Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. On June 10, 1940, he led Italy into World War II, siding with Nazi Germany.
After the Allied Forces began invading Italy, Mussolini was removed from office on July 24, 1943, and the day after, the king ordered him arrested. On September 12, 1943, he was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso Raid that was personally ordered by Hitler and carried out by German special forces. After the rescue, he led the Italian Social Republic in areas of Italy that were not controlled by the Allies. But in late April 1945, as World War II was ending, he tried to escape north and was captured and executed.
Seattle Underground
The Seattle Underground is a series of passageways and basements in downtown Seattle that were at ground level when the city was founded in the mid-1800s. After a terrible fire in June 1889, which burned thirty-one blocks of Seattle’s all-wood buildings, the city was rebuilt in stone and brick, one to two stories above the previous level since the area often flooded anyway.
The areas left below became known as the Seattle Underground.
In 1907, the Seattle Underground was condemned out of fear of the bubonic plague, and the area used as for storage, for illegal purposes (like gambling, drinking, and drugs), or simply deteriorated. A small part of the Seattle Underground has been restored, and today guided tours are offered of the areas that are safe and accessible.
HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE TIMELINE
May 29, 1935—The SS Normandie, the largest, fastest luxury ocean liner of its time, embarks on its maiden voyage.
May 6, 1937—The German airship Hindenburg catches fire upon arriving in New Jersey, killing many of its passengers and crew.
May 8, 1945—World War II ends in Europe with the final German surrender.
August 6 and 9, 1945—Allied Forces drop atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
September 2, 1945—The Japanese sign a formal surrender of World War II on the USS Missouri.
December 1946—The Dead Sea Scrolls are discovered at Qumran, Israel.
September 18, 1947—The Central Intelligence Agency is formed in the United States.
June 25, 1950–July 27, 1953—The Korean War
April 25, 1953—James Watson and Frances Crick are the first to describe DNA.
May 29, 1953—Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are the first to successfully reach the top of Mount Everest.
January 14, 1954—Actress Marilyn Monroe marries baseball star Joe DiMaggio.
April 18, 1955—Albert Einstein dies at the age of 76.
LAURA’S VICTORY: END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
VOCABULARY WORDS
air raid—an attack by enemy military aircraft
Right after Mrs. Jamison introduced herself, she explained the air-raid procedure. For the last two years, Laura’s father had assured her over and over that the Japanese couldn’t fly a plane close enough to shore to bomb them.
bewilderment—a state of confusion, often created by many things to worry about Laura focused on his eyes, which were enormous. They were wide, not with pain so much as with bewilderment.
burlesque house—a place of stage entertainment that includes inappropriate dancing, comedy, and costumes
Not to be outdone, Yvonne marched past the closed ticket booth and knocked on the door of the burlesque house, a place Laura had been forbidden to go near.
buzz bomb—a small, jet-propelled missile that makes a buzzing noise as it flies
But she remembered that radio program about the Germans launching buzz bombs from long distances away. If one of those came, then the students wouldn’t even have time to get underneath their desks.
campaign—a connected series of activities intended to create a single result
As the days of fall slipped by, Laura followed the campaign for president of the United States. She listened to President Roosevelt’s speeches and heard some of New York Governor Dewey’s radio talks, too.
censors—government officials who check written materials to remove anything considered inappropriate
“He mentions mud, but that could be anywhere. Before D-Day, the censors missed his letter because he mentioned a town in England, and it wasn’t cut out.
chitchat—minor or unimportant conversation or gossip
Ginny served the others, and they chatted with Eddie. Laura wanted to cut all the chitchat and ask if Eddie would ever be able to walk without the brace.
concentration camp—a place where political prisoners or prisoners of war are held, and sometimes killed
Soon the news was full of the Russians finding a concentration camp at Auschwitz. Thousands of Jews had been killed, and many were starving to death in the camp.
conscientiously—done with careful attention
She had conscientiously asked everyone who came for mail how their family members were.
contaminated—made impure by the addition of something harmful
One of the girls mentioned it was fortunate that he hadn’t been anywhere in the hotel during the last two days other than their apartment and room 24…. Eddie hadn’t contaminated the rest of the rooms.
