The February after 9/11 I was at our local strawberry festival, and seated at a table behind me, having some food, were four senior men, two with VFW badges. Couldn't help overhearing the eldest one tell the others that he had gone down to the recruitment office and tried to re-up and how he'd said he'd take any assignment, just let him serve. Instead of the usual kidding men do, they talked about the campaigns of their youth and I could hear in this elderly gentleman's voice that he was very emotional about serving, even at what must have been his 70s. I keep thinking how courageous and determined our citizen soldiers were of WWII and of course any veterans of our wars, and I remember my U.S. Marine dad (WWII) and my Bill (Navy Pacific Campaign WWII) now gone. I cannot grasp how a country, a government that availed itself of the efforts of these men and women of the U.S. Military, of their youth and very lives, can now begrudge them what they have earned. Honor, Duty, Country...and an old man pleading, "Send me, any assignment. I'll go." It seems "Ship, ahoy! Where away?" and there's no guide or tangent on the horizon. More like "What ship, where bound?"
Terry and Jo said
06:38 PM Jul 21, 2011
Donnis,
That legacy of courage continues, even with the military personnel of today. In spite of an all volunteer military, they still flock to the recruiters. After the Vietnam era and the attitude towards those serving then by their fellow citizens, I was afraid that the patriotism would have waned.
Myself and a lot of others that I've spoken with had the same desire at the time of 9/11. I spoke of it and tears came to the eyes of my Jo. Seeing that, I could not even consider doing anything to hurt this Lady of mine; not after what she has endured over the years.
My heart and my thanks go to those in uniform. Still to this day, when we see someone in uniform, whether they be military, police, or firemen, we shake their hands and offer our thanks to them.
On occasion, I hear of the passing of the old warriors, and post articles about them on my blog. The most recent one was about Edward O'Toole, whose remains were just recently returned to the U.S. for burial. He had been found by a German citizen digging in the country. If you are interested, there is a link to my blog below my signature.
Again, I say thanks to those who serve and have served. And a special thanks to their families who suffered the unknown as their family members served.
God bless them all.
Terry
Terry and Jo said
07:12 PM Jul 21, 2011
An additional mention of honoring our heroes. A friend on another forum recently posted about a place in Pueblo, Colorado that is dedicated to this nation's Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.
A link to Delaine and Lindy's forum post, which includes directions to the site:
Terry and Jo. Truly liked your blog (wish I could create one, but not technical enough yet) and the photos. It's true that family goes through Hades (polite term for Hell) during war time. Bill was considerably older than I am. When he was a skinny 17 year old sailing into war, I was barely born. However, through our 23 years together, my immersion into wartime experiences was immense, although I remember long ago Christmas parties where my dad and his buddies all gathered to talk about their war, even drawing out their companies' strategies on paper. Funny, though, the drunker they got, the quieter they got. All I remember is we, as children, didn't know about candy. Later, nursing school, had practicum in vet hospital. Much later finding my parents' times, their universe from 1939 to the 1950s, led to a graduate degree, war poets, both British and American. Bill fit right into all of that eventually, 23 years of eventually. Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation is wonderful but only scratches the surface, albeit deep scratches. Fighting in the face of fear, in spite of one's fear, is courage at any age. RVing has been a blessing. Spent twilight at a vet memorial cemetery (they flung me out after dark) and the feeling that they were at peace, still brothers in arms, not alone there, was an overwhelming and comforting feeling. Thanks for your reply. I just keep writing and writing in my e-journal. Hope someday to make a blog. And thank you for your service, your courage.
Roll Me Away said
06:47 AM Jul 22, 2011
Terry and Jo, Addendum. Lest anyone reading these posts thinks that I hang out at vet cemeteries, please keep in mind Bill passed a little over a year ago and is in one, and not only do I wish to keep memories and thoughts flowing, I'm writing about finding my parents' times, actually how they lived at the time. A friend's husband is going on his third tour in our present conflict and he's contributed a bit, but like many who actually experience it, doesn't talk much. It's a bit of something to write and keep and compare with my dad's experiences. So, no, I don't have a penchant for cemeteries. Just someone who thinks and writes.
Penny and Paul said
07:12 AM Jul 22, 2011
Penny and I when to see Saving Private Ryan when it opened on Memorial Day in the late '90's. We generally stay for the credits of movies we like (dorks!) and we did that for this one. When the house lights finally came up we saw many WWII vets sitting in the theater staring off into space, with tears running down their faces. Very moving.
