Book Week Wants Veterans’ WWII Stories

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We want your stories and photos of World War II
by Tom Hennessy

Left, Tom Broderick was featured in the Chicago Tribune in 1944. A member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, Broderick parachuted behind enemy lines in Holland in 1944. He lost his sight during the war.

To paraphrase those old Uncle Sam recruiting posters, we want you.

More specifically, we want your stories and photos of World War II. They can be about the war itself or about the years on the Home Front.

They don’t have to be first-hand accounts. You can write us about your parents, grandparents, even great-grandparents who served during that frightful time long-ago.

The choice for this year’s Long Beach Reads One Book, also called Book Week, is “The Greatest Generation,” by retired network anchorman Tom Brokaw. Book Week takes place March 18 to 25.

This year, the Long Beach Public Library Foundation and the Press-Telegram are encouraging residents to do more than read the book. We are asking them to honor the “Greatest Generation” members who are still with us, and to share the memories of those who have passed on.

Here is how you can do both…

First, send us your stories. If you lived through World War II, tell us what you did in those days, in the war or at home, and how that experience impacted the rest of your life.

If you were too young to have experienced the war years, share your memories of a loved one who did.

We are looking for photos as well. Some of these, along with your stories, will appear in the Press-Telegram. Some photos also may be chosen for a special Book Week exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Your photos may be souvenirs of the war theater or may reflect life in Long Beach at that time.

Send your photos and stories, keeping the latter as brief as possible, to: WW2, c/o Tom Hennessy, Press-Telegram, 300 Oceangate, Long Beach, CA, 90844. You can e-mail them to me at [email protected].

World War II and Home Front veterans are also being asked to take part in another capacity as well. If you have ever wanted younger Americans to know a bit about what you went through, this is your opportunity. We need people willing to go into area high schools and give talks on what that time was like.

To be one of these visiting lecturers, so to speak, you need to call Linda Kimberly at the Library Foundation, (562) 628-2441. Leave your name, phone number and street or e-mail address.

Some of you already have sent us your memories. A few others already have volunteered to visit schools. We need more people who are willing to do one or both of these things.

Personalizing the war

Susan Redfield, who chairs Book Week for the Library Foundation, echoes the thought that the event will enable us “to honor and acknowledge those veterans and Home Front folks who are our friends and family here in Long Beach. These are the people who truly changed the face of America for the better.”

She adds, “this year’s book choice means so much to me personally because my parents served during World War II, which is also when they met and fell in love.

“And beyond my own memories, there is the impact these ‘Greatest Generation’ stories will have on young people throughout our city, people who know so little about the way America came together during that time in our history.”

Meanwhile, if you have not read Brokaw’s book, let me provide a feel for it by telling you about Tom Broderick, one of the veterans he profiled.

A member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, Broderick parachuted behind enemy lines in Holland as part of the 1944 Battle of Arnhem.

Five days after landing, Broderick made a mistake that put him in the wrong position at the wrong second. As he later told Brokaw, “I was lining up my aim on a German. I got a little high in the foxhole and I got shot clean through the head – through the left temple.”

Broderick survived, but the bullet severed his optic nerve. Then age 21, he would never see again.

Over the next half century, Broderick conquered his initial anger, studied Braille and the insurance business, married his wife, Eileen, and raised seven children.

Asked years later by Brokaw to reflect on his fortunes, he said simply, “It was my fault for getting too high in the foxhole. That happens sometimes.”

Tom Broderick died last year.

The schedule

As this is written, plans for Book Week are being finalized. With the timing of some events still not resolved, the schedule currently reads like this:

Sunday, March 18: Photo exhibit at the Long Beach Art Museum. Hosted by Mayor Bob Foster. 2 to 5 p.m.

Monday: Discussion of the book, “The Greatest Generation,” Villages at Cabrillo, West Long Beach.

Monday, Tuesday: War and Home Front veterans speak at area high schools. 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Wednesday: Holocaust survivor Laura Hillman to speak at Cal State Long Beach.

Saturday: The Jazz Ambassadors, the U.S. Army’s touring jazz orchestra, to participate in the Long Beach Symphony’s pops concert. (Admission charge.)

Sunday, March 25: Free Jazz Ambassadors concert aboard the Queen Mary. Free tours of the ship for veterans and their families.

Other events, including book discussions at Borders and Barnes and Noble, are being planned.

Any questions? Call me at the number below.

Tom Hennessy’s viewpoint appears Sunday, Tuesday,

Thursday and Friday. He can be reached at (562) 499-1270 or by e-mail at [email protected]