Two of the most dramatic memories of the entire World War II stand out in this tenth-and-final episode in this fine History Channel series, which debuted in late of November, 2009.
One is the shock and horror American troops discovered after their complete invasion of Germany: concentration camps. Since 1945, literally billions of people have seen pictures of the results of those camps. so I won't go into details. However, no matter how many times you see these emaciated people it never fails to stun you into speechlessness. Through movies and other forms of "history lessons," I was a little surprised to find out 14 million people died in those camps, not just the six million Jews, and that there were hundreds of these camps, not just the famous ones we've heard mentioned.
The other memorable scene is, of course, the atomic bombs being exploded in Japan. Everybody knows the names of the cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What you may not know, as pointed out in this episode, is that Japan got more than one warning and more than one plea to surrender.....but they wouldn't do it, even after the first atomic bomb was dropped! After the second, they still refused! What made them finally do it, you'll see near the end of this program.
Final thoughts are given by a handful of the living soldiers. Perhaps the most emotional was by the one nurse, June Wandry, who died in 1994 but is on tape here saying what it meant to be back home. It's just about guaranteed to put tears in your eyes.
One is the shock and horror American troops discovered after their complete invasion of Germany: concentration camps. Since 1945, literally billions of people have seen pictures of the results of those camps. so I won't go into details. However, no matter how many times you see these emaciated people it never fails to stun you into speechlessness. Through movies and other forms of "history lessons," I was a little surprised to find out 14 million people died in those camps, not just the six million Jews, and that there were hundreds of these camps, not just the famous ones we've heard mentioned.
The other memorable scene is, of course, the atomic bombs being exploded in Japan. Everybody knows the names of the cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What you may not know, as pointed out in this episode, is that Japan got more than one warning and more than one plea to surrender.....but they wouldn't do it, even after the first atomic bomb was dropped! After the second, they still refused! What made them finally do it, you'll see near the end of this program.
Final thoughts are given by a handful of the living soldiers. Perhaps the most emotional was by the one nurse, June Wandry, who died in 1994 but is on tape here saying what it meant to be back home. It's just about guaranteed to put tears in your eyes.