This is how I remember Veterans Day:
My father, in the cockpit of a B-25 Mitchell.
Col Richard Lee Alley, USAF
1920 – 2009
WWII, Vietnam
Goodbye to The Greatest Generation.
They did their duty and then some.
God bless the American Soldier, who fights for the United States of America — the last, best hope of the entire planet.
BZ
My father didn’t serve. He got an exemption because he needed to stay home and take care of his ailing, demented father. My father’s mother couldn’t do the job by herself.
But Dad’s brother served — in the Navy.
Three of my cousins served — two of them on Normandy Beach on D-Day. One was in the Navy, the other in the Army. Both came home whole physically, but not mentally. They died early deaths probably because they never again could sleep through the night.
We shall not see the like again of the Greatest Generation in our own lifetimes.
God bless your cousins for their Normandy service. We received just the faintest, barest glimpse of the hell it must have been in “Saving Private Ryan.” You can be assured, unfortunately, it was geometrically worse.
And we shall NOT see the likes of The Greatest Generation AGAIN in this country until this country crashes, burns and then is challenged in recovery. It is the Depression that made The Greatest Generation tough and appreciative and courageous. They had no other choice.
BZ
Mr. AOW’s father was an officer in the Army Air Corps. He flew many bombing missions in the South Pacific and was quite famous in military circles. However, he never spoke of his service — saw too much, I guess.
God bless his father for his service as well. My father did not speak of his service. Now that he is gone, so are his life stories that I missed.
BZ
BZ:
I took the liberty of downloading your Dad’s photo and doing a needed fix on it in PhotoShop. If Z has you email address I’ll email it to her and she can forward it to you.
I think you’ll like what I did to the Photo.
Okay, you have my undivided attention.
I shall await. Or you can: bz@reagan.com
BZ
It’s on the way BZ…
BTW BZ…my mail server is for crap lately. It’s up and down, up and down. If I don’t reply to the first address…send it along to the new one I just added. OK?
Thanks. I shall check my address I indicated: bz@reagan.com
BZ
So are you a veteran yourself or do you just want to wallow in the accomplishments of other men? When you were of age to serve did you volunteer? Since you use “Saving Private Ryan” as a historical reference and you didn’t speak to your own father about his service, just what does slobbering by the wannabe’s over the “Greatest Generation” do to honor these men? Go back to watching “Band of Brothers” and stop attributing virtue you don’t understand to men you never knew.
Just wondering
Bystander, instead of being such an asshole, why don’t you read a little of the man’s blog to find out who he is. You would then know that he has served his adult life on the police force. That, at least to me, IS service! What is in your background that makes you so GD special?? NOTHING would be my guess. Jerk!
Joe:
Just for your info I am a Korean War combat veteran. My point is that the “Greatest Generation” label is embarassing to us. The reason we don’t talk about our experience is that none of you would understand. So to have a bunch of wankers that don’t understand what we went through gushing on about how what they saw in movies and television shows makes us the Greatest Generation is just silly.We don’t care what you think of us one way or the other.
As for law enforcement being the equal of military combat service just stop. Unless you’re in Chicago or Detroit, there’s no comparison. Handing out traffic tickets and pulling over dumb niggers for DWB is not combat. Law enforcement is to combat as jerking off is to sex. So stop wallowing in our lives and live your own for gods sake
Pingback: An interesting exchange on my Veterans Day post: | Bloviating Zeppelin
Bystander, I left a message for you on a newer post.
I must be missing something, I was always under the impression that the “greatest generation” meant the WWll vets, not us newer vets. Always felt slightly cheated because of it, truth be known. We did what was asked of us as did they. So, what are we, chopped liver??