Column: An American soldier’s view of the end of World War II

By Madeleine Johnson | Valley News | Published: 11/14/2023 | Modified: 11/14/2023 On March 29, 1945, American troops entered the town of Wetzlar, Germany, a small industrial center in the region of Hesse, about an hour north of Frankfurt. The U.S. Army Signal Corps filmed it. From a tank crossing a bridge in the center of town, the cameraman filmed the tentative approach of three … Continue reading Column: An American soldier’s view of the end of World War II

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Other Publications

Column: When the ‘Yankee Division’ saved Paris

By Madeleine Johnson | Valley News | Published: 11/13/2021 | Modified: 11/17/2021 The vineyards’ autumn leaves gild the hillsides, while mist lingers here in the valley of France’s Marne River. This is Champagne country and the harvest of the chardonnay, pinot noir and Meunier grapes was completed a few weeks ago. A spring freeze, a rainy summer and September storms mean that 2021 has not … Continue reading Column: When the ‘Yankee Division’ saved Paris

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Other Publications

Essay: The changing landscape of ‘The Sound of Music’

By Madeleine Johnson | Valley News | Published 12/20/2019 | Modified 12/20/2019 The first time I ever saw The Sound of Music was also my first time in a grown-up theater. It was in London in 1964 and I skipped home in a British drizzle singing “Raindrops on roses…” Last week, Northern Stage’s production made me feel like skipping home singing once again. In White River Junction … Continue reading Essay: The changing landscape of ‘The Sound of Music’

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Other Publications

The origins of Veterans Day is never far away

By Madeleine Johnson | Valley News | Published 11/7/2020 | Modified: 11/8/2020 Until it was rechristened Veterans Day in 1954, Nov. 11 commemorated the armistice that silenced World War I’s guns at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson declared that the anniversary of the armistice be observed with prayer and an interruption of … Continue reading The origins of Veterans Day is never far away

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Other Publications

Why Belleau Wood matters

By Madeleine Johnson | Valley News | Published 1/31/2020 | Modified 2/3/2020 On Nov. 11, 2018, President Donald Trump was scheduled to observe the centenary of World War I’s armistice in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, where the dead of the Battle of Belleau Wood are buried. At the time, I and a dozen other descendants of men who had fought at Belleau Wood … Continue reading Why Belleau Wood matters

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American Mag

Divorce or un-divorce?

By Madeleine Johnson | November 13th, 2023 | “Notebook” n old friend recently filled me in on the details of a circle of friends and acquaintances that goes back a few decades. It was what you’d expect from people in their sixties; children married, deaths and health issues. A few years ago, divorce would have been in the mix. Instead, there was a new category. … Continue reading Divorce or un-divorce?

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American Mag

Try this at home

By Madeleine Johnson | September 18th, 2023 | “Notebook” have spent the summer in my New England outpost, where it has rained so much that my yard has been invaded by very large mushrooms and very tiny toads. With similar intensity, my news feed filled with catastrophic stories about traveling in Italy; wildfires, tourist vandalism, otherworldly heat, airline foul ups. There was also a rash … Continue reading Try this at home

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American Mag

Dad’s heroes

By Madeleine Johnson | July 24th, 2023 | “Notebook” My father was born in 1918. That birthdate put him squarely in what journalist Tom Brokaw called the Greatest Generation. These were the everyday heroes who as young adults survived the Great Depression of the 1930s and fought the Second World War (never mind that their parents also survived the same depression and had their own … Continue reading Dad’s heroes

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American Mag

The New Mrs. Malaprop

By Madeleine Johnson | April 6th, 2023 | “Notebook” “And he will avail.” In this sentence about the outcome of a plot, the writer confused “avail” with “prevail.” The Upper Midwest, according to the New York Times is “buffeted from sea-level rise.” Perhaps just a typo, but someone failed to see it was exactly the opposite of “buffered.” “Not everyone has the stomach to trawl through the … Continue reading The New Mrs. Malaprop

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American Mag

Two Battles of the Bulge

By Madeleine Johnson | February 6th, 2023 | “Notebook” have just spent the last few days reading the letters my mother’s brother, Norman R. Long, wrote when he was a soldier in the U.S. army. It was 1943 when he entered the war and November 1945 when he was discharged. Norman was just a few years into his studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut … Continue reading Two Battles of the Bulge

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