Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 30, 1945: While Soviet troops fly their flag over the Reichstag in Berlin, Adolf Hitler and his new wife, Eva Braun, commit suicide. Leadership of Germany passes to Adm. Karl Doenitz.

Netflix and Nostalgia Contest - We Have a Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Netflix and Nostalgia Contest - and to everyone who spread the word.

Out of 810 entrants, our random number generator selected one grand prize winner....

Ambar Robinson!

Ambar, I've sent you an e-mail so I can get your prize mailed to you as soon as possible.

Thanks also to LitFuse Publicity for putting this together!

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 29, 1940: The Royal Air Force begins program to train air crews in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
65 Years Ago—April 29, 1945: German commanders sign the surrender of 1 million German troops in Italy and Austria, to become effective May 2.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 28, 1945: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are executed by Italian partisans.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 27, 1945: Anti-Nazis rise up in Munich and encourage German surrender to the Allies.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 26, 1945: US Fifth Army takes Verona, Italy. Italian partisans take Genoa and revolt in Milan.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 25, 1945: US First Army and Soviet troops meet on the Elbe at Torgau, severing northern and southern Germany. Eisenhower will drive north and south to cut off German retreat to Denmark or the Alps and let the Soviets take Berlin as agreed. The United Nations Conference opens in San Francisco with representatives from fifty nations.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 24, 1940: Germans appoint Josef Terboven as Reich Commissar of Norway.
65 Years Ago—April 24, 1945: US Marines breach Japanese defenses at the Shuri Line in southern Okinawa.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 23, 1940: About two hundred people die in a fire at the Rhythm Night Club in Natchez, Mississippi.
65 Years Ago—April 23, 1945: The blackout is lifted in the United Kingdom.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 22, 1940: Germans take Lillehammer, Norway.
65 Years Ago—April 22, 1945: As Soviet troops enter Berlin, Hitler vows to stay in the city, and SS troops execute the last twenty conspirators in the July 20 Hitler assassination attempt.

Lessons from the 1940s Woman - "Grown-Up Culture"

The more I look at this poster, the more I see how our culture has changed. In the 1940s, mother-daughter outfits were popular - the daughter wanted to dress just like her mother. Nowadays, middle-aged mothers dress like their teenaged daughters.

Something has flipped in recent generations. In traditional cultures, children couldn't wait to grow up and have adult responsibilities, and people hoped to live long enough to have gray hair and the wisdom that came with it. But now we have a culture obsessed with youth.

Youth are held up as the ultimate example in how to dress, how to use technology, and what music to listen to. Youth believe their primary job is "to have fun" - I've even heard this from my own children. So why grow up? Where's the motivation to move into adulthood, where they'll be obsolete, uncool, and unable to play video games?

But our world needs old-fashioned adults to function. Twitter, texting, and Wii won't build homes, put food on the table, or heal the sick.

As one person, I can't change American culture, but I can watch my own attitude. Do I communicate to my children the joys of adulthood? Do I tell them of the satisfaction I get from a job well done? Do I pretend to be a teenager, or am I comfortable in my age? Do I make my children's lives unpleasant enough that they long for adulthood?

Celebrate your adulthood! Listen to the music you like! Wear your mom-jeans with pride! Know enough technology to get by and don't apologize about it! Perhaps some day your children will say, "I want to grow up to be just like you."

Okay, then, so I'm a dreamer. That's why I write fiction.

How about you? Do you see yourself buying into youth culture? How can you celebrate the wonderful age you've earned?

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 21, 1940: British and German ground troops engage for the first time in the war, at Lillehammer, Norway.
65 Years Ago—April 21, 1945: US Fifth Army and Polish forces take Bologna, Italy.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 20, 1945: US Seventh Army takes Nuremberg, Germany, and raises flag in famous Nazi stadium. French take Stuttgart.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 19, 1945: US XXIV Corps opens offensive on the Japanese Shuri Line on Okinawa, supported by one of the largest naval bombardments of the war. The musical Carousel opens on Broadway.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 18, 1945: US forces close the Ruhr pocket in Germany and take 325,000 prisoners. American news correspondent Ernie Pyle is killed by a Japanese sniper on the island of Ie Shima.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 17, 1940: British troops land at Andalsnes, Norway.
65 Years Ago—April 17, 1945: US Eighth Army, X Corps, lands on Mindanao in the Philippines.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 16, 1945: Gen. Carl Spaatz of the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe declares the strategic air war is over—only tactical targets remain. Soviets cross Oder river and launch offensive on Berlin.

Memorials

A glance around my living room reveals many mementoes. All right, knick-knacks. But each one has meaning—family heirlooms, travel souvenirs, and gifts from friends. We display them to remind us of where we come from, where we’ve been, and the people we love.

Our memories are flimsy, fickle things, remembering useless trivia and painful occurrences—but able to let the good slip into oblivion. We know that. We fear that. So to trigger our memories, we display objects or build monuments, like Scotland's monument to William Wallace in the photo.

