Your American Story

[NickO'Time]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

My Aunt Liliana is an Italian Jew and one of the few to survive from her hometown, which was near Florence. She seldom talks about her experiences, but last week we visited her at the hospital where she was holding court after a big surgery. Hopped up on morphine, she told us about when her cousin was shot dead in front of her and his parents by the Nazis, and then she went on to relate some of the other atrocities she saw committed by those sick bastards. She's such a cool lady, and she seems to bear no ill will or bitterness for her ****ed up childhood, but just listening made my blood boil. I want to get her to start recording her experiences- I think she wants to talk about them, and her family should have a written record on a big part of their history.

Kudos to your Opa.

Thanks Wendy, he's tough as nails.

We toured the Hotel in OosterBeek, where a few Allied Soldiers were surrounded by Germany's best Panzer Divsion.(Operation Market Garden)
One that was disregarded as "old Men and children" for soldiers.

My Opa turned the corner in the German section of mannequins and went straight back out the museum.
I have always heard the suggestion of sharing those personal stories for record and have always wondered how many have succeeded in recording it.