A traveling exhibit focusing on the 1944 D-Day landing in France came to the armory building in Woodstock. I went yesterday. It will be open again this weekend before moving on to Washington DC.
One section of the exhibit is devoted to the home front, and that’s where I started because I recall some stories that my mother told about living through the war. My dad and my grandfather both served in the Navy during the war but they didn’t talk about it much. They were not stationed at the landing on Omaha Beach.
Many veterans did not talk about the war. I think they wanted to put it behind them. It was horrific. It happened before my time, but I picked up on some of my mother’s trauma. Now researchers talk about trauma being passed on in DNA, but in my case, I could pick it up from subtle signs, such as a small shudder or brief squeezing of the eyes, memories of fear.
My mother maintained a victory garden, and mentioned that when we worked a small vegetable plot in our yard. So it was suitable to begin the tour at a representation of a victory garden. Food was rationed during the war, so growing your own vegetables was helpful.
Some people were dressed in outfits from that time, such as the man in overalls.
The military part of the exhibit included equipment, dioramas, and mannequins in uniforms.
A brief film told of the preparation for the landing. The dioramas were accompanied by text and QR codes that you could scan for more information, but I did not feel like digging any deeper. It may have been a brilliant plan and a victory, but it was also a heartbreaking tragedy.
Yet still we go to war…over and over and over.
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