Military - A Middle-Aged Kid

“I remember exactly where I was when…” It starts conversation and provokes recollection. Some are personal situations – when my mom died, or when I learned I was going to be a father. Those are the first two I thought of, which refer to unique events in my life that can still be relatable universally. Not everyone experienced either of these moments when I did, but most people can empathize with the situation, because it either already did happen to them, or they can imagine their own version of it.

Now think of an event that had more wide-reaching historical significance; one that people often remember vividly and personally. In psychology, that moment is called a flashbulb moment. Earlier generations likely remember when the stock market crashed in October of 1929, plunging the country into the Great Depression. Older friends and relatives talk about remembering the John F. Kennedy assassination.

People closer to my age may remember things like the Space Shuttle Challenger exploding in January of 1986. (If anyone is curious, I was eating lunch between classes at the University Union, watching the event occur in real time. The friend sitting next to me quietly muttered an understated, “Oh, that’s not good.”) The 9/11 Attacks are one of the biggest ones for us Gen-Xers. In fact, that one goes for Boomers and Millennials, too, come to think of it. And seeing the Apollo 11 Moon Landing is my earliest childhood memory.

A flashbulb moment examines an aspect of such an event, but because it’s a personal connection, it only applies to situations that were experienced personally. I have no flashbulb moment of, say, the Cuban Missile Crisis. I wasn’t alive to remember it.

But there is a flip side to that coin. Certain iconic photographs capture an event or era. They instantly summon that situation. In some cases, the photo or video serves as the defining image. The image encapsulates the piece of history – especially for those who did not experience it personally.

The Great Depression -Dorothea Lange’s picture of a mother from 1936

The U.S. Marines -Joe Rosenthal’s photo at the battle of Iwo Jima

A Miracle on Ice – the U.S. hockey team’s 1980 Olympic victory

The brutality of war – Eddie Adam’s horrifying snapshot of a Viet Cong prisoner execution in 1968 Saigon

It doesn’t even matter that some photos may have been staged, misattributed or edited from their original form. The impact doesn’t go away. They still serve as a kind of visual shorthand for those moments.

Anniversaries are triggers of their own. The 84^th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack is later this week, and the final 2 survivors of the USS Arizona died in late April of 2024. Both were 102 years old. This instantly came to mind.

-Toph

For the past few months, I’ve been on a big First World War kick. While I can credit the Gothic horror miniature game “Trench Crusade” with that initial spark, it certainly didn’t end there. After completing a handful of game miniatures, I ventured away from the (still very compelling) fictional game aesthetic. I was looking online at images of trench systems and the differences between those used early vs. later in the war, and why they changed as the conflict wore on.

It led me down a rabbit hole that branched into a couple of different directions. I began studying the US involvement (1917-18) in World War One (also known as “The Great War,” “War to End All Wars”, and “WWI”). I read several of the resource books I have collected over the years. My main area of interest has always been the Second World War. As it turns out, I have a surprising amount of previously unexplored material on the prequel.

J.H. Johnson’s Stalemate! – a deep dive into the bloodiest part of the conflict

From the Europa Militarfia series – in my opinion, the best full color uniform resource available

Maurice Rickards excellent collection of historic posters, displaying the major combatants’ approach to war propaganda (now out of print)

In addition to finding an excuse to read every piece of material I own on The Great War, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube content as well. Many feature quality, historical information, while a handful are rife with inaccurate data and even misleading, altered or entirely AI-falsified photos. It also brought to my attention how many of the Facebook stories passed around about, “This day in military history,” are absolute fiction. Learning how to sort through the nonsense has been an interesting part of the study.

ICM’s 1/35 scale US Soldiers in Gas Masks

Although the ICM kit depicts a British machine gun, a version of the Vickers was used by the US forces – they had not yet developed their own

I also started building a few figure kits representing various combatants. They are pretty straightforward, construction-wise. I also gave in to temptation and bought a more detailed kit – a WWI tank model. While I’ve built tanks before, I haven’t taken on significantly more complex ones, for example, kits that employ individual linked tracks or photo etched brass details. This kit also has a detailed interior – another stretch out of my comfort zone. I’m hoping this endeavor is a step towards a new level of skill.

Growing up, I heard that my paternal great uncle Frans was drafted into WWI. My grandfather was a few years younger; and as a result, his number did not come up. Frans was exposed to poisonous gas (likely mustard gas at that point in the conflict) and had breathing difficulties for the rest of his life. I found several pieces of documentation in my search: his original draft registration, some US census records, and a photo of his military headstone at the Rock Island Arsenal National Cemetery. The first online photo I found was blurry, making it difficult to see some of the details. However, with a little more searching, I learned that he served as a private in the 139^th Field Artillery. I also found an old, colorized postcard of the unit from that era.

WWI era Brodie helmet. Although designed by the British, it was the style most US troops used in The Great War (from my collection of memorabilia)

The last few months have been a pretty cool experience. In fact, it’s been a 3-pronged journey. First: a study of the fascinating political climate of the turn of the century and resultant conflict that shaped the next hundred-plus years. Second: an opportunity to take my modeling skills in an unexpected direction – pushing my comfort zone and challenging myself to grow. And finally: a peek into the lives of ancestors who are becoming more than vague names and dates on yellowed paper in cardboard boxes. They were, in fact, real people who were born, lived entire lives, and died. They no longer need to stay forgotten. And all this discovery out of a single project – that’s pretty cool.

-Toph

P.S. – Drop me a note about your own forays into the past. I truly enjoy the emails I get, from old friends as well as new ones.

Until next time – cheers!

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