I learned about World War II through video games, documentaries, talking with family, Remembrance Day ceremonies and things online from lessons in elementary.
The game I played was Medal of Honour: Above and Beyond (the one for the 360 and the one for the VR). In this game,I learned about what the CIA was called during World War II. It was called the OSS which stands for Office of Strategic Services.
I also watched documentaries at my granddad‘s house. In the documentary, I learned about D-Day and what it was like for soldiers coming back. They were really disfigured. Seeing those disfigured soldiers scarred me. It was so scary to look at them. (for context, I was 10 years old. I went over to spend time with my grandparents for a month when Covid was happening. Grandad was watching it so I sat with him). I imagine it would screw the soldiers up so bad when they got home. I think about how they might touch their face and it would be just missing.
This is my Great Grandfather, James Winning. Before the war he came over from Scotland on a fishing boat. He met my Great Grandmother, Shirley, and then they took a boat back to Scotland to get married. They came back here and had my Grandma Rawlings. Her name is Diane. They lived in Victoria. She still remembers her father going off to war. He was a sergeant during his service. He won various different medals. I want to find out what these medals were for.
I also had a distant relative who married a Jewish man. They both died in Auschwitz. My Great Grandmother Lejeune remembers playing in the bomb shelters in London with her cousins when she would go to visit them.
What I also learned about in the games and the documentary is also what I just generally just know from being in school and remember is the leader of the Nazis was Hitler. Nazi actually means National Worker Party of Germany. The Nazis took a symbol of peace and rotated it 25° and turned it into a symbol of hate.
I want to learn more about my Great Grandfather’s medals. I also want to learn more about military hierarchy. I want to learn why Hitler didn’t get accepted to art school. I’m looking forward to this class. When the topic is war, I can focus a lot better.