ON THE UN’S 75TH ANNIVERSARY: Peacekeeping institution? What peace? Time to commemorate the UN war fighters.

Somewhere in a storage room, I’ve a World War II submarine recognition pamphlet framed to display its intriguing title.

Published circa 1943, the pamphlet is no frills — black ink submarine silhouettes and captions on white paper. The silhouettes depict U.S., British Commonwealth, Free French and Soviet Union subs, and, as I recall, a Dutch and a Greek sub as well. The Netherlands, Greece and France had been defeated, but some ships escaped to fight for their “free governments in exile.”

The document’s title: “United Nations Submarines.”

They were U.N. subs, not U.S and Allied subs, and it had a 1943/44 pub date, not 1945, the year the U.N. organization was established, according to those now commemorating its 75th anniversary.

Contemporary question: In 1945 did the UN really move from war-making to peacekeeping?