...in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.
-Part of the lead in language to The War, a Ken Burns film, on PBS www.pbs.org
They probably never met. But the two people to your left are living witnesses to what caregiving was like during a war that killed tens of millions of people. And they are among the many who tell their stories on the astonishing Ken Burns series, The War, still running on PBS. We owe it to them to watch, and to get our children and friends to watch, this powerful series.
What was it like to care for wounded soldiers in the days after the Normandy invasion? Ray and Emily were there...
Ray Leopold started the war as a regular soldier. Shot in the thigh in the months after the D-Day landing, he did such a good job dressing his own wound that an officer made him a medic. During the bloody and crucial Battle of the Bulge, Leopold displayed courage and compassion caring for the wounded and the dead. Along the way, he had an extra worry. As a Jew, if he was taken prisoner by the Nazis, he would likely be tortured and shot.
Medic Leopold took his dog tags, marked with an H for Hebrew, and stuffed them into his glove. In case of capture, he planned to throw them into the snow. He carried his dog tags this way for twelve harrowing days.
During the same Battle of the Bulge, flight nurse Emily Lewis was stuck on the ground for eleven days in one of the coldest winters ever. Braving temperatures that neared fifty below, she ministered to the sick and wounded as they were carried home from the battlefield.
The work of caregiving is always difficult. But caregivers usually don't have to fear for their own lives. During the winter of 1944-45, Ray and Emily were among those who risked everything in order to bring medicine and compassion to wounded soldiers - and to preserve the freedom we enjoy today. They survived (see photos), but they live with the scars of a horrible and tragic war. We owe it to them, and to their colleagues, to be present to the sacrifice they made - and to watch this marvelous series as it unfolds on public television. This is "television worth watching" in ways that will help all of us be better caregivers.
-Erie Chapman