Gladys

My Dad was a WWII veteran. He was in the Navy in the South Pacific. What is amazing is he had two brothers also in the Navy. I cannot imagine what my Grandmother went through not knowing if one, two or all of her three sons would ever return home. Amazingly all three returned.

Daddy would not talk about it until my Mom lost her leg to a terminal disease, then it was as if the war had returned to his life, it brought back so many memories of seeing his comrades blown up beside him. He is at rest now, with my Mom in Heaven.We are losing our veterans and I worry there were so many stories that went with them. Daddy was one of eight children and he said that the first thing the Navy had to do was put weight on the boys because most of them were underweight due to the depression.He had won a state football scholarship but could not take it cause there was no money for books or clothes,etc. He joined the Navy as so many of our fathers and grandfathers did. I never want their legacy forgotten.

Oh Yes, The Greatest Generation for sure and what an inspiration!

kathome

My very dear father in law, a Marine, served in the Pacific in WWII and was one who stormed beaches. He never spoke of the war. When asked about it he would always just look down and say these same words (I heard them many times) "War is a terrible thing." That's it. That's all he ever said. He would then either change the subject or leave the room.

I once asked my very dear mother in law if he ever spoke about the war to her and she said, "No. All he ever says is that war is a terrible thing."

cattailsquilts

Ditter, thank you for sharing this. Most of the men, and a few of the women, in my family have served in the US armed forces. My mom's older brother was almost killed in Vietnam. My brother went to (and returned from) Iraq, not once, but twice. My cousin is flying helis over Afghanistan. Another is flying a jet in Korea. My husband was a classified number of feet below sea level when the Berlin Wall came down (I'm 8 years younger than he is).

So many people forget what these men and women sacrifice so that they can go about their lives. We need to remember what they have done for us. I, for one, will never forget, and I always try to at least smile at uniformed personnel, if not greet and thank them whenever I can.

ljorange

My husband was a marine and when we visited D.C. that was the first place he wanted to go. We have a photo of it in our living room. Once a marine, always a marine.

snicktrain

Thank you for sharing this. It really does make you stop and think.

KandiKane

Thank you Ditter43 that was a very interesting story , I too , my father was in the Navy and he also would not talk about what had happened there,all he would say is count your lucky stars that we are here to enjoy life and those who did not make it back were in the memories of the those who did .

Marlyn

thank you for this. This is something we all need to remember --

gramipam

my uncle fought in that war. It brought tears to my eyes to read his story. Thank you for sharing.

Edie

My brother in law was on Pork Chop Hill in Korea and is still picking schrapnel out of his body. He also doesn't talk about it!

God bless them all! Edie

AliceQ

Thank you sooo very much for sharing this. I hope you won't mind if I copy and print it.
My youngest is a Marine. Couldn't wait to sign up. I asked him to please wait till he graduated from high school. He did. He signed up the very next day. That was almost 2 years ago. He deploys to Afghanistan this summer.
My oldest Grandson is a Soldier in the Army Reserve. He deploys to Afghanistan also, but I'm not sure when.
My older brother was a Soldier in Viet Nam. He doesn't talk about it, but I just found out last week he was shot down twice (helicopters) trying to leave Viet Nam when his tour was up. I'm so very grateful he made it home alive!
Oh and just a little info. We all use the term Soldier to refer to a serviceman or woman, but...a Soldier is in the Army, a Marine is in the Marines, an Airman is in the Air Force, a Guardsman is in the National Guard and a Sailor is in the Navy.