I was born in 1940 and some of my earliest memories are of over hearing talk about the war. I guess when the war was over and the pictures of the emaciated Jews were in the newspapers, I wondered what my parents were so upset about so I sneaked a peek. OMG! The shock was horrible for a 5 year old child. I admit that I have never been able to completely forgive Germany for electing Hitler and now my country has elected obama and we are headed to......... where?
My earliest memories are on a hill overlooking Bolling AFB ~ the planes were coming in there 24/7, being checked out by First Squad, Second Squad, and others ~ and then ferried to New Foundland, to Greenland, to Iceland to England where they would be ready for D-Day.
Bolling was the D-mark for the war in Europe.
I recall sort of missing the roar later on, but at night my mother would take me outside to watch for a certain plane ~ she'd say "There's your daddy's plane and he'll be home soon" ~ and there'd be a signature waggle.
More recently I discovered that I'm living at the end of a WWII temporary runway out in Fairfax county where planes were lashed together for those flights, and yet others checked them out before the trip to Europe.
Born on a battlefield ~ next to Freeman Field in Southern Indiana, brought up under the roar of the D-Day aerial armada, and in the end i"m still living on sacred ground.