Materials

• Overhead projector
• Class textbook
• News story outline
• Completed chart of “WWII Fact Statements”

Instructional Activities

1. Review the content from the previous sessions, as needed.
   
   
2. Ask students which minorities served in the armed forces. Expect them to name African Americans, Hispanics or Mexican Americans, and Japanese Americans. Explain that because of discrimination in the United States, blacks and Japanese Americans fought for their country in segregated units. The military was not fully integrated until 1948 — after the war. Explain that other minorities served, but usually not in segregated units.
   
   
3. Display the following notes on the board or overhead:
   
   Nearly 1 million African Americans served in all-black units commanded by white officers.
   
   There were some African Americans who did not want to serve in the armed services because of the harsh way they were treated at home, but they were in the minority. Many were dedicated to working for equal treatment in the services as well as at home.
   
   The all-black unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen, also known as the Black Eagles, fought in North Africa and Italy, escorted heavy bombers, and destroyed or damaged 400 Axis aircraft.
   
   Thousands of Japanese Americans served in segregated units. The 442nd Nisei Regiment became the most decorated military unit in United States history.
   
   Many Navajo soldiers were “code-talkers” who sent vital messages that the Japanese could not decipher.
   
   Thousands of Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans served, and many were awarded medals for bravery.
   
   
4. Display the following notes on the board or overhead:
   
   The third Geneva Convention of 1929 established rules for treatment of prisoners of war. They were not to be treated as criminals but humanely, and returned when the war was over.
   
   Not all prisoners were treated humanely, especially in Asia. After the Japanese took the Philippines, they forced 60,000 American and Filipino prisoners to march (the Bataan Death March) for six to nine days without enough food and water; 10,000 died. In POW camps they continued to die.
   
   Treatment of prisoners in Europe more closely followed the rules of the Geneva Convention.
   
   A code of honor and a reverence for the Emperor led Japanese pilots to commit suicide rather than surrender: they dove their bomb-loaded planes into targets (kamikaze attacks).
   
   Ask students what the “Rules of War” might be. Have students volunteer answers, or have two to four students discuss together what these rules are and then report to the class. Have the students investigate the rules established by the third Geneva Convention, and ask them to make a list of these rules. Be sure you clarify that civilians caught up in war were not protected until the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. The following Web site may prove helpful: <http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/57JNWS>.
   
   
5. Distribute the chart of “WWII Fact Statements.” Review the terms in class by having students provide examples or descriptions of each term.
   
   
6. Assign a teacher-selected reading, worksheet, or other reinforcement activity, using available resources.