day, then and now

More "before and after" D-Day pictures

"Funny" tanks (used on D-Day, and beyond)

The video about the "crocodile" flamethrower tank at that last link is broken, but here's a better one anyway. This tank is terrifying! I can't imagine seeing one of these coming at me.

The Holocaust

We talked about the Holocaust very briefly a long time ago, but as the children are older now, we covered it in a lot more depth this time. One interesting video we watched was this documentary about a paper clip project students did while studying the Holocaust. Surprisingly moving!

Of course the Holocaust is a difficult subject. I read this book called The Liberators that was quite harrowing. I would only recommend it for high schoolers, I think, and it was hard even for me, but it also felt like a valuable perspective to get firsthand.

This book talks about another little-known aspect of the Holocaust: the Lebensborn program.

To counter all the sadness inherent in these Holocaust stories, we found it uplifting to read about people who helped the Jews and others, and kept goodness alive in that dark time. One of the best books we read was a longer one, but well worth the time—it was called Darkness over Denmark and it was FULL of amazing stories of bravery and sacrifice. I couldn't help but feel so proud of Denmark, land of my ancestors—even though most of my ancestors had immigrated here by that point, probably. :)

There are lots of other good books about the Resistance to Hitler, and people who helped his victims. Many of them are shown here in our book list.

War Life in Great Britain, and Incendiary Bomb activity

I read a lot of books which talked about the evacuation of children from England during the war. (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, for example, but many others too.) So that aspect of the war has always been interesting to me. It was called "Operation Pied Piper," and here is a video showing footage from the effort. And here's an article with some more pictures.

This video told British citizens how to deal with an incendiary bomb. We tried this ourselves, with a smoke bomb. The kids loved it! :)

We also watched parts of a TV show called "The 1940's House." It's a reality show where a family lived for a couple months just as a family in the 1940s would have. The show indulged in the requisite manufactured "dramatic crisis" from time to time, but on the whole it was pretty interesting and informative.

Silly (but enjoyable) video about the British Home Guard.

This map showing all the bombs dropped during "The Blitz" is pretty amazing.

A few pictures from my recent visit to Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms. London feels so full of WWII history!

How I love Sir Winston Churchill. I read a great biography of his wife Clementine, and I'm (very slowly) still working my way through the three-volume "The Last Lion" series.

To understand the ups and downs of Sir Winston's life, you need a basic knowledge of how the British parliament works. Here's a quick video that we liked, and here's another.

World War II Homeschool Unit and Lesson Plan

(click top or bottom section to enlarge)

I feel like World War II consumed so much of our year, although the unit itself took only a couple of months. But I've been living in that time period ever since we studied WWI last year. I got to travel to London and Berlin during that time too, which only increased my fascination. But it also felt daunting to actually start this unit, because there is just SO MUCH. Each aspect could be a whole course of study in itself! Pearl Harbor! Hiroshima! Iwo Jima! The Holocaust! The Battle of the Bulge! I just felt so overwhelmed.

Finally I decided to just plow ahead, knowing we'd fail to do some of it justice, and I think what we ended up with was a pretty good overview. I had been reading about the War quite extensively myself all year, and even though I didn't systematically share all the things I learned with the children, I found things coming back to my memory surprisingly often, and I felt like it gave color and interest to so many subjects. I'll mention some of the books I read on the pages about individual topics, but a couple general favorites were The Gathering Storm (by Churchill himself!), Lines of Battle (a book my WWII-expert friend lent me—it's a collection of actual letters from soldiers, arranged chronologically—surprisingly absorbing and heartbreaking), In the Garden of Beasts (a fascinating portrait of the American ambassador to Germany right before the war. I also wrote about this one here) and "Those Angry Days," (really interesting look at the little-known ins and outs of the build-up to war in the U.S.).

Here are a few posts on WWII-related places I visited:

The Brandenburg Gate, and some pictures of before and after WWII in Berlin

The Reichstag Building and the New Synagogue in Berlin

Site of the Potsdam Conference

Thoughts on war and suffering

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On to the unit itself! Here are some resources that didn't fit on my other posts.

Link to my World War II Unit Pinterest Board, so you can see many of these resources in one place (plus a few I pinned but didn't use).

Propaganda posters from WWII. Here's a post from our lesson on propaganda a few years ago.

We talked about inflation that day too, come to think of it. And this video is a funny illustration of inflation in Germany before WWII. Want to do more with inflation? This auction we did was SO much fun! And...here are a whole bunch more kind-of-related Economics links and resources.

