It was almost certainly a "dust devil" (small vortex with some similarities to tornadoes). A warm sunny day would be conducive to their formation, and they can easily generate winds strong enough to shake trees, pick up lawn furniture, etc. If you had seen it you might have been able to detect the rotation associated with it, but they can be hard to recognize if there is no loose soil or debris around to make their structure known.
Well from experience. I remember last year we had a very sunny day and it was quite windy. For about maybe 15 minutes the winds started to get quite strong.
The airport at that time reported "squalls" as the wind speed was just 17mph and it recorded a 58mph wind gust. From your perspective though I don't think it was a tornado just a freak of nature that I can't explain.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.