It’s almost Memorial Day again.
We’ll fire up the barbeque, take in a movie, and maybe, just maybe, find a moment to remember those who died in America’s wars. We’re sliding steadily out of range of the greatest generation, the WW2 veterans who will burst again onto the silver screen tonight with the opening of Pearl Harbor. But ever since the so-called “good war” the act of remembering our dead has become more complicated, our emotions more ambivalent.
Memorial Day was created after the Civil War, a solemn day to mourn and recognize blood sacrifice. If, as historian Stephen Ambrose says, the way we remember our heroes says everything about who we are, then who are we today?
(Hosted by Tom Ashbrook)
Guests:
Howard Zinn, World War II veteran
David Blight, professor of History and Black Studies at Amherst College
Bill Jane, from the Veterans Administration, and Viet Nam veteran
Steve Gillon, History Channel historian and host of “History vs. Hollywood.”