MOG

Priceless.  Your audio archives could be treasures years from now.  In a personnal sense.

That's kinda the way I feel about it...one day, probably not too far off, this will be worth it's weight in gold.

It's worth its weight now.  Powerful words, toward the end.  Normal people don't want war...it's waged between countries led by politicians, not between people.  Sad that it's always timely.

On a personal note, her accent brings back memories of my father's uncle Alec Fraisier.  I ADORE a Scottish accent.  :)

Amber - I do realize how lucky I am to have caught this...I have more believe you me.  Their accent is West Coast of Scotland, just south of Glasgow...now that's an accent I REALLY love...my nephew is named Frazer...spelled differently from your great uncle Alec.

I wish I would have done this when I talked to my wifes grandfather about his tales of WWII. I sat there for 3 hours as he told me of his life in a German work camp, and his escape from it with his wife and child in order to try and get to freedom. His child who later became my wifes father tells the story differently, but mostly because he was too small to remember. This all came about when I met him for the first time, and I told him I was American, he then said, "You are the assholes who bombed our soup truck during the war." This was said with the perfect poker face, and after a shared laugh he went into the story. Near the end he showed me the tatoo the Germans had given him with his work camp number, still sends chills down my spine when I think of the day he shared that with me

Kevin - You can't regret not getting stories...I have missed many myself...you can only move forward and get working on the stuff you can capture.  I am making up for lost moments...one at a time.  I remember working at a theater in Hawaii...an older woman would come in every day and annoy the crew.  I got talking to her and she told me about being in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was bombed.  If only I had my recorder that day.  I wish I could go back in time for that interview.  And to think most people dismissed her on a daily basis.

its funny that this happens, I think a lot of older people just want a chance to tell their stories to an ear that will listen

and it comes full circle...

My stepfather was one of the US troops that help liberate the camps.  He never talked about it because he would become visibly emotionally overwhelmed.  One day I walked into the living room where he was talking to Dan (now my husband; then just a friend) and Dan's face was one of horror.  I tuned in their conversation and realized he was, finally, talking about the terrible things he saw.  He never spoke about it again and now he's gone.

amber I am sorry to hear that, and my wifes grandfather never shared what he saw with my wife either. I think it had something to do with that generation, and wanting to protect females from that sort of imagery. If he did not share it with you, it is because he loved you too much to want you to know what really happened.

Bill, the other wrinkly in the group, also served in WWII and it was really hard to get stories outta him.  He saw some crazy ass shit...told to me by his daughter who were also with us on vacation.  It took a long time for him to tell them anything.  I mean a very long time...like a when he was after the age of 85

Kevin...I don't think he was protecting me as much as protecting himself.  He was unusual for his generation and not stoic at all.  He was very emotional and felt things deeply.  I think the scars of what he saw never really healed.  Some horrors are really unfathomable and I think what happened to those people at that time...he just couldn't cope if they surfaced often.  He was just too much of a happy, optimistic person. 

I feel a song developing from this over there Annie! I was listening to that background music thinking it was going to go somewhere, then the convo took over. Great convo though. Cool you caught it!

You should check out the movie Joyeux Noel since it shows what Isabelle is referring to, just in France. It's an amazing movie, although a violent war movie, granted, but worth seeing.

My uncle was a Japanese POW on Java and it took him 40 years to talk about it. He went to see 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' because he knew Laurence Van Der Post in the camp (he was the author of the book from which the film was made) and one afternoon with my Mum soon after, started talking about it. He's talked about it a couple of times since and sticks to the same stories; I wonder what he's not talking about. He's 92, still driving a car, still acting like he's only 70, and I'm sure his resilience in coming through his ordeal has made him that strong forward looking person.

annie, this is powerful.

Pat - The more I listen...the more I realize the strength of Belle's story.  Thanks.

Jonh - There are still more stories to tell, and the participants are only getting older.  Curse you time.

August - Working on these kinds of conversations are my real calling.  This piece took me well over 10 hours to edit.  I hope it doesn't seem that way, but it was a difficult piece to distill, while still keeping the sincerity of her words.  As much as I love my mother-in-law, she can, occasionally, go off on a different tangent and derail a conversation.  Thus...a lot of editing down.  Hopefully, I make it sound easy, like it flowed from her in perfect form...which it didn't.

Annie - you would never know that is not a natural conversation. There's a Studs Terkel within you!

Being from the UK most of our grandparents (or even parents in some cases...) have some pretty wild stories. I even remember my Grandfather telling me WW1 stories when I was 6 or 7.

Having 2 German girlfriends kind of put a different perspective on it. The first girlfriend's mother told me the story of her mother, who lived in East Germany, fleeing in front of the advancing Soviet Army even though she was 9 months pregnant. She was born in the basement of hospital (The upper stories had been bombed; maybe by the old guy who used to work with me in a gas station and tell me stories of being in bomber command) just outside Hamburg in 1945.

The 2nd girlfriend's mother (who was older) told me about when she was 6 and very excited as she waved her swastika flag on a boulevard as Hitler drove past in a open car.

I'd have to agree w/John, it sounds like a natural convo, so great work on the editing. 10 hours? Sheesh!

Eventhough it took a lot of time...it NEVER felt like work.

You should put that work into your music, dear. Just sayin, heh @; )

Annie, this is great.  Not only the story (and yes, that is a great accent; I'm another sucker for a good Scottish brogue) but the incidental noises as well that give it an unrehearsed feeling.  The touches of music you put in their for effect really help as well.

If you don't mind, (and if I remember I might talk about this story in my class this year when we start to read Anne Frank, and talk about the Germans.