Fallen Heroes: Bringing the Story of Wartime into the Classroom

When teaching stories of war, numbers often come to dominate. Over 405,000 American men and women gave their lives during World War II, and sadly, we know the stories of too few of them.

In this presentation, Lynne O’Hara, Director of Programs for National History Day® and project manager for the Understanding Sacrifice program, will explore strategies developed to engage middle and high school students in hands-on research to study the life of an American killed in service.

Using examples drawn from the Understanding Sacrifice program, Ms. O’Hara will introduced participants to the key steps in researching a service member killed in duty in World War II. Participants will learn how to access and analyze archival databases (AAD) from the National Archives and Records Administration, manuscript census data, historical newspapers and Individual Deceased Personnel Files.

Ms. O’Hara will model the discovery and research process with the participants, inviting them to look through the documents using methods she and other Understanding Sacrifice teachers have used in their classrooms. Participants will then have an opportunity to reflect on the process, discuss ways that they can bring these strategies into their classrooms, and learn about an opportunity to engage in this process with their own students.