I read to learn. Not to promulgate some agenda.
My parents were both born in 1940 so most of the people born during that era suffered WW2.
My grandfather was a survivor of the Battle of Leyte Gulf when his ship the USS Princeton CVL-23 was sunk. I have some perspective from him concerning the Pacific theatre.
My grandmother's brother was amongst the liberators of the camps in Eastern Europe. He spared a German girl from Russins who were raping and killing Germans wholesale. He hid her in his caravan leaving the soon to be Russian occupied Germany. She bacame his wife and one of my most beloved aunts. I can still hear her rolling her "Rs" when she would say my name Rrrrobby.
They both told me stories that directly conflict with Hollywood "history" long before "Schindler's List" and the other propaganda that I guess is supposed to make the world feel sorry for Jews and Jews alone? Sure seems like it. I wish I could remember them verbatim but I was very young when they told these stories. I wouldn't want to do a disservice to their memories by inaccurately relaying these stories here.
I have a Mauser K98 with "1942" and a German eagle and swastika stamped on it. It was found new in a cache by my great uncle, given to my grandfather and now mine. It has very little monetary value because it has been "sporterized" which was required to be kept by civilians in and leaving Germany. Still pretty cool though.
Speaking of books, there was a thread a few years ago and I suggested "A Cambodian Odyssey" by Haing S. Ngor. He played Dith Pran in "The Killing Fields" by his true story was much, much worse.
This book changed the way I look at other humans and humanity. It is deeply disturbing but was life changing for me and those friends of mine who read it.
Top 10 book for me.
