Red
11-09-2005, 01:50 PM
60th Anniversary of World War II The Forgotten Africa’s Greatest Generation
Culled from Think In Time – Essays and Encounters of the Last quarter of the 20th Century
By
Peter Opara
Peter_O'Para@tufts-health.com
Making time to watch national evening news these days is a mighty task. In fact, I cannot recall when last I watched the evening news on CBS, my favorite station. It is so bad that I did not watch the last and final newscast by my favorite newsman, “America’s Anchorman”, Dan Rather.
I commenced this piece as afore to note that though there was worldwide celebration recently, last week in fact, to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the 2nd World War, I watched not a segment of the pomp or pageantry that attended the celebration.
Current leaders of the nations whose armies constituted the allied forces in the war years congregated in Moscow for a celebration of the end of a devastating war that impacted far reaches of the world.
Moscow, the capital of the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republic that lost the most men, millions, it was reported, during that war; Moscow, where Adolph Hitler’s German forces, tens of thousands of them met their waterloo in combat with nature - frigid weather; Moscow, the foremost city of what was an unlikely partner, USSR, in a combat against evil that Hitler represented, hosted the 60th anniversary of the end of carnage and destruction of the 2nd World War.
Lillya, a lovely Muscovite colleague of mine, some how could not understand why her city, Moscow, was chosen for the anniversary celebration. Why? She wondered, as we chatted about Russians and their political word of choice – “Democratiya” - Democracy.
Lillya readily dismissed my suggestion and correctly so, that the war ended in Moscow. A political communication by allied forces, I suggested. Well, because, she countered, Russian army successfully placed Russian flag on the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany. That I did not know.
Lillya went on amidst her wonderment, and rattled off some of the seminal events in her country during that war, in a way that made me wonder if she was of teenage age then.
Lillya, just like yours truly, was not born then, but with the benefit of Russian education, in which history occupy a premier place in the curriculum, and the fact, perhaps, that Russians had lived that war, Lillya, unlike me, could comfortably chat about a war that impacted the entire world, and I could only listen.
Lillya’s interesting narrative of events of that war that she had only learnt in history classes over the years in her country, reminded me that Africans, my people, also fought in the 2nd World War.
http://www.gamji.com/article4000/NEWS4692.htm
Culled from Think In Time – Essays and Encounters of the Last quarter of the 20th Century
By
Peter Opara
Peter_O'Para@tufts-health.com
Making time to watch national evening news these days is a mighty task. In fact, I cannot recall when last I watched the evening news on CBS, my favorite station. It is so bad that I did not watch the last and final newscast by my favorite newsman, “America’s Anchorman”, Dan Rather.
I commenced this piece as afore to note that though there was worldwide celebration recently, last week in fact, to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the 2nd World War, I watched not a segment of the pomp or pageantry that attended the celebration.
Current leaders of the nations whose armies constituted the allied forces in the war years congregated in Moscow for a celebration of the end of a devastating war that impacted far reaches of the world.
Moscow, the capital of the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republic that lost the most men, millions, it was reported, during that war; Moscow, where Adolph Hitler’s German forces, tens of thousands of them met their waterloo in combat with nature - frigid weather; Moscow, the foremost city of what was an unlikely partner, USSR, in a combat against evil that Hitler represented, hosted the 60th anniversary of the end of carnage and destruction of the 2nd World War.
Lillya, a lovely Muscovite colleague of mine, some how could not understand why her city, Moscow, was chosen for the anniversary celebration. Why? She wondered, as we chatted about Russians and their political word of choice – “Democratiya” - Democracy.
Lillya readily dismissed my suggestion and correctly so, that the war ended in Moscow. A political communication by allied forces, I suggested. Well, because, she countered, Russian army successfully placed Russian flag on the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany. That I did not know.
Lillya went on amidst her wonderment, and rattled off some of the seminal events in her country during that war, in a way that made me wonder if she was of teenage age then.
Lillya, just like yours truly, was not born then, but with the benefit of Russian education, in which history occupy a premier place in the curriculum, and the fact, perhaps, that Russians had lived that war, Lillya, unlike me, could comfortably chat about a war that impacted the entire world, and I could only listen.
Lillya’s interesting narrative of events of that war that she had only learnt in history classes over the years in her country, reminded me that Africans, my people, also fought in the 2nd World War.
http://www.gamji.com/article4000/NEWS4692.htm