JBSI - Day 7

Theme: The land of Living History in Normandy: Getting beyond D-Day
Where/What:  town of Authie, Abbaye d'Ardennes and le Mesnil-Patry (battle site June 11, 1944), Juno Beach Centre
Questions: Why do you/do you not include the Abbaye d'Ardenne (Authie) in your classroom practice?
What meaning do you draw from Le Mesnil-Patry experience for your classroom practice?

Reflections:
It was another day of very moving stories that I had never heard before.   I didn't know that 20 Canadian soldiers were executed by the Hitler Youth 12th SS panzer unit in the Abbaye, or that in the town the SS division executed both civilians and soldiers, and ran tanks over the executed soldiers.

Amongst that anguish, there was a story of a Canadian who hid in a church in Authie and managed to make it out alive.  He took with him 2 small pieces of the wall that had protected him from gunfire, and his son returned the pieces of the wall to the church with the man's story after he died.

We also had lunch with a group of men and women (Lori called them grammas and grampas at lunch) who call themselves the "Comite des Liberateurs Canadiens."  They are great friends to the Juno Beach Centre and have created a memorial in their town for the 125 Canadian soldiers killed in their town trying to liberate it - including 2 brothers.  They had stories to tell as well, including one that Marie-Eve (from the JBC) hadn't heard before.

    These living histories were amazing.  There was an older man in Authie who stopped to tell us we must go into the church to see the picture of the Canadian who survived and hid in the church.  He didn't have to do that.  The seniors who fed us lunch were also amazing and wanted nothing more than to provide lunch for us, to thank 'us' for the efforts of Canadians in World War II.  It was great and they were sweet, but I can't help but wonder what will happen once they pass away.  Who in the town will take the torch from them?  Are they passing their stories along?  Does anyone younger in their town care?  Is someone interviewing them and recording their stories?  It's fantastic that they want to share a meal with us, and we very much enjoyed it.  It's nice that they told us how important it is for us history teachers to pass on the stories about the war, but they need to help us help the stories live.  In 5-10 years (sorry if I'm selling them short) who will be around to share lunch with that summer's group of JBC Summer Institute teachers?