Superintendent’s Chat

Richard McClements, Shonto Preparatory School

Sixty years ago in on June 6, 1944, the United States Army had landed in Normandy, France, and was battling the German armies to bring freedom to Europe. Twenty-seven years earlier in 1917, we had landed in France as well to save Europe from the German aggression. Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen died or were wounded in those two wars. Back then, we were treated as saviors. It disturbs me to no end to hear constantly about how so many people in Europe now hate the Americans and feel absolutely no gratitude for our sacrifices. We completely rebuilt Germany and spent billions to prevent the Communists from overrunning Europe after the war. Recently at the Olympic Games in Greece, spectators from all over Europe were booing and ridiculing our athletes at every opportunity. France has become extremely anti-American and would not support our efforts in Iraq in 2003. Last winter there was a huge backlash here as many Americans stopped buying French products and refused to travel there on vacation.

The men who were fighting and dying that summer assumed that once Germany and Japan were defeated, the world would live at peace. Little did they know that the following wars were yet to come where our servicemen and women would step into harms way:

• The Korean War (1950-1953)
• The Vietnamese War (1962-1973)
• Granada (1988)
• Panama (1990)
• Ist Iraq War (1991)
• The War with Serbia over Kosovo (1999)
• 2^nd Iraq War (2003 – and still going)

I thought you might, however, like to see how different things were in the summer of 1944 following the D-Day Invasion on June 6^th. *

	1944	2004
Population	138,397,000	292,648,691
3-bedroom home	$3,475	$159,037
Average income	$4,027	$39,879
Price of a new Ford	None made due to war	$21,885
Gasoline, 1 gallon	$.21	$1.99
Bread, 1 pound	$.09	$.97
Milk, 1 gallon	$.62	$2.90
First class stamp	$.03	$.37

* Source: Allstate Insurance