About

Amy McRoberts is a student at Guilford College. Her educational background is limited to K-12, however she has had many discussions with her family about the WWII event. In fact, her grandfather served in the war and those stories have been passed down to her. He was in the 83rd thunderbolts and fought in the European Theater, including participating in the second wave that deployed on the beaches of Normandy. He once met a German soldier who was relieving himself behind a corner of a barn. Apparently both of them had the same plan. They unloaded at each other and then both left. The few stories he had were similar and humorous. He never spoke much about the things he had been through or witnesses.

Her grandmother was born shortly after her grandfather was deployed overseas and he did not meet her until he came back home. She also has taken an interest in history through documentaries and shows on the subject.

Despite that, she had only ever seen the American side of the conflict when it came to the Pacific Theater of the war

Hello, my name is Maya Roth-Wadsworth and I am a first year student at Guilford College. War memory is different for everyone depending on cultural factors such as nationality and age. Cultural institutions such as mass media and education as well as my cultural background have affected the way I remember WWII. For example I am an American that was able to graduate high school and attend some college. In my high school I learned about WWII every year in my history classes. This is different compared to other countries. I feel that education about multiple perspectives and sides of the war is an important part of WWII memory. Taking responsibility and acknowledgement of past wrongdoings is important and affects the way citizens of a nation may remember the war.

From what I have learned in this course I do not feel that the US or Japan has fully done that. I also believe that honoring victims of the war is an important part of WWII memory and history education. This can be done in many ways such as through memorials, museums, and formal education. An important part of war memory to me is to remember to not let “history repeat itself” as is commonly said.

Hello visitors! I am currently a student at Guilford College enrolled in the Transnational Memories course. In this course, we analyzed articles and movies about World War II to discover how different countries remember the war and create a collective war memory.

As an American student, I have been always been taught the American perspective of history. Public education and mass media in the United States emphasizes American heroism and victory. Our history textbooks of World War II include vast amounts of information about the events that occurred during the war. We are privileged to have been educated in such a fashion. I am grateful for the knowledge that has been given to me, but I also understand that there is more to the story of World War II.

The Transnational Memories course provided the opportunity for me to delve deeper into how Japan remembers the war. From my American education, I was taught that Japan was an aggressor. In reality, Japan felt pressured to attack Pearl Harbor in defense of their nation. I learned from Benfell (2002) that the Japanese people are conflicted about how to remember war. There are revisionist views undermining the long-standing, nationalist, renegade view. After World War II, Japan adopted this victimized, renegade standpoint where the national belief was that a small group of high-ranking military men were the aggressors while the Emperor and the Japanese public were victims. In the late 20th century into the 21st century, Japanese revisionist views have been gaining a voice. From this, we have learned that Japan is trying to right its wrongs and maintain the peace that has been created between nations in the post-war era.