Visit them, think and write what's on your heart. You're not odd.
Paul
Terry and Jo said
08:36 AM Jul 22, 2011
Donnis,
Private Message Sent
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Friday 22nd of July 2011 08:41:09 AM
Tim & Robyn said
08:59 AM Jul 22, 2011
My father served with the Army Air Corps in WWII, flying the Redball Express from south Florida, to South America, the Azores, Africa , India etc. ferrying supplies and aircraft to the war effort in Europe.
He never talked about it except for one time when he told me a story about how with a skeleton crew they were flying a brand new B-17 to England - guns still packed in grease, so they were defenseless. Over the open ocean a Messerschmidt got on their tail. He didn't fire, but when they got in sight of land he peeled off. They figured the guy was lost, low on fuel, and was following them because they knew where they were going.
After he passed away we found in his papers a copy of a report he filed about an incident where the entire crew had to bail out over South America. The ground was socked in, the navigator had gotten them lost, and they ran out of fuel. They, and the plane, came down somwhere in the jungle of the Guyanas. They found a stream and followed it downstream until they fortunately encountered some friendly natives - otherwise I wouldn't be here today.
The aircraft was never found.
That truly was The Greatest Generation.
Readytogo said
11:32 AM Jul 22, 2011
Rita Cosby wrote a book : Quiet Hero: Secrets from My Father's Past. He was in Poland and joined the army at age 13 when Poland was invaded during WWII. Her parents got divorced when she was young and she never knew his past until her mother passed away and she found the documents from her fathers past she still had. He kept it a secret for all these years until she finally was able to get him to talk. What a story.
Roll Me Away said
03:02 PM Jul 22, 2011
Terry and Jo. I found the PM and somehow it disappeared and I can't find it again. I was going to write down the link. Where do the PMs go? Thank you for the link, so please send it again so I can write it before I hit some key and it disappears. Aren't we all glad I never worked for NASA? Hit the wrong key and end up on a galaxy far, far away.
Roll Me Away said
03:20 PM Jul 22, 2011
Penny and Paul. I didn't get to see Saving Private Ryan, but I know Bill did and he was very remote for a couple days. Also, I remember a cashier in a restaurant where we ate saw us laying out plans to go to the memorial in Washington and openly thanked him for his service and it made him uncomfortable coming from a stranger because he was a very private person. We never got to the memorial though. I still have all his papers, and things he wrote to me about and I wish he could have gone to D.C. to see the memorial. I have been to The Wall a couple times. Thank you for your response. It's good to know people still have a voice, still care about our veterans... I don't know if you ARE veterans, but still, it's important.
Roll Me Away said
03:24 PM Jul 22, 2011
Readytogo: Thank you! I have the library searching me out a copy of Cosby's book. Our veterans are passing away, but we must never lose our history.
Roll Me Away said
03:34 PM Jul 22, 2011
Tim and Robyn: What a marvelous story especially since they made it back, and you are here. Write it down, interview relatives, get the history and romance (and by "romance" I mean adventure and danger) of the experience. A miracle story indeed. Thank you for sharing it. How will future children know how to be great if there is no examples? Thank you.
53 Merc said
07:40 AM Jul 23, 2011
ScottieGirl wrote:
Terry and Jo. I found the PM and somehow it disappeared and I can't find it again. I was going to write down the link. Where do the PMs go? Thank you for the link, so please send it again so I can write it before I hit some key and it disappears. Aren't we all glad I never worked for NASA? Hit the wrong key and end up on a galaxy far, far away.
Private messages hide out under User Details. Down at the lower left of that page will be a list of all out-going and incoming PMs.
-- Edited by 53 Merc on Saturday 23rd of July 2011 07:41:32 AM
Terry and Jo said
08:40 AM Jul 23, 2011
Thanks, Ken. I had forgotten about that area. I did re-send her the message, plus sending it via her e-mail address.
I did have to send it from Epselon IV though.
Terry
Tim & Robyn said
09:53 AM Jul 24, 2011
ScottieGirl wrote:
Tim and Robyn: What a marvelous story especially since they made it back, and you are here. Write it down, interview relatives, get the history and romance (and by "romance" I mean adventure and danger) of the experience. A miracle story indeed. Thank you for sharing it. How will future children know how to be great if there is no examples? Thank you.