A short video about Adolf Hitler

Biographical information on Adolf Hitler, including pictures

A rare recording of Hitler speaking in his normal voice--very interesting

Some interactive maps of the war: these about the "blitzkrieg" portion of the war, this one, and this one (time lapse)

These "Horrible Histories" clips can be pretty funny. This is kind of an overview of WWII.

Video about the plot to assassinate Hitler, and more about the man who attempted it. Every time I learn about this I wonder how things could have turned out differently!

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After the war, there is much more fascinating history, of course! Here's a post about my visit to and thoughts about the Berlin Wall. Also some book recommendations about the Berlin Wall and East Germany under communism (Stastiland and The Collapse were both great.)

But my single favorite post-war story is probably this one, about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' "Dutch Potato Project." A beautiful beginning to a discussion about forgiveness and reconciliation.

And of course, we always love to talk about our friend Gail Halvorsen, the Berlin "Candy Bomber," and another example of how one person doing good can help improve the lives of countless people.

Topaz Internment Camp Field Trip

After we learned about Ancient and Feudal Japan, it was on to Pearl Harbor and Japan's role in World War II. We happen to live a few hours away from one of the internment camps used for Japanese-Americans during the war, and on a whim I suddenly decided we should go visit. I knew there was probably nothing much to see, but it felt like it would be a cool connection to the history of that place. So off we went.

With all the Spring rain we had, the drive to the West desert was quite beautiful. There were green fields and mountains…

even in the desert areas where you wouldn't normally expect it.

And sheep. With lots of baby lambs. So tiny! So cute!

There is a new museum about Camp Topaz in Delta, which we visited first. We liked it a lot—there are pictures and artifacts from the camp, and one of the barracks used for housing is there so you can go inside and get a sense of what it was like. 

After the museum, we drove over to the camp site. Our GPS didn't get us to quite the right place (we should have followed the directions the museum lady gave us better), but after a bit of turning around and worrying, we found the sign and saw the flagpole. It is so desolate! There are a few ranches and farms around but lots of empty space, too. The day we were there it was cloudy and hot and quite beautiful. I love being able to see the whole sky at once.

You can just wander around wherever you please. At the museum they gave us a kind of map that showed where things were in the camp, and which road to drive around on. You have to stay on the main road because there are lots of old nails and things around that could damage your tires. The children liked these rusty iron rings. We didn't know what they were from—I thought maybe barrels, and the wood had rotted away?

After the end of the war, the barracks from Topaz were sold off and many of them were brought into the town of Delta for other uses—storage, meeting halls, etc. Some people even used them for houses. Everything else was hauled off by the army, I guess, or else just left where it lay. It's kind of a strange feeling to see things lying around, just abandoned. If you visit Camp Topaz, you are supposed to just leave everything where you find it so that others can come and see, too.

Here is the cement footing for one of the latrines, with lots of broken pieces of brick on top. Most of the barracks weren't on cement, but the recreation halls and the latrines did have these foundations, which you can still see.

Here's one of the drains in the floor, the pipe all filled with dirt and the drain cover rusted and broken.

Threatening skies. It didn't rain on us, though. (We were hot. We wished it had.)

Some of the sites were just covered with rusty nails. I guess they're left over from the dismantling of the barracks? I'm not sure.

So many of them!

And there were other things too, like this rusty spring—a bedspring, I think.

Wow, the sky is so wild in this picture! I love the desert skies. The children really loved going off to explore on their own. They got excited whenever they saw anything buried in the dirt, and enjoyed speculating about what things were used for, or which activities had gone on and where. It is fun to wonder what you might find if you wander around long enough!

I don't know what these wooden structures were. They were near the front gates of the camp, where the hospital used to be, but I don't know if they were part of the hospital or not. This one had a hill going up to it almost like a ramp. Anyway, they were fun to look at.

Here are the footings to one of the guard towers. There were several of these around the camp—although the lady at the museum told us, for the last several years of the war, the internees weren't really required to stay in camp. They could sign in and out and go into town or up into the mountains, etc., relatively freely.

Even though the area is pretty barren, we were really glad we visited the Topaz Camp. It was a very interesting and thought-provoking place to go, and there was a sense of weight and history to the place that we felt very strongly. I wouldn't mind going back someday and exploring more, and seeing if there are more interesting artifacts to be found. Maybe we will make a stop there next time we go rock collecting at Topaz Mountain!

