REMEMBERING WORLD WAR II

B-17 Flying Fortress   Photo by Peter J. Cooper

I’ve always been fascinated by World War II. It’s an era of heroes, of a call to duty, and a level of patriotism the world has never known before or seen since. Though I wasn’t alive during this period, I always get the feeling it was America at its absolute best – when common people came together for the singular purpose of defeating evil, no matter the sacrifice. It was a time when people did what was right because they had to, and they wanted to. When I was a kid, I was fascinated with the battles, the soldiers, and the machinery. I played with army men (you can still buy the originals today), and I built plenty of models of the fighter planes and bombers, battleships and aircraft carriers. I also loved going to army surplus stores and found them to be the best source for all-cotton khaki trousers and shorts, along with fatigues, field jackets and navy peacoats. Our go-to store was Colonel Bubbies in Galveston, which was the ultimate military surplus store – filled with hundreds of surplus all-cotton military clothing from World War II and the war in Viet Nam. They had boxes upon boxes of clothes that were warehoused after the war ended in 1945 – all protected with copious amounts of moth balls.  As a kid going to prep school in the 1980s, being able to walk into Colonel Bubbies and buy khaki military-issued trousers for school that were stitched together in the 1940s was incredible not only because of the connection to World War II, but also because they were only 10 bucks. Colonel Bubbies didn’t carry just American DOD clothes, they also had surplus from the British, French and other allied nations. I perpetually owned Gurkha shorts made in the 1940s and wore them out over and over again – and still own a pair today. What remains in my wardrobe are vintage trousers from the Greek military, Bundeswher undershirts (yes, they’re from Germany), and what might be the last remaining pair of Gurkha shorts from Colonel Bubbies since the store closed several years ago.

I’m reminded of all of this because of a father-son fishing trip I took recently to a fishing lodge in the Mississippi delta area south of New Orleans. After our stay at the lodge, my son and I drove to New Orleans and visited the National World War II Museum. We only had a few hours to tour the museum, but it was enough time to be filled with the same nostalgic feelings I had when I was a kid, and it reminded me of the connection I had to this era through Colonel Bubbies. As I walked through the museum and experienced all the aircraft, the guns and equipment and all the stories of the battles that took place throughout Europe and the South Pacific, I was reminded of all the fathers and grandfathers I’ve known throughout my life who served in this war. They’re known as the greatest generation, and they were heroes – every single one of them. If you have the opportunity, a visit to this museum will have an amazing effect on you – and a trip to New Orleans just for this purpose is worth it. Other World War II museums I’d recommend are the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas – birthplace of Admiral Chester Nimitz, and the Palm Springs World War II Air Museum located next to the Palm Springs airport in Palm Springs, California. All the aircraft at this museum are operable, and they still roll them onto the runway and fly them. And if you happen to be in Japan, I highly recommend a trip to Hiroshima to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, ground zero of the detonation of the atomic bomb. I still find myself thinking about what I saw in this museum – a truly profound and moving experience.  PJC