Our little city has some really fun July 4th activities. We walked to our local park this morning to watch the annual parade. It was cool and overcast and a perfect morning for sitting outside watching the parade.
I won’t bore you with gobs of photos from the parade, but here are a couple. Starting with Uncle Sam.
The old cars are favorites…and then we’ll move on.
After the parade, we headed over to the history museum. There were lots of old fashioned activities like live music, log sawing, pie eating contests and a watermelon seed spitting contest.
The 1812-1814 militia drill and volley became a near tragedy. In the photo below there are 4 militia men firing their weapons. The second gun, (held by the man in blue pants) didn’t fire, but the man didn’t realize it. It may have not fired on the next volley. However on the last volley the charge hit and all the black powder ignited at once, exploding the back end of the gun and knocking the shooter backwards several feet. He had to be taken to an emergency care facility to remove a piece of the gun from his cheek, and get stitches in his face.
Across the way, Olivia and friends were performing in a Tableaux Vivante, and it was a scream.
Here we see the Four Seasons. Spring (the blushing bride), Summer (cradling the babe), Autumn (sweeping) and Winter (hunched).
Romeo and Juliette.
Cinderella (Olivia is the mean step-mother).
I will spare you all the other scenes (because my kid isn’t in those, grins). The Grand Finale…the 13 original states, represented by their state flag symbol. Olivia is South Carolina.
We’ll finish up our celebration by attending the city fireworks later tonight. I wont’ have photos…trust me, I’m not good with a camera in the dark.
Happy Independence Day!
The core of our study was the World War II workbook by McDonald Publishing. As always, we did a LOT of reading. We also watched a live production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” and had a wonderful interview with a survivor of Occupied Luxembourg.
We traveled to the VMI campus in Lexington, Virginia to visit the George C. Marshall Museum. Read all about our trip here.
Online Resources:
Jimmie’s Collage – World War II Lapbook
St. Nicholas Center The American St. Nicholas
Library Resources:
Smithsonian, World War II Timeline; by Elizabeth Raum
World War II, A Primary Source History; by Colin Hynson
America in World War II; by Michael Burgan
Timelines: World War II; by Nathaniel Harris
World Ward II; by R. Conrad Stein
World War II; by Cathy Senker
Life Under Occupation; by Charlie Samuels
Joseph Stalin; by Jeffrey Zuehlke
Adolf Hitler; by Brenda Haugen
Douglas MacArthur, What Greater Honor; by Janet & Geoff Benge
Douglas Macarthur, America’s General; by Brenda Haugen
Corrie Ten Boom, Keepers of the Angel’s Den; by Janet & Geoff Benge
Corrie Ten Boom, Her Story; by Corrie Ten Boom
The Hiding Place; DVD
Franklin and Winston, A Christmas that Changed the World; by Douglas Wood
War Dogs, Churchill & Rufus; by Kathryn Selbert
Hitler and the Nazis; by William W. Lace
The Holocaust, Hitler, and Nazi Germany; by Linda Jacobs Altman
Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Holocaust; by Linda Jacobs Altman
The Battle of Iwo Jima; Tom McGowen
Hiroshima and Nagasaki; by Barbara Silberdick Feinberg
Hiroshima and the Atomic Bomb; by Wallace Black and Jean Blashfield
World War II Kamikazes; by Earle Rice Jr.
The Making of the Atom Bomb; by Victoria Sherrow
World War II in the Pacific; by Don Nardo
Around homeschool circles you’re always hearing about “living books” and we love those. However, we also like “living history” or at least the history that goes with those living around us.
Our lovely neighbor, Mrs. Kay Nimax is a living history lesson. Born in Luxembourg in 1935, she lived through World War II. Luxembourg, a nation smaller than the state of Rhode Island is nestled in between Germany, France and Belgium. The capital city (also named Luxembourg) was built on top of a castle, so there are tunnels and travel ways beneath the city.
Mrs. Nimax was 5 with Luxembourg was invaded by Germany, and 10 when the Allies arrived bringing liberation. She said her most vivid memory was the day when the Germans arrived. They arrived by the thousands, marching up a steep hill, with cannons and artillery being pulled behind the troops by horses. They then blew up the bridge they’d marched across to enter the city. She said it was the most terrifying things she’s every seen.
