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

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

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’

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

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

by Madeleine Johnson | Published 1/31/2020 | Modified 2/3/2020 | Valley News Like any film based on historical events, 1917 has history geeks debating issues as small as helmet insignia or as large as the film’s storyline, in which two men are sent on a treacherous mission over hazardous ground that seems more easily done by telephone or plane. Regardless of the details, the general consensus is … Continue reading Essay: Yankee Division’s Time in World War I Deserves a Film of Its Own

by Madeleine Johnson | October 31, 2008 | Financial Times As the 2008 hurricane season winds down, you might be wondering whether you’ve seen more images of families huddled on rooftops or assessing sodden piles of belongings this year than you did, say, two decades ago. The answer is yes. According to statisticians such as insurer Munich Re and the Centre for Research on the … Continue reading Safe as Houses?

by Madeleine Johnson | July 11, 2008 | Financial Times Designer Elio Fiorucci, 72, imported Italy’s first miniskirts from London’s Carnaby Street in the 1960s and went on to establish new fashion paradigms in the 1970s and 1980s. His New York, Milan and Beverly Hills shops were magnets for hip artists such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, singer Madonna and architects Ettore Sottsass. He … Continue reading ‘Happiness is in Simplicity’