May is Military Appreciation Month: Teaching Students about Sacrifice during World War II

ARLINGTON, Va., May 5, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During World War II more than 16 million Americans served our country. They came from the industrial cities of the Great Lakes to the farms of the Midwest. They served stateside and across the oceans in the jungles of the Pacific, and the bitter cold of the northern European winters.  They came from different backgrounds, but they all fought under the same flag for the same cause.  

As part of Military Appreciation Month, students can learn about Americans that lost their lives during the war through the Understanding Sacrifice education program created by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), National History Day® (NHD), and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Understanding Sacrifice is a free digital resource for teachers available on www.ABMCeducation.org.

This program includes 21 lesson plans created by American teachers. As part of the lesson plan development, teachers selected American service members who lost their lives in northern Europe and are buried or memorialized within an ABMC cemetery. Through months of intense study and in-depth research, the teachers uncovered the story of their fallen hero while developing a broader understanding of the campaigns and battles in which they fought. The group then traveled through northern Europe to visit America's overseas cemeteries and to walk the battlegrounds where these men gave their lives.

Using this experience, the teachers designed a lesson plan specific to their teaching discipline. Designed for middle school and high school classrooms, the lesson plans are multi-disciplinary and can be applied in history, as well as art, math, science and English classrooms. Through the use of primary and secondary sources, videos, and hands-on activities, students are transported to the war front and home front. From role-playing difficult family decisions at home to designing new war memorials and exploring military tactics utilized in France, students will walk away with a vivid understanding of the high cost paid by all Americans during this war.

Each lesson plan is based on solid scholarship, integrated with Common Core, and makes use of interpretive materials provided by ABMC. They are accompanied by a corresponding fallen hero profile. 

CONTACT: Sarah Herrmann, 703-696-6896, herrmanns@abmc.gov

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjh6sU-R25E
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160504/363574 
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120905/DC68906LOGO-b

SOURCE American Battle Monuments Commission