Most of my relatives are gone now, so other than a copy of my father's report (which I still have) I don't have much information. I haven't looked at it in a long time but it's a cross between a diary and a military report. One of the phrases that sticks in my mind is 'ate a quarter of a piece of chocolate'. It's a miracle that the crew all found each other, and that they found a friendly native village.
Remember, this was the 1940's when hositle tribes of natives could have just as easily blow-darted them than ask the time of day.
I was told that I was named after the pilot of the aircraft (Timothy).
Roll Me Away said
10:18 AM Jul 24, 2011
Tim and Robyn: That is a wonderful story and they are truly blessed to have made it out alive. I had an uncle once who had come back from WWII "not quite right in the head" as my grandad told us kids. We were always sitting with him in the porch swing and asking questions. He'd never answer. "What's a Japanese look like?" "Where's the island you were on in the Pacific?" little-kid questions that got no answer until one day we were actually just sitting quietly when he leaned down and said, "On the island I ate a snake." While we contemplated that, he got up and walked off. Never brought it up again and we didn't ask. It wasn't until half a century later in my studies that I found how much bizarreness there was in war. I think I read somewhere that the Marines on an island were warned about a man-hunting snake that was deadly, so they went out and got some and cooked and ate them. Not even man-killing snakes can defeat our Marines. I wonder if that was my uncle's island. Good reads for you who want "been there" stories. Eugene Sledge's "With the Old Breed (Pelilieu?)" Paul Fussell's "Wartime" "The Boys Crusade" and WWI "The Great War and Modern Memory" ... excellent writing, very interesting histories that are not drab, or sleep-inducing. For you guys who have been in any war, you'll find a fellow warrior in Fussell...oh, and I can't find this one by Samuel Hines anymore, "A War Remembered"...Hines taught in U. of Penn. I think, but my memory may be a bit off. Alas, no books, just a Nookcolor now, small rig, space and weight.
janni said
12:30 PM Jul 24, 2011
Oh how I have enjoyed reading this thread! Thank you for all the stories and book recomends. We happen to be parked in my sons back yard and I have visited several times with a neighbor in his 80's. He said he boarded the first Roughrider Honor Flight to Washington DC. He said they left town here with a full parade of law enforcement, fire units, Patriotic Guard, and local motorcycle club. When they stepped off the plane they were treated like royalty! He just could NOT believe it! They toured the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, and the Vietnam Wall. Their flight included a doctor and nurses. He said that when he came home from the service he stepped off the plane and his Dad took him directly out to the fields to the "thrashing crew" and he went to work....just like any other day. I told him "Thank you serving our country" and he started to choke a little...turned and smiled and walked away.
Roll Me Away said
05:40 PM Jul 24, 2011
Janni, as little skinny-legged kids, we didn't realize until history had flowed by us in the '40s and '50s how lucky we were. We could grow up free, educated, with choices for our lives. Give him a hug from me.
It seems "Ship, ahoy! Where away?" and there's no guide or tangent on the horizon. More like "What ship, where bound?"
Donnis,
That legacy of courage continues, even with the military personnel of today. In spite of an all volunteer military, they still flock to the recruiters. After the Vietnam era and the attitude towards those serving then by their fellow citizens, I was afraid that the patriotism would have waned.
Myself and a lot of others that I've spoken with had the same desire at the time of 9/11. I spoke of it and tears came to the eyes of my Jo. Seeing that, I could not even consider doing anything to hurt this Lady of mine; not after what she has endured over the years.
My heart and my thanks go to those in uniform. Still to this day, when we see someone in uniform, whether they be military, police, or firemen, we shake their hands and offer our thanks to them.
On occasion, I hear of the passing of the old warriors, and post articles about them on my blog. The most recent one was about Edward O'Toole, whose remains were just recently returned to the U.S. for burial. He had been found by a German citizen digging in the country. If you are interested, there is a link to my blog below my signature.
Again, I say thanks to those who serve and have served. And a special thanks to their families who suffered the unknown as their family members served.
God bless them all.
Terry
An additional mention of honoring our heroes. A friend on another forum recently posted about a place in Pueblo, Colorado that is dedicated to this nation's Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.
