I recently spoke at the Germania Singing and Sports Society in Columbus, Ohio.

As usual, at the book signing afterward, I met and spoke with people who told me their own personal stories. One elderly gentleman could easily relate to the bombings we endured in Weimar, Germany. The reason? He lived near Weimar during WWII. His first name is Gerhart!

I had a long conversation with a woman whose father (a doctor) had treated Holocaust survivors. She had previously attended a presentation by Holocaust survivor Murray Ebner’s daughter. She was kind enough to give me a copy of Mr. Ebner’s book which she signed. A first for me.

Another elderly survivor of WWII spoke to me about how terribly skinny and ill her father looked after he came home from Russian captivity. She was in tears as she talked.

At least as meaningful to me as the above comments were the comments by Americans who had no direct tie to WWII, including a few twenty-somethings. My family’s story touches multiple generations and people from different backgrounds.