May is Military Appreciation Month: Teaching Students about Sacrifice during World War II

During World War II more than 16 million Americans served our country. They came from the industrial cities of the Great Lakes to the farms of the Midwest. They served stateside and across the oceans in the jungles of the Pacific, and the bitter cold of the northern European winters.  They came from different backgrounds, but they all fought under the same flag for the same cause.  

As part of Military Appreciation Month, students can learn about Americans that lost their lives during the war through the Understanding Sacrifice education program created by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), National History Day® (NHD), and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Understanding Sacrifice is a free digital resource for teachers available on www.ABMCeducation.org.

This program includes 21 lesson plans created by American teachers. As part of the lesson plan development, teachers selected American service members who lost their lives in northern Europe and are buried or memorialized within an ABMC cemetery. Through months of intense study and in-depth research, the teachers uncovered the story of their fallen hero while developing a broader understanding of the campaigns and battles in which they fought. The group then traveled through northern Europe to visit America’s overseas cemeteries and to walk the battlegrounds where these men gave their lives.

Using this experience, the teachers designed a lesson plan specific to their teaching discipline. Designed for middle school and high school classrooms, the lesson plans are multi-disciplinary and can be applied in history, as well as art, math, science and English classrooms. Through the use of primary and secondary sources, videos, and hands-on activities, students are transported to the war front and home front. From role-playing difficult family decisions at home to designing new war memorials and exploring military tactics utilized in France, students will walk away with a vivid understanding of the high cost paid by all Americans during this war.

Each lesson plan is based on solid scholarship, integrated with Common Core, and makes use of interpretive materials provided by ABMC. They are accompanied by a corresponding fallen hero profile:

SSgt. Charles Crossley
Hometown: Danville, Pennsylvania
Cemetery: Ardennes American Cemetery              

Captain Charles Hewes
Hometown: Biloxi, Mississippi
Cemetery: Ardennes American Cemetery

Private Chester Lane
Hometown: Ogilville, Indiana
Cemetery: Lorraine American Cemetery

Private First Class Clark Allen
Hometown: Marion, Massachusetts
Cemetery: Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery

Private First Class Edward Elewicz
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Cemetery: Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery

Seaman First Class Edwin Frazier
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Cemetery: Cambridge American Cemetery

First Lieutenant Gale McGowan
Hometown: Leadville, Colorado
Cemetery: Cambridge American Cemetery

Second Lieutenant Gordon Chamberlain
Hometown: San Diego, California
Cemetery: Netherlands American Cemetery

Sergeant Harry Blankenship
Hometown: Limestone, Tennessee
Cemetery: Normandy American Cemetery

Private Henry Saaga
Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii
Cemetery: Normandy American Cemetery

First Lieutenant Homer McClure
Hometown: Carnegie, Oklahoma
Cemetery: Cambridge American Cemetery

Private First Class James Vrtatko
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Cemetery: Ardennes American Cemetery

Private First Class John Akimoto
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Cemetery: Lorraine American Cemetery

Private Moses Vanderhorst
Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina
Cemetery: Lorraine American Cemetery

Sergeant Paul Boyle
Hometown: New Castle, Pennsylvania
Cemetery: Normandy American Cemetery

Second Lieutenant Richard Padgett
Hometown: Walterboro, South Carolina
Cemetery: Lorraine American Cemetery

Private First Class Richard Townsend
Hometown: Crisfield, Maryland
Cemetery: Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery

Private First Class Stanley Clark
Hometown: Lewiston, Maine
Cemetery: Netherlands American Cemetery

Private Victor Akimoto
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Cemetery: Lorraine American Cemetery

Captain Walter Huchthausen
Hometown: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
Cemetery: Netherlands American Cemetery

First Lieutenant Warren Frye
Hometown: Husted, Colorado
Cemetery: Netherlands American Cemetery

First Lieutenant William Simmons
Hometown: Norfolk, Virginia
Cemetery: Normandy American Cemetery