A link to Delaine and Lindy's forum post, which includes directions to the site:
http://www.suitesowners.com/forums/showthread.php?2222-Center-for-American-Values....
Link to the website for the Center of American Values:
http://americanvaluescenter.org/Center_for_American_Values/Home.html
Terry
It's true that family goes through Hades (polite term for Hell) during war time. Bill was considerably older than I am. When he was a skinny 17 year old sailing into war, I was barely born. However, through our 23 years together, my immersion into wartime experiences was immense, although I remember long ago Christmas parties where my dad and his buddies all gathered to talk about their war, even drawing out their companies' strategies on paper. Funny, though, the drunker they got, the quieter they got. All I remember is we, as children, didn't know about candy. Later, nursing school, had practicum in vet hospital. Much later finding my parents' times, their universe from 1939 to the 1950s, led to a graduate degree, war poets, both British and American. Bill fit right into all of that eventually, 23 years of eventually. Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation is wonderful but only scratches the surface, albeit deep scratches.
Fighting in the face of fear, in spite of one's fear, is courage at any age. RVing has been a blessing. Spent twilight at a vet memorial cemetery (they flung me out after dark) and the feeling that they were at peace, still brothers in arms, not alone there, was an overwhelming and comforting feeling.
Thanks for your reply. I just keep writing and writing in my e-journal. Hope someday to make a blog.
And thank you for your service, your courage.
So, no, I don't have a penchant for cemeteries. Just someone who thinks and writes.
Visit them, think and write what's on your heart. You're not odd.
Paul
Donnis,
Private Message Sent
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Friday 22nd of July 2011 08:41:09 AM
My father served with the Army Air Corps in WWII, flying the Redball Express from south Florida, to South America, the Azores, Africa , India etc. ferrying supplies and aircraft to the war effort in Europe.
He never talked about it except for one time when he told me a story about how with a skeleton crew they were flying a brand new B-17 to England - guns still packed in grease, so they were defenseless. Over the open ocean a Messerschmidt got on their tail. He didn't fire, but when they got in sight of land he peeled off. They figured the guy was lost, low on fuel, and was following them because they knew where they were going.
After he passed away we found in his papers a copy of a report he filed about an incident where the entire crew had to bail out over South America. The ground was socked in, the navigator had gotten them lost, and they ran out of fuel. They, and the plane, came down somwhere in the jungle of the Guyanas. They found a stream and followed it downstream until they fortunately encountered some friendly natives - otherwise I wouldn't be here today.
The aircraft was never found.
That truly was The Greatest Generation.
Rita Cosby wrote a book : Quiet Hero: Secrets from My Father's Past. He was in Poland and joined the army at age 13 when Poland was invaded during WWII. Her parents got divorced when she was young and she never knew his past until her mother passed away and she found the documents from her fathers past she still had. He kept it a secret for all these years until she finally was able to get him to talk. What a story.
Thank you for your response. It's good to know people still have a voice, still care about our veterans... I don't know if you ARE veterans, but still, it's important.
Thank you.
Private messages hide out under User Details. Down at the lower left of that page will be a list of all out-going and incoming PMs.
-- Edited by 53 Merc on Saturday 23rd of July 2011 07:41:32 AM
Thanks, Ken. I had forgotten about that area. I did re-send her the message, plus sending it via her e-mail address.
I did have to send it from Epselon IV though.
Terry
Most of my relatives are gone now, so other than a copy of my father's report (which I still have) I don't have much information. I haven't looked at it in a long time but it's a cross between a diary and a military report. One of the phrases that sticks in my mind is 'ate a quarter of a piece of chocolate'. It's a miracle that the crew all found each other, and that they found a friendly native village.
Remember, this was the 1940's when hositle tribes of natives could have just as easily blow-darted them than ask the time of day.
I was told that I was named after the pilot of the aircraft (Timothy).
Good reads for you who want "been there" stories. Eugene Sledge's "With the Old Breed (Pelilieu?)" Paul Fussell's "Wartime" "The Boys Crusade" and WWI "The Great War and Modern Memory" ... excellent writing, very interesting histories that are not drab, or sleep-inducing. For you guys who have been in any war, you'll find a fellow warrior in Fussell...oh, and I can't find this one by Samuel Hines anymore, "A War Remembered"...Hines taught in U. of Penn. I think, but my memory may be a bit off. Alas, no books, just a Nookcolor now, small rig, space and weight.