82 Years Apart: A Note on Relative Time

Back in 2014, I posted about anniversaries and events in relative time to each other. This year offers another superlative reminder of how events exist in relative time.

The Battle of Antietam occurred on September 17, 1862. This superlative battle has been well-documented by myself and others on ECW. Here’s an image of the battle exhibit at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum:

Eighty-two years later, on September 17, 1944, occurred Operation MARKET-GARDEN, the largest airborne assault in history. The battle is well documented in the book and film A Bridge Too Far. Here’s an image of the 82d Airborne Division jumping that day:

September 17, 2026, was the 82d anniversary of the MARKET-GARDEN jump. In other words, for us today, the Second World War is the same distance in the past as the Civil War was for that generation.