Remembrance Day

[nachoman]

My grandfather just recently passed away at the age of 90. He served in the US marine corps in the pacific during World War II as an aircraft mechanic. The marine corps sent representatives to his funeral, draped his casket with a flag, and honored his service. It was extremely touching.

After the war, he never discussed the war with his children or wife. His only comments were a humorous story about the Japanese bombing the latrine, and other than that he simply said, "that is over, and something I would rather forget". But, in reminiscing with family members after the funeral, we pieced together part of his military service, and realized that it had a significant impact on his later life. I think he realized that the fighters were all ordinary people with ordinary lives, who fought and died for reasons they mostly didn't understand. I don't think he ever reconciled the reasons why people could be persuaded to inflict harm upon one another instead of respecting each other's differences. As the marines in attendance listened to the stories of my grandfather, an kindred experience appeared within their facial expressions.

I shook the marines' hands after the funeral, and expressed thanks on behalf of my family. I am not sure if my grandfather would have cared whether the marines were present at his funeral, but I think he would have appreciated that all who knew him learned something from his life, a life shaped by witnessing the suffering and confusion of war.