Remembrance Day

[rrinker]

My father died Feb 3rd of this year at age 96, a veteran of OMAHA Beach. He refused to speak of that day, and the decoration he received, except to say that it was "hell" itself. He was honored at his funeral by the honor detail from Fort Carson.

Interesting. My Dad really enjoyed talking about the War -- he would go on and on with his stories. My uncle, on the other hand, almost never talks about it. He will only share details with a few very close family members & even this is rare.

I think the difference is that my Dad did not see armed combat but my uncle did. I've heard a theory that if you saw armed combat, you DON'T want to talk about it because it was so horrible. I'm not downplaying my Dad's experience in the war by any means, but I think there might be some truth to this. Even though my Dad's experience was terrifying, it was still not as horrible as armed combat.

At any rate, let us remember those who suffered & died for our countries and freedom from all of our allied nations, especially our closest ones.

Rob

I think you're definitely on to something there. My other grandfather was in the Navy in WWII, carpenter's mate on a destroyer based out of Washington State. I don't know if he ever saw combat, he never talked about it. All I have is his Bluejacket's Manual, 1942 edition, and some letters he wrote back to my Dad, who was in his early teens at the time. Most of them only talk about the interesting places he saw along the way through basic training and finally to his assignment. There are none after that.
My Dad, he was in the Navy during Korea, but the ships he served on were attached to (I think) the 6th Fleet, and spent their time cruising in the Med. He was full of stories, and also had built up an interesting coin collection from places like Spain, Algeria, Italy, and Libya.
To those who have served, in whatever capacity, I sincerely appreciate the sacrifices you have made. It's something I honestly don't think I could have done, at least not voluntarily. You have my eternal gratitude for doing it on behalf of all of those who didn't.


--Randy