God knows the weakness of our memories too. When He led Joshua and the nation of Israel across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, He knew time would pass, generations would pass, and the people would forget. They would think Joshua alone led them. They would think the people found their way all by themselves. They would think that they had always lived in Israel and had never been delivered from Egypt.

So He commanded them to build a memorial—twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, built into a memorial at Gilgal to remind them of what the Lord had done.

Isn’t that the best kind of memorial—to remind us of what the Lord has done in our lives? I’d rather forget a trip to Europe, my best friend, and even my own grandparents than forget the wonderful works of God.

“In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them…” (Joshua 4: 6, italics mine).

Do you have anything in your home to remind you what God has done?

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 15, 1940: Germans appoint a council to run the Norwegian government.
65 Years Ago—April 15, 1945: In Germany, British liberate Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and Colditz, a POW camp, is liberated.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 14, 1940: British and French troops land at Narvik to assist Norwegians against German invasion.
65 Years Ago—April 14, 1945: US Fifth Army launches final offensive in Italy, toward Bologna.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 13, 1940: British Royal Navy sinks eight German destroyers off Norway, and entire fleet at Narvik, Norway.
65 Years Ago—April 13, 1945: Soviets secure Vienna.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 12, 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies at 3:35 pm EST at Warm Springs, GA. Harry Truman sworn in as president.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 11, 1945: In Germany, the US Third Army liberates Buchenwald concentration camp, and the Ninth Army reaches the Elbe river near Magdeburg, 60 miles from Berlin.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 10, 1940: Iceland severs ties with German-occupied Denmark.
65 Years Ago—April 10, 1945: US Eighth Air Force sends 1315 bombers to strike German jet bases, which leads to the essential end of jet program; ten bombers fall to jets, the highest loss to jets during the war.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 9, 1940: Germany invades Denmark and Norway, with the first use of combat paratroops in history. Denmark falls, and in Norway, Germans take Oslo, Bergen, and Narvik.
65 Years Ago—April 9, 1945: German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer is executed in Flossenburg concentration camp. Soviets take Königsberg, Germany after long siege.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 8, 1940: British minelayers arrive off Norway and are surprised by German navy preparing to cover invasion of Norway. In heavy fighting, the HMS Glowworm is sunk.
65 Years Ago—April 8, 1945: The Royal Air Force makes the final raid in the Allied campaign against the German oil industry.

Lessons from the 1940s Woman - Woman's Work Is Good Work

She's canning. In a frilly apron. And she's smiling.

To the 2010 woman, this image looks hokey. Doesn't she know that kind of work is drudgery? A waste of her potential? Beneath her?

While the women's movement opened up traditional men's work to women, somehow in the process, traditional women's work was demeaned. Child care, cleaning, laundry, and routine cooking are now seen by most women as drudge work. When I gave up a promising full-time career in pharmacy to stay home with my children, I was told I was wasting my education and intellect, and I'd be bored out of my skull.

In the 1940s, women saw all work as good work. They knew raising children was an honor and privilege. They knew their labor in the home benefitted the family and society. Because they saw the inherent value of their work, most women found it fulfilling. For further fulfillment, women volunteered with civic and church organizations, or engaged in arts and hobbies.

Women can now work outside the home in traditional men's jobs. That is a good thing. Single women don't need to marry in order to eat, and married couples have options, especially welcome in a tough economy.

But why must we demean housework to gain that option? Why is traditional women's work of less value than traditional men's work? Isn't that attitude, in its essence....sexist?

I'm as guilty of that attitude as most people in my generation. Perhaps it's time to recognize that all work has an element of drudgery to it, whether it's scrubbing toilets or passing paperwork from the inbox to the outbox. Perhaps it's time to recognize that all work has value and benefits the family and society as a whole. If we cling to this, maybe we can find joy and fulfillment in our labor, whether paid or not.

I'm off to fold laundry. With a smile. But I'm not doing the frilly apron.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 7, 1945: The world’s largest battleship, the Yamato, on a suicide mission for Japan, is sunk by US naval planes off Okinawa (2500 killed).

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 6, 1940: New song in Top Ten: “The Woodpecker Song.”
65 Years Ago—April 6, 1945: Japanese launch air counterattack on Okinawa: 800 planes, including 355 kamikazes strike US naval and ground forces; 400 shot down.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 5, 1945: US Joint Chiefs merge the Pacific Ocean and Southwest Pacific Theaters. Adm. Chester Nimitz named Commander in Chief, Pacific (over naval forces), and Gen. Douglas MacArthur named Commander in Chief, Army Forces in Pacific.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 4, 1945: US Tenth Army secures two airfields on Okinawa.

Today in World War II History

70 Years Ago—April 3, 1940: US Congress reduces Army’s request for 166 planes to 57, and refuses to fund heavy bombers as “aggressive weapons.”
65 Years Ago—April 3, 1945: Soviets take Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 2, 1945: US Third Army takes German jet base at Rheine.

Today in World War II History

65 Years Ago—April 1, 1945: US Tenth Army and Marines invade Okinawa.