UNCOMMON VALOR
No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
Douglas MacArthur
The enemy is in front of us, the enemy is behind us, the enemy is to the right and to the left of us. They can't get away this time! Douglas MacArthur
PEARL HARBOR
We had the great fortune of taking the girls to Honolulu to visit the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
We took the boat out to the memorial which straddles the sunken battleship.
"To the Memory of the Gallant Men Here Entombed and their shipmates who gave their lives in action on December 7, 1941, on the U.S.S. Arizona" — This inscription in marble with the names of Arizona's honored dead is inside the memorial.
Our visit to Hawaii was definitely one of the coolest field trips this year.
OPENING DAY
UNCOMMON VALOR
The Pacific Theater of War
The Marine memorial in Arlington, Virginia is a famous statue of the men putting up the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima. It is engraved with this quote: "Uncommon valor was a common virtue." More medals of honor were awarded to marines for the taking of that island, than were given out for all other battles combined during the war!
We went to Suzanne Manutai's home to meet a WWII navy veteran Cleo Boek.
Hal brought home that Japanese rising sun flag from his mission, and I brought it to our opening day. I had no idea what this flag represented to the American GI's, or that it was comparable to the Nazi swastika, or I would not have brought it to display. Teri Helm's father was there, and he told me that when he saw the Japanese Rising Sun flag all his childhood animosity against the Japanese swelled within him.
Fortunately our guest of honor, Cleo Boek, did not show animosity to that flag or the Japanese.
In writing this post I was curious if Mr. Boek's story was online. This is what I found--Cleo Boek passed away a little over a year after we met him. The fragility of this history emphasized the once in a lifetime opportunity we were experiencing.
At this opening day we ate Japanese food, which might have been insensitive to our visitor as well, but we thought we were being cultural and thematic. We thought that was better than military MRE's (meals ready to eat), again.
This day also included a special package. One of the mom's sent away for the loan of this footlocker from the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Once again our large group contributed to the variety of our experiences.
Sand from the beaches at Normandy and Iwo Jima. My girls and I got our own samples of Normandy sand from Karen or Jasmyn from our France trip. We put some of that sand in little plastic bags and glued them into our journals of discovery. What a treasure!
NAVY RECRUITING STATION
Lastly, some of us went to a nearby navy recruiting station.
MAKING PERISCOPES
We learned the science of periscopes and made our own one day.
Haley was there as well.
SAN DIEGO
While on a trip to see the opera, Tosca, we went to see some of the WWII items we missed last time. We had three other young ladies with us.
We mostly wanted to see the "kissing sailor" statue, which is 25 feet tall, weighs 6,000 pounds and is called "Unconditional Surrender."
LITTLE TOKYO & MORE
We met up with a few people before meeting our bigger group. We wanted to visit some Japanese sites, shops, and gardens.
We visited some places we had been during our Magic Carpet Ride year, and more.
“Go For Broke” was the motto of the WWII 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an Army unit comprised of second generation Japanese Americans from Hawai’i and the mainland United States--shockingly from Japanese internment camps in the U.S. (While writing this I am reminded of the Mormon Battalion, made up of American pioneers who were violently forced from U.S. territory and then asked to join the U.S. army).
This WWII veteran taught us about his special unit which fought in the European theater. He showed us his name on this special memorial.
JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
We met up with the rest of our group and were given a tour of the museum exhibits.
We were taught how to fold some origami.
One of the mothers in our group had some neighbors who taught us about the Philippines.
They made some amazing food for us too: kun chinta, puto, chicken adobo, panc it bi hon, etc.
We had been reading about the Bataan Death March in the Philippines, so this day created greater layers of meaning for us.
IWO JIMA PIC TO GIRLS
We had been reading about the Bataan Death March in the Philippines, so this day created greater layers of meaning for us.
February 23
This morning I shared a 10 minute film clip about the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima. We talked about it and looked up some more questions. And then I saw that this captured moment actually took place on the day we learned about it! This happens so frequently in our home school that I know it's not a coincidence. I made sure to share this memento with the girls for our journals of discovery.
CLOSING DAY UNCOMMON VALOR
What an incredible day to meet two Bataan Death March survivors.
After learning from these veterans the students shared their research projects.
Giselle shared information about the prisoners code created during WWII imprisonments. For part of her demonstration Giselle had me write out something in code and she decifered it without the key.
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