Gail Halvorsen: The Candy Bomber

 We began the class by having the boys carry and/or drag one another to safety, once again simulating Desmond Doss's experience at Okinawa during World War II.

After the boys had some time for free play we had the boys do their workout and then recited the Pledge and our class rules and affirmations.

We reviewed our heroes from last week (Zamperini and Doss) and then talked about the end of World War II and the background of the Berlin Airlift.  We then talked about Gail Halverson who has come to be known as the Candy Bomber.  We watched this video about Halverson.  

We love his kindness and ingenuity in the face of the Germans' deprivation.  His acts of service for people who had so recently been seen as the "enemy" would help many hearts heal.  

Louis Zamperini and Desmond Doss: Heroes of World War II

 We started the class off with some rough housing, after which we did our work out and began the class with the Pledge of Allegiance and our class rules and affirmations.

We then reviewed last week's hero (Helmuth Hubener), after which we introduced two American Heroes: Louis Zamperini and Desmond Doss.

We began with Zamperini.  We shared this PowerPoint, telling his amazing life story.  It includes links to videos taken from the film Unbroken, a film based on his biography.   

After going over Zamperini and having a snack we pretended that there were sharks on the ground.

We then talked a little about Desmond Doss, whose story is also remarkable.  Though he never carried a gun due to his religious beliefs, he chose to enlist and serve as a medic.  At Hacksaw Ridge in Okinawa he rescued somewhere around 75 men (the exact number is unknown).   He dragged and carried them, one by one, and let them down a cliffside all through the night.  As he went along, he kept praying, "Help me find one more, Lord."

We finished the class by having the boys try to drag and carry one another, to simulate Doss's act of heroism.

Helmuth Hubener: A Teenage Hero

 We began class with a mini "Olympics."  We had the boys run a 100m race twice (they all beat their first time!) and then we had them run a 100m relay.  Those were two of the events that Jesse Owens won at the 1936 Olympics, as we had discussed the previous week.

After letting the boys get some water and have some play time, we began class in our usual manner, skipping the workout because the boys were exhausted.

We reviewed the previous week's information about the rise of Nazism and Hitler, and then shared the story of Helmuth Hubener, an incredibly brave boy who followed his conscience in a courageous way.  Feeling that their teachings were not correct, he dropped out of the Hitler Youth program.  He then started listening (illegally) to the radio.  As he learned the truth about what his country was actually doing and going through, he began making and distributing flyers to inform the public.  

For this crime, he was eventually arrested.  In an effort to protect his friends who had been helping him, he took all the blame.  Although he was only 16 he was tried as an adult and was executed.  He was the youngest German to be executed for such crimes.  His courage and integrity are amazing to me for someone so young.

After this we played hide and seek with the boys.