The Kiss Seen Around the World

There are many moments in history that I would like to go back to just to expenience the emotion in real life.  One of those would be Victory over Japan Day in Times Square (Aug. 14th, 1945). The Kiss or VJ Day in Times Square from Life magazine is one of the most famous photographs in American history and captures the emotion of this event and draws the onlooker into the scene.  After almost four years of war, I can only imagine the exhuberation and relief brought by the end of the conflict.  I never want to have to experience world war but the joy of these two strangers celebrating something that ended halfway around the globe is something that all should find in their lives.

The S'more: An International Creation

As a former girl scout and daughter of an eagle scout, I fell in love with the s'more at an early age.  When I saw on the Today show that it is National S'more Day I decided to do a little research.  I found that I am not the only one who has a nostalgic love for the campfire favorite that came from the phase I want "some more".  There are numerous sites about the s'more, which seems to be as American as the hot dog.  What I mean by this is that their final forms are credited to Americans and are mostly enjoyed in just the US (and Canada) but the ingredients are definitely international.  The frankfurter is of course German but was sold on buns and popularized on Coney Island in the 1870s.  The same is true of the s'more.  The ancient Egyptians made the first candy from the marsh mallow plant and then the French mass produced marshmallow in its modern form in the 1850s.  Chocolate as a luxury food evolved in MesoAmerica then spread to Europe.  Even though the graham cracker is American (created by a Presbyterian Minister from New Jersey), I do not like them without their international fillers.  The creator of the first s'more is unknown but please thank the girl scouts for publishing the first recipe in 1927.  Now they just need to make a cookie like the s'more.

Ben and Jerry Say Thanks to TJ!

Happy National Ice Cream Day and Thank you TJ!  No, Thomas Jefferson was not the first to introduce ice cream to America, but it can be argued that he generated the first popular obsession with the cold dessert.  The Library of Congress even has his hand written recipe that was served at the President's House in Washington DC and at Monticello.  The President found many pleasures during his time spent in France, but ice cream spreading through the well to do households of the 18th and early 19th centuries led to a new and lasting American craving.  Here is the overview from the Jefferson Library.

Americans and the RAF

A highlight of our Warriors on the Western Front trip to Europe this year was visiting the RAF museum north of London.  Of course with everything else on this trip, we did not have near enough time to fully explore the museum.  Many Americans are aware that men from the US did join the RAF during the Battle of Britain prior to Pearl Harbor.  The sad part is that they learned this from the sappy Ben Affleck film Pearl Harbor.   These American pilots braved not only the German Luftwaffe, but lost their American citizenship for doing so.  They were later pardoned.  Letters they sent home were America's first up close look at World War II.  It always amazes me that just 160 years before Americans were giving their lives to defeat the British, but these men took it upon themselves to prevent the British from being defeated.

Royal Air Force Museum - Eagle Squadrons

Teddy Roosevelt's Grave Overlooking Omaha Beach

Well maybe not the President Teddy Roosevelt, but his son Ted Roosevelt.   After serving in North Africa and helping to lead the Normandy invasions as a Brigadier General his efforts were rewarded with a Medal of Honor and a promotion to Major General on July 12th, 1944.  However, on this same day he was struck down by a heart attack.  It was decided that he would be buried in Normandy with his men and is today one of the most visited graves at the American Cemetery.  He truly embodied the spirit of his father by being the highest ranking and oldest soldier  on Utah Beach on D-Day.  The Roosevelts (along with the MacArthurs) are one of only two fathers and sons awarded the Medal of Honor.

Where is the Statue of Liberty?

This might seem like a simple question.  New York of course, but there is not just one.  Most people know that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France in 1886.  Lady Liberty arrived as an unassembled puzzle on June 17, 1885 in New York harbor.  However, it was not the first to be created.  Liberty Enlightening the World is the name given to the statue by its sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi who created numerous small copies to help fund the project.  The one in the picture below is in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.  What is also interesting is Bartholdi designed a statue of the Marquis de Lafayette that is in Union Square, Manhattan.

One of my favorite episodes in History Channel's America Story of Us is about the building of the Statue of Liberty.

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National D-Day Memorial in Rural Virginia

June 6, 1944 is a date that rivals July 4, 1776, July 3, 1863, Dec. 7, 1941 as one of the greatest turning points in American history. The Allied landings on the Normandy Beaches ingrained the term D-Day in the consciousness of almost all Americans, British, French, and Canadians. As I prepare to take 26 high school students across the Atlantic to experience World War II. We are fortunate to live only 2 hours from the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. On an overcast, rainy Sunday afternoon in May we took some of our students to the Memorial to get a holistic picture of D-Day from those who planned it all the way to the marines who scaled Point-du-hoc.  Bedford lost more men proportionally than any other community in the country.  I highly recommend the book Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw and a trip to the National D-Day Memorial.