Today my parents and I visited the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. It is a wonderful place full of history, both inanimate — the airplanes — and animate: many of the musem volunteers are military veterans.

We were blessed to have a conversation with a man named Larry Jenkins, a World War II veteran who was shot down over Austria and who spent time in a German prison camp. He was very friendly and very willing to speak of his experiences in the war, and it was very moving to hear the stories directly from Jenkins.

In addition, he had made the effort to maintain written accounts of his war experiences (even while he was in the prison camp!), and he had provided those accounts to the Air Zoo. His words, along with the others the Air Zoo has accumulated, are necessary remembrances in a modern world so eager to move forward without taking much time to look back. Few can truly understand Jenkins’ experiences, but all should take care to ensure that those experiences are not forgotten.

A vanishing generation (26 March 2007).

See the full gallery.