Hello From Back Then

A link here shows the methods and results that came from developing more than 30 rolls of film an unidentified American soldier shot but never developed during World War II. Although obviously a little worse for the wear after their long time hidden away, they developed into a number of clear images that can be seen in a slideshow lower on the page.

Photos like this are interesting -- not because we don't have pretty extensive catalogs of images from just about everyplace connected to WWII. Or even because they're just an ordinary grunt's snapshots of things he saw while he was serving, since we have many of those as well. But they make up a kind of message from the past, one not before known, that shows us once again how many things have changed and how many of them stayed the same. We pay tribute to what Tom Brokaw first called the Greatest Generation because they answered the call to help, well, save the world.

But when we see how everyday they were, we can understand how greatness can come from ordinary men and women -- and that maybe, if we wanted to, we could be great as well.

Or I might be reading too closely and it's just a bunch of cool photos from a day gone by. Either way, take a look.