World War 2 History

Stories of a B-24 military pilot, Jim Maris & his young bride, Lucille.

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Victory in Europe Day 70th Anniversary

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May 8, 2015 is the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Europe of World War 2. In honor of the victory, and the men and women who sacrificed during the war, I am sharing this preview video (scroll down for video) of the online course, Aviator’s Wife Tells of Home Front Life During World War 2.

My parents, Jim and Lucille Maris, were newlyweds during World War 2 as my dad piloted B-24 bombers out of a base in Wendling, England. He flew 30 missions, the second of which was D-Day. The plane that he flew for most of his missions was the Bad Penny, shown below in a 1944 photo taken on the dispersal ramp. This is one of the many images my dad had in his archives.

Many vintage war planes were flown over Washington DC today in honor of the Victory in Europe. The hashtag, #VEDay70, has lit up Twitter, Instagram and other places in social media. I’m wishing I could have witnessed the aircraft flyby in person today. How awesome that would have been!

1944 photo of B-24 bomber, the Bad Penny, flown by pilot, James R. Maris

1944 photo of B-24 bomber, the Bad Penny, flown by pilot, James R. Maris, along with his 9 members of his crew.

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In the course, you will get to see more photos from our archives. You will also experience video lessons in which I interview Mom talking about her experiences as a young bride in the USA during war time.

Mom and I look forward to your feedback about the content. If you have questions that come up, we hope you’ll post them in the discussion threads in the course to give us opportunity to respond.

In the video below, you’ll hear Mom tell briefly about my dad, Jim, waving the wings of his B-24 as he and his crew passed by her and two other wives who were standing on the rooftop of the Hotel Jayhawk in Topeka, Kansas. It was the last time they would see each other for many months of the war.

Register for the Course!

Here is your link to enroll in the course! Hope you’ll join us for this journey through history!

Women’s History Month | Lucille Maris Interviewed for World War 2 History Online Course

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In honor of Women’s History Month and also “the greatest generation” as penned by Tom Brokaw in his 1998 book of the same name, I have released a course about life on the home front in the USA during World War 2. The stories are told from a stateside bride’s perspective of the USA home front during the war.

Lucille Maris​, my mom, has been my guest content expert as we recorded videos for this project. Please join the list by entering your email address to get notified about new blog posts or dates when we’ll be sharing on Periscope.

You’ll also get a coupon code for a discounted enrollment in the course in Udemy when you add your email to the list.

To check out the course and preview a few of the videos, simply visit this link: WW2 Home Front History Course.)

I can’t wait for you to see and hear the interesting details my mom shares about young love, enlistment in the military, moving from base to base during flight training, saying goodbye, and communicating via letters with her deployed husband, Jim Maris (my dad), who wrote to her every single day that he wasn’t on a combat mission.

Photo of scrapbook intro page of World War 2 history

An example of a scrapbook page from the WW2 scrapbook that Lucille and Jim compiled in the 1940s. Several of the elements from the scrapbook are included in the online course.

You will be amazed to see the electronic files of photos, documents and letters that I’ve scanned from our 1940s collection of memorabilia from the War. I’ve included those to help you gain an even better understanding of what life was like in the 1940s during the time of war and during a blossoming love story that lasted 65 years.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would share this post with your friends or family members who would benefit from knowing about this new online course and opportunity to view living history.

PS – Mom positioned a photo of my dad on the mantle behind us as we recorded the video and had his military uniform hat next to the photo. After we were done and had loaded up the gear, I turned to say goodbye and there she stood wearing Dad’s hat and smiling. She said, “I think your dad would have approved of me helping teach a course about the war.” Yes mom, he most certainly would have approved!

Photo of Lucille Maris in US Air Force military hat

Lucille Maris in Jim Maris’ US Air Force hat. This was taken on the day we did the video recordings for the online course.