Hello fellow travelers,
Forgive me if this thread already exists, but I thought it might be nice to create a place where we can share what this YT channel means to us to show some gratitude.
My father, a big fan of the channel since I introduced him to it last year, passed away from cancer this week. My father, my brother, and I have been WWII history fans all our lives and we’ve spent many an hour discussing “what if” questions and trying to grasp at the scale of the chaos and destruction. We’ve watched/devoured the TG videos separately because we needed to stay quarantined, but it became a ritual for us to discuss what we learned from Indy and Spartacus during our weekly family Zoom sessions. As my dad’s days drew to a close, we were able to spend more time with him in person and watching the TG videos as they came out have been something to look forward to when almost all other moments have been miserable. I became a member in his honor and because I believe in the project. I’ll think of him every time I watch one of your videos. I invite others to share their stories here too. We are physically distant but connected by our love and respect for history. I will share the one WII story from our family I have worth sharing:
Our grandfather (with whom I share a name) fought in the US Navy and was stationed in/near England for most of the war. He did not see much combat (except D-Day) because of his technology specialist position (and older age). At the end of the war (post VE-Day), a U-boat surfaced near their ship asking for help. The German crew were out of food and water and were desperate. None of them spoke English and no one on my grandfather’s ship spoke German. My grandfather’s shipmates called on my grandfather to communicate with them because he spoke Yiddish (which contains far more German words than most non-Yiddish speakers would guess.) My family and I get a kick out of imagining the shock and humiliation of the U-boat captain having to grovel in German/Yiddish in order to get basic supplies from an American Jew (even if the Kriegsmarine weren’t the most ideologically anti-Semitic branch of the military). Maybe this act of humanity on the part of my grandfather and his shipmates made the Germans begin to realize the extent of their brainwashing. Maybe it didn’t, but we remember it all the same.
Never forget. Thank you to the TimeGhost team. We need you now more than ever.