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The purpose of Memorial Day is to honor the many members of our families who served in the nation’s wars—World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War. Let me do so. My father served in the Navy during World War I, and two uncles fought with the 32nd Division in France. Sally’s father, James Porch, commanded an infantry company in the Fifth Division’s Sixty-first Infantry Battalion during the Meuse-Argonne campaign. Three of Sally’s uncles served in the army, one of them a doctor who was gassed in France. He died of its effects several years after the war’s end, by then married and the father of two small children.
December 1952: A Letter to Family and Friends
I began writing this essay several times, first on the day before Christmas and several more times during the following two weeks. But, in every case lethargy overwhelmed my noble intentions. So, the dates of my mental compositions are noted for at least some of the material that follows. I begin with a few preliminary comments before moving on to the main subject of this essay. We hope all of you grandchildren had a joyous Christmas. Based on phone conversations with your Mom and emails from your Dad, it sounds as if everyone had a specular time being reunited at Christmas, seeing Warsaw at first hand, and visiting Krakow and some of the concentration camps. I am sure the latter visits though informative were quite depressing. It is difficult to imagine, whether you’ve visited the camps or not, the magnitude of the crime perpetuated by the Nazis. Reading about what happened is bad enough; I recall the several books written by the Italian author, Primo Levi, who was a survivor. Two of them, Survival in Auschwitz and The Reawakening, describe his experiences in the camps. Though a survivor, he never fully recovered. Not too long before his mysterious death in 1986 he wrote a third book on the same topic, The Drowned and the Saved. These books are powerful and are to be recommended when you have time for leisure reading. Let me tell you about my strawberry jam making back in the summer of 1945. But, first some background. It was a bright sunny Saturday morning, and my parents had just left to attend the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis in Milwaukee. They walked to the bus stop at the corner, took a city bus to West Racine, where they boarded the North Shore train for a 30-minute ride to Milwaukee where they took a streetcar ride for the half-dozen or more mile ride to West Allis. The occasion:. My Mom and Dad were off on a day-long trip as part of the celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary (they were married on July 5, 1920). This was big event because my Dad rarely took Mom anywhere, partly because we had not owned a car since probably 1942 when the 1932 DeSoto became a victim of a World War II scrap metal drive. In Milwaukee streetcars still ruled the streets and were heavily used because no new cars had been produced since 1941. In addition, during the war we had gasoline rationing that limited how much driving could be done. Because of the tremendous need for transportation to work and to downtown shopping, buses came and went very regularly and quite frequently to accommodate the many riders It was not until the late 1950's that the streetcar systems in the large cities were replaced by buses, partly on the grounds that the streetcars slowed auto traffic that was now booming with the renewal of auto production right after the end of World War II. But, back to the canning adventure now that you all know something about transportation during and after World War II.
In September 2002 I returned for a second visit to Turkey. The occasion? Fifty years ago last spring I made my first visit to Turkey as a member of the U.S. Army. I loved my tour of duty there. It greatly enriched my life and helped steer me toward a career as an economist and teacher. Since then I had often dreamed of making a return visit. . . . To return to places I knew well. . . . To see well-known sites I had not been able to visit during my earlier stay. . . . To learn more about Turkey’s political, social, and economic progress and problems. This year I finally realized that dream.
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About the Author
At age 92 I decided to showcase my recent and current writings on a variety of topics outside of my career interests as an economist. My wife Sally’s dementia, my experiences of war, and my interests in improving higher education all compel me to write.
For most of the last decade I maintained a low profile, necessitated by my wife Sally's suffering from a decade-long siege of vascular dementia. After she passed away several years ago I wrote about our experience, in the belief that this would be helpful to the many others who suffer from dementia and their family caregivers. I am currently seeking a publisher for my book manuscript: The Forgotten: Dementia and the Right to Die. Over the past few years I began working on several other writing projects that are described more fully elsewhere in my blog. These include a nearly-completed book manuscript on my "expected proficiencies approach to the college major'' as a vehicle for reinvigorating liberal education. I continue to write on the shortcomings of UW-Madison's affirmative action policies and programs that over the years have been renamed "diversity and inclusion" policies and programs. Within two weeks of my graduation from UW-Madison in June 1950, the Korean War broke out. I was drafted and expected to be sent to Korea to join our fighting forces there. But instead I was sent to Turkey for 18 months. How lucky I was. I am also writing a memoir of my Korean War military experience when I served as an U.S. Army adviser in our military aid program in Turkey. Until I began branching out beyond economics, I failed to realize what a profound effect the Great Depression and World War II had on me as I grew up. I have already captured some of these recollections, with more of them to follow. With that introduction, I turn you over to my blog entries as well as my other writing projects described more fully elsewhere in my blog. Best wishes ~ W. Lee Hansen Dear Friends: I want you to have an opportunity to sign up to receive my periodic postings. Instructions for doing so will be coming soon.
Award-winning author W. Lee Hansen, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Full bio.
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