Topaz Museum Field Trip

If you are going to visit the Topaz Internment Camp, it's definitely worth a stop at the new Topaz Museum in Delta first. We thought the exhibits were really interesting, and especially liked going into the barracks to see what the living and recreation areas were like for the internees.

The first things we saw were these beautiful pieces of shell jewelry made by some of the internees. They would go up into the mountains and collect these tiny shells (left over from ancient Lake Bonneville) and then glue them and paint them to make these exquisite little decorations. I loved seeing how the people there made the best of their circumstances and tried to beautify their surroundings as much as they could. We saw a whole bunch of these shells while we were over at the Topaz Camp site, so they must have just had piles and piles of them. Aren't the little Minnie and Micky Mouse (bottom shelf, above) cute? And my favorite is that gorgeously intricate chrysanthemum brooch.

More shell jewelry, and some lovely carved wooden pieces, too.

There's quite a large exhibit of art at the museum. There were some really good artists at the camp, and they taught art and painting classes to others as well. (Here are some adorable preschool kids painting!) I really liked these watercolor depictions of different seasons at the camp. The colors in the sky are so lovely! And I love the way the mountain in the distance (Topaz Mountain?) is reminiscent of Mount Fuji.

Junie particularly liked this picture of a girl and her pet pig. Look how she hugs him! :)

Malachi liked the sweeping, inky lines of this bird on a branch (and the beautiful signature below).

This was interesting, showing the set-up for a calligraphy station, with all the supplies. We thought the paper weight above and felt cloth below were great ideas (when we did calligraphy ourselves, we noticed how much the ink can tend to bleed through the paper if you aren't careful).

Here we are inside one of the barracks. The beds and mattresses were standard issue, but the other furniture was made by the internees. A family of four would have slept in a room like this. 

In the corner of the room there was a little coal-burning stove for warmth. I don't know if they ever cooked here, or if all their meals were in the mess hall?

Here is Daisy by some of the handmade furniture from the camp. They made some really beautiful things (one of the men made an amazing wooden Noah's Ark that is on display at the front of the museum. It's gorgeous!) and we loved the miniature chairs clearly built for children. The furniture really helped make the barracks look cozier and more home-like—you can see a picture here.

The Berlin Airlift and The "Chocolate Pilot"

I really liked the idea of tying the story of the "Candy Bomber" (or the "Chocolate Pilot," as he was also called) into this Chocolate Unit. Montserrat has a cute mini unit study here. This subject is close to my heart as I have a special connection with the Candy Bomber, aka Brother Halvorsen---he was in my church congregation when I was young and he is my best friend's grandpa! I actually lived in his house for a semester of college, while he was away. And most exciting of all, I got to go to Germany with him, his wife, and my friend Rachael, right after we graduated from high school. It was a totally amazing trip that still seems unreal when I remember it. 

Bro. Halvorsen was visiting Germany for a bunch of celebrations based around the 50th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, and Rachael and I got to tag along at all the black-tie events, and the ceremonies with visiting dignitaries and 4-Star Generals. We got to visit an elementary school named after him (Gail Halvorsen Elementary) and even see a musical written about his life (which, awesomely, had little-girl Rachael as a character in it!). I have probably never felt so important in my life as I did on this trip (and I wasn't even related by blood---though he is my adopted grandpa too) :)

Menu, commemorative coin, and nametag from one of the dinners. "Miss Marilyn!" I love it.

I love Brother Halvorsen and even though I've heard his story probably dozens of times over the years, I never stop being amazed and moved by it. He always says, "From little things come big things!" I love his humility and his kindness and his wonderful sense of humor, and I love him for how he treated me like his own granddaughter and was so good to me over the years. And he looks exactly the same now as he did when I was young! He never ages!

Last year, my mom took Abe to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, and to her surprise, they had a whole segment featuring Brother Halvorsen! They showed a video about his story, and at the end, parachutes holding chocolate bars actually dropped from the sky! It's an amazing moment, even when you watch it on the video.

And . . . even more amazing . . . Abe caught one of the parachutes! He has saved it and treasured it since then (he won't even eat the candy!), and I love it, because now he feels like he has a special connection with Bro. Halvorsen too!

It was so fun to talk with the children about Bro. Halvorsen's story, and to remember and show them pictures from my trip to Germany with him. Abe got this book for Christmas, so we read that and watched the accompanying DVD (so awesome). We also read a couple other books about the Berlin Airlift and "Operation Little Vittles."