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America becomes a Superpower Over 16 million uniformed American men and several thousand women served in the epic world wide struggle between the Axis and Allied powers. the defeat of Germany and Japan rearranged world powers, and permanently changed the United States from an isolationist state to a global power. These veterans are quickly passing away now, and the story of their part in these events needs to be told to their grand and great-grandchildren. Our program includes first person sketches of typical soldiers, participatory exercises in learning how a young draftee packed his military gear, performed physical training, and other basic training tasks. Technical skills that became so important to modern warfare are taught in a training simulation of calculating artillery firing solutions, a good exercise in geometry, arithmetic, and map reading skills, that is done using period field telephones, plotting boards, and sliderules. A "homefront" program to include period children's views of the war, and the war workers is under development. Click on the highlighted program titles below for more pictures and information. Artillery Fire Direction Center simulation - good for math/history interdisciplinary studies Combat Engineer - a high energy simulation - photos from West Memphis schools Home Front/PW Camps in Arkansas - great for many historic sites in Arkansas and Missouri
Special Bibliography: A MUST read is The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Not for the squeamish, but necessary to truly understand the nature of the Japanese enemy of World War 2. Its also an important cautionary tale about the uses and abuses of history. Other photo links below:
Other photos: Kent Goff as a WW2 draftee speaking at a teacher's workshop. |
U.S. Infantry, Northern Europe, Fall, 1944.
