Al McIntosh on The War

As a WWII buff, Ken Burn's The War, on PBS, has been simply spectacular so far through four episodes. One of my favorite parts is the reading of insightful excerpts from Al McIntosh's column from the Luverne, Minnesota Rock County Star Herald describing the impact of those four years on small town America.

Like this excerpt on receiving the news late at night of the invasion of Normandy:

When we sleepily stumbled down the hall to answer the ringing telephone we made a mental note that it was shortly before 3 A.M.. We picked up the receiver, thinking it was Sheriff Roberts calling to say that there had been accident. Instead, it was Mrs. Lloyd Long, playing the feminine counterpart of Paul Revere, saying, "Get up, Al, and listen to the radio, the invasion has started." We sat by the radio for over an hour listening to the breath-taking announcements. And then we went to bed to lie there for a long time, wide-eyed in the darkness thinking "what Rock County boys are landing on French soil tonight?"

More of Al's columns can be found in the collection,
"Selected Chaff: The wartime columns of Al McIntosh."