Between Editions

The Cafe Du Monde is seen in this AP file photo just after
its restoration in 2005.

By Joan Hershberger
For Between Editions

My husband and I finally took the time to visit New Orleans. We had our goals and objectives for going. I wanted to see the D-Day, WWII museum. We both wanted to see some aspect of the post-Katrina change and we wanted to check out a couple tourist spots: The Camellia Grill and Cafe Du Monde which serves coffee, tea, cocoa, sodas and beignets … and nothing else, but has prospered for decades doing just that.

Cafe Du Monde still flourishes.

The floor remained stickier than ever from the mound of confectioner’s sugar dumped on the square pillows of doughnuts. The Flea Market in the French Quarter thrived with plenty of sellers and while no one stood outside waiting for a seat at the bar at Camellia Grill, it kept four waiters and two or three cooks busy and no bar stool remained empty long.

Our first indication of change came as we passed the supports of the on and off ramps. Under the bridges about 250 people camped out in small rounded tents and pup tents. The city provided the area with a port-a-potty on each block.

A sign declared “Homeless Pride.” We puzzled over that. Although we have been to the city a number of times over the past 27 years, although we have met and talked with homeless folks, we had never seen tents. Since then I have read that it is part of the reaction to the doubling of the homeless in New Orleans — even in the face of the departing population after Hurricane Katrina.

We also spent several hours at the WWII/D-Day Museum. There are corners and documentaries in the museum which definitely earn a rating of PG-13 or above. The documentaries had comments from soldiers from both sides of the war.

A few things stood out: I knew that both sides had a huge propaganda machine going dehumanizing the enemy. I did not know that in Japan, the citizens reacted with suicidal terror when their country fell. Old film footage showed family suicides off the cliff rather than face the supposed bestiality of the American soldier.

They thought the women would be raped and the men and children tortured and punished severely. One elderly Japanese man told of having to fulfill his family duty with his brother — to protect his mother and siblings from the invading armed forces, they had to kill them. Before they fufilled their duty and committed suicide, they went into hiding and were found by the Americans.

One American soldier was told he would get used to the killing of war. 60 years later, it was evident he still had not accepted this reality. It was more graphic than watching “Saving Private Ryan” to see the original news film footage of the soldiers washed ashore after D-Day and to see and hear about the effect of nature on the dead, but unburied, Japanese soldiers in the jungles of Okinawa.

Definitely not a documentary for young children. But a sharp reminder of the inhumanity of war … and underscoring ‘why’ the Americans stayed out as long as they did.

The Japanese soldiers also talked about the training for the Kamikaze pilots. They learned how to fly a plan, how to take off, but never how to land a plane. It reminded me so sharply of the mindset of modern day terrorist.

The astonishment of the sailors on the ships attacked by these kamikaze planes also is reminiscent of the terrorists. Such intense desire to destroy and conquer.

It was a fierce dedication to a cause. It took many lives and an equally fierce dedication on the part of the Allies, including the Americans, to end it. One wonders if citizens are that dedicated today in their fight against the suicide bombers and terrorist attacks.