Everything in young Kay’s life changed that day. Two Jewish playmates from down the street just disappeared over night with their family. Food and supplies became scarce as the Nazi’s took over. Natives of the country were given identification cards with their names, address, dated of birth, and the swastika on it. Everyone was required to wear these at all times.
Ration cards were issued. Kay’s mother didn’t use butter and sugar, so she sold the families rations cards for those items to others. The family spread shortening on their black bread and sprinkled salt on top. Potatoes were easily available, so much so that the Nazi’s called the Luxembourgers “potato heads”.
At school, her teachers were replaced with harsh Nazi’s wearing high boots and carrying heavy rulers to reprimand the children. All textbooks written in French and Luxembourger were heaped into piles and burned and replaced with books printed in German. Students were no longer allowed to speak in their native tongue, or French while at school. Each school day began with the mandatory “Heil Hitler!” salute, and those not complying were punished.
Young men in their teens and twenties were expected (demanded) to join the Nazi forces. Those who refused were sent to concentration camps. Kay’s two uncles were among those who refused to join the ranks of the Nazi’s. In the middle of the night troops burst into their home and charged up the stairs looking for the young men. The family was made to stand outside in the night air in their nightgowns while the Nazi’s searched the home. The boys were later found at another aunt’s house. Both were sent to concentration camps, one died there, the other died shortly after liberation from disease he picked up at the camp.
Near the end of the war, the American’s arrived in the city of Luxembourg. Hidden Luxembourg flags were brought out and waved and people cheered “The American’s are here!” Soldiers, tossed out chocolates, gum and oranges to the children in the streets. It was the first time Kay had tasted chocolate.
photo credit: Betty Dorschner
It was here in this quiet little country that one of the bloodiest and most important battles of the war took place, the Battle of the Bulge. The fighting was so close that Kay remembers seeing airplanes dropping bombs from above. Laying in bed at night she’d cover her head with her blankets trying to drown out the sounds of the bloody battle just over the hill. The upper 1/3 of the country was bombed the worst.
Below are newspapers that Mrs. Nimax has, showing the end of the war. The headline below reads “Luxembourg is Free!”
The photo below shows the Nazi’s leaving the city. Kay said the Germans stole bicycles, horses and anything else they could find to speed them up as they left. Even her step-father’s bicycle was stolen by a Nazi.
Mrs. Nimax’s husband, Pierre (now deceased) and his family often entertained American soldiers in their home. Whether it was the good cooking of his mother, or the fact that Pierre had attractive older sisters, nobody knows. However, it was through that kindness that a doorway for Pierre and Kay would open years later. One of the soldiers who frequented the Nimax home in Luxembourg had offered to sponsor Pierre if he wanted to come to the United States after the war.
Pierre took that soldier up on his offer. He became a United States citizen, served in the military and later became a prominent writer and photographer. Kay Nimax arrived in the United States in 1958, great with child and unable to speak English. She too became a United States citizen, and an amazing seamstress. Together they started a family and built a life that has impacted untold numbers of people.
Our family did not have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Nimax. However “Ms. Kay”, as she is called by us and our children, has become like family.
Books from Mrs. Nimax:
Milly’s Story: A Young Girl’s Memories of the Second World War; by Milly Thill
Freed A Leed zu Veinen 1939-1945; by Veiner Geschichtsfrenn
As we began to wrap up our World War II unit study, we took a road trip to the VMI campus in Lexington, Virginia to visit the George C. Marshall Museum.
Marshall’s military experience and leadership was fundamental in the outcome of World War II. His ability as a military leader earned this Five Star General many honors and awards, including the Congressional Gold Medal.
The museum shows snippets of Marshall’s life from childhood, training at VMI and after, followed by his World War I involvement. However, the majority of the museum focuses on his accomplishments of WW2 and beyond.
Below is Marshall’s desk/chair set up as he used it while in his role as commander.
After retiring from the military, Marshall served as both ambassador and envoy to foreign countries, and served as the head of the Red Cross.
George C. Marshall was truly a remarkable soldier, leader and patriot. This museum not only shows his abilities, but also his humility in serving for the sake of serving, not for recognition.
While I did take lots more photos, I won’t bore you with them all. I will show one final photo. This wall sized narrated map goes from the beginning of the war through the end, high lighting the Axis occupied/controlled areas, the Allies and the shifts of boundaries as the war raged on. VERY interesting.
