WWII survivors share stories

The children quickly came to attention. Having been schooled on the horrors of war, they realized the magnitude of the experience they were about to face. Nevertheless, face it they must; turning a deaf ear was not an option.

"History truly affects and impacts every individual, and understanding how it impacts us will allow us to become a better society that treats its people the right way," said teacher Drew Shilhanek.

And so, three cut from the same cloth of history appeared as if out of a textbook. The trio of speakers gave witness to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at Quest Academy in Palatine on their firsthand experiences during World War II.

The three speakers all live at Sedgebrook in Lincolnshire: Irene Horn survived Nazi death camps, Alvin Johnson trained people to drop atomic bombs and Lee Lang lived under Nazi rule in Germany before escaping in 1937 to live with her family in America.

Here are the lessons they imparted to the students:

Irene Horn

"When I give my speech I have to speak from what I have written down so my emotions don't run away with me," said Horn.

Showing the camp identification number tattooed on her arm, Horn revealed her life story. As a young child, her hair was shaved, her possessions were taken, and her sustenance was diluted soup. She spoke of a Nazi who entered Barracks 5 and killed at whim.

"She described a man who would shoot victims on sight without motivation or cause. This seemed an embodiment of hatred and absolute judgment. I was disturbed by these events," said eighth-grade student Duncan Brown of Palatine.

Chills engulfed some students when Horn explained selection.

"A doctor we called Angel of Death selected those to be poisoned or burned," she said. "Some selected would be taken into a bus, forced to dig their own graves and then shot, falling inside of them."

"I was most scared by her description of the Angel of Death because of the constant fear of his arrival," said Shelby Daniel-Wayman, an eighth-grader from Lombard.

Horn, her mother and two sisters, all from Poland, survived the death camps of Auschwitz. Their experiences were documented in the book "The Last Selection."

Alvin Johnson

"It was a secret at the time, but I trained bombardiers to drop the atomic bomb," said Alvin Johnson. "I trained countless B-29 crews."

The Army sent Johnson to Ripon College and later to Stanford University to study engineering.

"From there, they sent me to the Air Force for the Manhattan Project out in a desert in New Mexico," said the 81-year-old. "The biggest challenge in training was getting the bombardiers to turn right after a drop to get away from the horrific heat. They also needed to know when to drop the bombs because they weighed over 10,000 pounds and needed compensation for wind and so forth."

Johnson recalls a soldier from the Philippine Air Force appreciating his efforts.

"He told me I saved his life because we dropped the bomb right before a huge invasion of Japan, which would have been worse than D-Day," Johnson said. "It can be bad to drop bombs, but also you save people you never knew about."

Although Johnson felt it was important to inform the students about World War II, he wanted his main message to be about living a good life.

"I wanted to tell them what to do to win, how to be happy and how to get into college," he said. "We don't live long enough to make all the mistakes there are to make. They need to benefit from the mistakes of others."

Johnson made an impression on Daniel-Wayman.

"Mr. Johnson taught me that it is important to start taking advantages of the opportunities we have now because we don't know what opportunities we will have in the future," the eighth-grader said.

Lee Lang

Lang was not in a concentration camp. Fortunately, she was able to escape Germany in 1937 and live with her family in America. However, her cousins were sent in a children's train to England to live alone. Lang still shudders about the war.

"There was a Nazi training camp right across the street from where we lived," she said. "We were not allowed to go to school or shop. We were even afraid to go out of the house, and we hid in the attic because we were afraid they would kill us."

The Nazis took over Lang's father's hardware store and her grandfather's underwear factory.

"I try not to think about this. It is something I try to forget," said Lang, 77. "Hundreds of Nazis right across the street; it was just horrible, all the noise and fear. I am grateful to God for sparing us."

The sharing of her story, while difficult, passes the lessons on to future generations.

"The concept that I am flawed and therefore should not be allowed to attend school would anger me a great deal," said Quest student Duncan Brown.

Horn ended her speech imploring the children to adopt the motto, "Never again."