correspondent—someone, often far away, who contributes to a newspaper or newscast
Each night the family listened to war correspondent Edward R. Murrow report the latest battles, but first they got Laura’s report.
hand-to-hand combat—fighting between soldiers close enough to touch each other
Japanese soldiers hid artillery guns in caves and rained bullets on Americans. Radio reports from the Pacific talked about hand-to-hand combat.
home front—a nation’s civilian population at home during wartime “The home front kept us going,” one of the soldiers said. “The Germans were running out of planes and bullets, but our supplies kept on coming.”
impairment—damage or weakness
Instead of ridiculing his impairment, now they admired him for overcoming it.
iron lung—a tank enclosing the entire body except the head, which provides air pressure to assist breathing
“Is he in an iron lung?” Laura looked up at her mother, hoping against hope that Eddie wasn’t having a machine breathe for him.
issei—a Japanese person who moved to live in the United States
“My grandfather was issei, born in Japan, but that was a long time ago.”
kamikaze—an aircraft or pilot, primarily Japanese, on a mission intended to crash and take the pilot’s life
She’d seen a picture in the newspaper of a wrecked kamikaze plane burning on the deck of an American ship.
nisei—a child born in the United States to Japanese parents
“My father is nisei, born in California.”
newsreel—a short clip before a feature film showing current news events
After Laura had seen newsreel footage of the Normandy assault, she had understood the danger soldiers had faced.
nomination—putting forth as a candidate for election to an office or specific responsibility
“Anyone who wants to run should pick up one of these nomination forms, fill it out, and bring it back to school tomorrow.”
paralysis—complete or partial loss of movement because of damage to nerves
“They’re to help with the tremors, and we hope they will prevent paralysis.”
polio—a shortened name for poliomyelitis, an infectious virus occurring mainly in children which attacks the nervous system, often producing deformities and limited or permanent paralysis
They’d discussed the posters of polio kids with both legs in braces. Did a brace mean that Eddie would never regain use of that leg?
procession—a group of people moving in an orderly, often ceremonial, manner
The group followed Eddie in a slow procession.
pronounced—very noticeable
Eddie’s limp seemed more pronounced. Laura wondered if his weakened leg bothered
him more in the summer than in the winter, but she didn’t ask.
propelled—pushed or driven forward
A sense of urgency propelled her through the living room and out the apartment door to the lobby.
quarantine—forced isolation brought on by threat of a contagious disease
“If people ask, tell them that we’ve disinfected the area and that the hotel isn’t under quarantine.”
rations—limited amounts of food or other necessities based on supply
He was doing fine but was looking forward to a home-cooked meal when the war was over. He
was tired of the rations the army gave him.
relocation center—a camp set up by the United States government to hold Americans of Japanese ancestry
They were in a relocation center in Wyoming now, upon orders from President Roosevelt.
rheumatic fever—a severe, contagious disease mainly affecting children with fever and painful swelling of the joints
Nothing like when Eddie had developed rheumatic fever a few years ago, when he was eight and Laura was seven. With a high temperature, achy joints, a skin rash, and constant nosebleeds, he’d been miserable.
sidled—moves with stealth and sneakiness
On the playground, when the teacher had walked back into the school, Keith sidled up to Laura. “Isn’t your big hotel job in that place where the Japs lived?”
standstill—the lack of motion or activity
Daily work at the hotel came to a standstill.
tenant—one who pays rent money to occupy a room, land, or a building that is owned by another
“Those tenants came here before the war,” she said. “They’re on the American side.”
(on) tenterhooks—feelings of anxiety, tension, suspense, or worry
Days passed, and Laura and the others hardly dared to breathe, waiting on tenterhooks.
vengeance—punishment given in return for an injury or insult
Yvonne hated Japs with a vengeance, and so did Laura.
war stamps—inexpensive stamps sold to children to help fund the United States war effort
“We’ll elect a classroom president to be in charge of our war-stamp program.”
