
Dr. Jill Biden joined young-adult author Michael Grant and two female combat soldiers in conversation, comparing and contrasting real and imagined events in World War II with 21st-century combat and military life, in the Library of Congress’ annual Jonah Solkoff Eskin Memorial program on Monday. Monday was also the 72nd anniversary of WWII’s D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy.
Many of the middle-school and high-school-age students knew someone in the military, and many came from families with a deployed parent.
Biden interviewed author Michael Grant, whose latest book, “Front Lines,” imagines women fighting alongside men in World War II following a fictional Supreme Court ruling making women eligible for combat. She also spoke with Lt. Cmdr. Kristen Hansen, a Navy fighter pilot with 66 combat sorties over Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria and 472 carrier landings, and Army Capt. Rebecca Murga, who received the Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal for her service.