Nelson A. Pryor: Guest Columnist
Do you have a big idea? Well, Albert H. Small does. Today, Small is a 93-year old D. C. developer and philanthropist who thinks all Americans should remember what was achieved during World War II.
Making it real
And Mr. Small's big idea is that the defeat of National Socialism (Nazis) can be encapsulated in what happened on a single day, June 6, 1944 (D-Day).
"That was the climax of the war," Small said to the June 6, 2019, Washington Post 3b, in a column entitled "Philanthropist Wants Students to see Firsthand D-Day Sacrifices." He said: "If we hadn't been successful on D-Day invading Germany, we'd have lost the war."
Still, time to teach
Yes, now, before our young people begin to think of WW II as ancient history, like, for instance, the Peloponnesian War. Smalls big idea is that no American should forget about the sacrifices made on that one day.
Thus was born the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute, launched in 2011. Each year, 15 high school juniors from across these united States are selected for the program. The students each pick an American from their area who is buried in Normandy and, with the help of their teachers, do extensive research on his life.
In June, the students and their teachers are brought to Washington for five days. They stay at George Washington University-Small's alma mater-and visit such sights as the World War II Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. They have dinner with Small and Mortimer Caplan, a retired tax lawyer who was a beach master on D-Day, guiding land craft ashore.
Then they fly to France for eight days. The first thing they do in Normandy is retracing the steps their fallen hero took.
"When they look at those clifts-Omaha Beach; any of them-it's overwhelming," said Robert G. Perry, chairman of the National Trust for the Humanities.
They find their service member's grave among the more than 9,000 Americans buried at Normandy American Cemetery and deliver a eulogy. The budget for the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute (https://www.ahsni.com) is about $350,000 a year, Perry said. It's funded entirely by Small, who has also underwritten the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection at GWU.
One student's experience
Last June, 2018, Haley Broga from nearby Loudoun County, Virginia, was one of the students. She went to Normandy with her Freedom High School history teacher, Kate Corrado. Together, they had researched Pvt. Delmer D. Linaburg, who was killed by German machine-gun fire while trying to secure bridges east of the beaches.
They interviewed one of Linaburg's nieces. She'd never met their uncle, but she shared stories she'd heard about him, how he had a sense of humor and was a hit with girls, how he'd dropped out of high school to work in an orchard and provide for his family.
Who do you teach?
What a big idea! And from a Small? Life is real, and it didn't start with just your mother and father, or grandparents! It's time for the younger generation to learn this.