Rose Beal

We had a really unique and memorable field trip today.
We went up to Nampa, Idaho with DeeDee and 2 of her girls, and ReNaye and Wyatt to the War Hawk Air Museum.
The boys were really into figuring out this Morse code machine that still worked.

Kaitlynn and Anna Brooke were really impressed with the bombs and the miniature models.

We had to sit in the back, even though we got there first. We didn't know we needed reservations.

Why did we go?

To hear a speaker, Mrs. Rose Beal. An 86 year old spunky woman with a story to tell that they all needed to hear.

There were over 800 Jr. high and high schoolers there, and I had my doubts about being distracted and not being able to hear, but for the 30 minutes she spoke, you could have heard a pin drop in that large room.

Rose was 11 years old when Hitler took power in Germany. She told the story of the next 7 years of her life. Being separated from family, long train rides, being cramped and crowded and starving, the tunnels they were held in like animals without food or water, the terror of the guards, and so much more.
Of the 17,000 that were sent to this particular place in Poland, there were only 200 survivors.
This was a chance for the children to hear, in person, from a Holocaust survivor. To ask questions, which they did for over 30 minutes!
There won't be many more chances to hear in person from survivors as that generation will be gone before to long.
We thought it was important enough for them to experience. So DeeDee and ReNaye pulled their kids from school today and we all went together.
We are glad we did.
Almost 70 years since she and her mom and 2 brothers caught the LAST ship that sailed to America at that time, she still cried in telling us what she remembered.
What touched me so much was seeing the tears in the eyes of a lot of young teenagers around us. Their generation, and mine as well, have never been through a depression, or a war in our own country, and it is easy to take everything for granted. She made us all feel thankful to be Americans and honored to be able to carry on her story so it is never forgotten.