IMPORTANT PEOPLE AND THINGS AROUND 1945
Nisei Combat Unit
When the United States entered World War II in 1941, there were five thousand Japanese-Americans in the U.S. armed forces. Many were immediately discharged. But in May 1942, a battalion of Nisei (second generation Japanese-American) volunteers was formed in Hawaii, and were sent as the 100th Infantry Battalion to North Africa in 1943. They were later sent to Italy where they saw fierce combat and became known as the Purple Heart Battalion because of their high injury and death rate.
In January 1943, the U.S. War Department had announced the formation of the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team made of up Nisei volunteers from Hawaii and the mainland of the U.S. In June 1944, the 442nd joined with the 100th Infantry Battalion in Europe.
Because of their outstanding bravery and the heavy combat duty they faced, the 100/442 RCT became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service. There were over 18,000 individual decorations for bravery, 9,500 Purple Hearts, and seven Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations.
Balloon Bombs
Balloon bombs were weapons used by the Japanese during World War II to start fires in American homes, cities, forests, and farmlands, and cause injury and even death. The balloons were made of paper or rubberized silk, and the bombs they carried hung below. The first launch of balloon bombs took place on November 3, 1944, and some nine thousand balloons were launched over the next five months. It is estimated that one thousand of these balloons reached the United States, though there were less than three hundred reported incidents of the balloons. Most were reported in the northwest states, but some balloons traveled as far east as Michigan.
To avoid panic among Americans, and in hopes that the Japanese would stop the attacks if they did not hear reports of the balloons doing harm, the U.S. government and the media agreed to keep quiet about the balloon bombs. People were warned by word of mouth to stay away from any suspicious balloons and report them immediately to authorities. As a result, the Japanese learned of only one bomb that reached Wyoming, landed, and failed to explode, so they stopped the launches after less than six months.
One balloon bomb did kill a group of picnickers in Oregon. Fortunately, they caused no more deaths, and though they posed a serious threat, actual damage from the balloon bombs was minor.
Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombs are nuclear weapons powerful enough to destroy entire cities. In the history of war, nuclear weapons have been used only twice, both near the end of World War II. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki, killing between 100,000 and 200,000 people. Hiroshima was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for Japanese military operations. Nagasaki was one of the largest seaports in Japan and was very important for the Japanese military because if its production of ships, military equipment, and other important wartime materials.
The United States felt that dropping the bombs would bring a quicker end to the war and ultimately result in fewer casualties than drawing out the war with an invasion of Japan.
The Japanese did surrender soon after the atomic bombings. On August 14, 1945, just five days after the bombing of Nagasaki, they agreed to stop fighting.
HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE TIMELINE
1932—Due to a shortage of cash in Washington state, money “notes” are briefly made out of wood, in denominations of one, five, and ten dollars.
March 4, 1933—Frances Perkins becomes the first woman member of a U.S. presidential cabinet under Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1935—“Big band” or “swing,” music becomes popular. This type of music will be forbidden by the Nazi regime because some of the musicians are Jewish or African-American.
1937—The first heart-lung machine is built by John Heysham Gibbon, a physician who also performed the first open-heart surgery.
January 3, 1938—The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to help fight polio. It later becomes an organization to improve the health of mothers and babies.
March 3, 1938—The Arabian American Oil Company discovers oil in Saudi Arabia.
November 9, 1938—Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” begins in Germany as the first large-scale act of anti-Jewish violence.
September 1, 1939–September 2, 1945—World War II.
June 1, 1942—The Grand Coulee Dam, on Washington’s Columbia River, opens.
April 18, 1945—With many baseball players serving in the armed forces, one-armed outfielder Pete Gray makes his major-league debut with the St. Louis Browns.
October 14, 1947—Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier, flying an experimental X-1 plane at 45,000 feet.
May 14, 1948—The State of Israel is established with David Ben-Gurion as its first prime minister.
June 2, 1953—Queen Elizabeth II is crowned in England.
March 9, 1959—The Barbie Doll is introduced by Mattel, Inc.
American Triumph: 1939-1945: 4 STORIES IN 1 Page 46
