Chapter 5: A nice, quiet sleep
In Chapter 5, the Koski brothers grow up as HItler rises to power in Germany.
1. The conversation between Johnny and Al has been reconstructed, but Johnny did convince Al to let him go bear hunting at an early age.
2. The mouse story and the bear stories are as often retold by the Koski brothers.
3. Johnny did kill a bear as described, although it's not entirely clear if it happened the first time he went to deer camp.
4. We do not know if Art burned a newspaper with the quote from Neville Chamberlain, but the timing would be about right. In retrospect, it is very clear that the French and British armies could have easily defeated Germany in the early years of the war, saving millions of lives. To quote from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, page 211, "That the Allies at this time could easily have overwhelmed Germany is as certain as it is that such an action would have brought the end of the Third Reich in the very year of its birth."
5. Photo of Al Koski's wife, Jeanette Koski in a Model A Ford, taken August 6, 1938.
6. Photo of Al Koski and his wife Jeanette skiing.
7. Photo of Al Koski working on the camp at Dead River. Thiis photo was probably take in 1940 or 1941.
Media and Web links:
1. Fig 5-2 Video: Edna Mae remembers the bear cub incident.
2. Fig 5-4 Video: The Munich Pact which attempted to appease Hitler by essentially giving Czechoslovakia to him. It did not work.
Copyright 2007 by Dan Oja