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Hug A WWII Veteran

1K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Hipshot 3 
#1 ·
After reading several threads regarding Ken Burns "The War" and WWII, I highly suggest that if you're lucky enough to have a Father, Grandfather,Uncle, Brother or even see a starnger who is a veteran of World War II, give them a hug and say Thank You. My Grandmother had 4 stars in her window and lost one on Laytte Island. My Father and uncles were my "true" heros with all those of the Greatest Generation who gave, gave and gave. Hats off to them all. It is sad that we're losing about 3000 of them per week.
 
#2 ·
I agree blade. My hero is my father, Ralph S Morris (d-1972); purple heart, silver star, WWII veteran. God bless him and those that gave their blood for my children's freedom. God Bless America!

Chris J Morris

HUG ANY VETERAN YOU KNOW!
 
#4 ·
I know what you guys mean. My father (Carl R. Kelly) was one such man and he passed away exactly one month ago at the age of 85. He participated
in the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach as a member of the 29th Infantry Division.

I'm 57 years old, and when I was young years and years would pass between the times that he would even mention anything about his experiences in the war. You couldn't get him to talk about it. Just on rare occasions he would make some comment about something that had happened to him but it was never any story about the really bad stuff. My mother passed away four years ago and after that he started to tell me about some of the bad stuff. It seemed as if he must have felt that he didn't have much longer to live and he wanted to let me know some of those thing before his time came. He would talk a lot about the fighting for the Normandy hedgerows and the difficult time the 29th had in taking St.Lo. But he was still never able to talk to me about the actual landing on the beach itself. He would start to on some occasions but would break down and couldn't finish what he was trying to tell me.

I buried him with a flag draped casket and full military honors with the honor guard firing the salute. I'm now in the process of having his grave marker inscribed the way he wanted it. He told me years ago "Boy, when I die. I want you to make damn sure you don't forget to do this. I don't care what else it says or don't say on my tombstone. But you make absolutely sure it says in big letters "JUNE 6, 1944. OMAHA BEACH 29TH INFANTRY DIVISION"

If he could have seen it I believe he would have said "The boy took good care of his old man and sent me off right." He was proud of his son. I just wish he had a better son to have been proud of. I don't kid myself. I know that I'm not a shadow of the man my father was. They did not call "The Greatest Generation" for nothing !

Carl Kelly Jr.
 
#6 ·
Carl....... I enjoyed your post. My Father passed away at 53 yrs. of age some 31 years ago, I was 29 at tht time. He served with General George Patton and the Third Army. Strange thing about it though, while I served in Vienam with the First Inf. Div. and have some schrapnel and a few stories, my Father NEVER spoke of his war until he was on his deathbed. Those 15 or 20 minutes while with him still send shivers down my back and far exceeded my worse experiences in Southeast Asia. In retrospect he is my true hero and one day I'll see him again and will make sure he knows that.While all wars are pure hell, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq, WWII by far was the one that took the worse and largest toll on our services and civilians of the world. One would think that humanity would put an end to all of these conflicts. Here's hoping.
 
#7 ·
Very nice Carl,

My father too was a WWII vet. Radio operator on a B-17, stationed in Glatton, England. Shot down on his 24th mission, 2 November 1944. Spent his 22nd birthday in a POW camp in Barth, Germany with shrapnel from a 20 mm cannon in his sitter-downer.

He passed away in 1992 at age 69.

My hero.

Tim
 
#9 ·
My Dad had to lie about his age to join. He turned 16 on Oct 28 & was on the Normandy Beach invasion the following June. He too, never mentioned much about what he went through. It never dawned on me why he would leave the room when different war movies came on TV. When "Saving Private Ryan" came out, I offered to take him to see it. He answered with, " I don't need to see it, I was there"! It took me returning from my military experience in 70 & 71 to then realize what "the greatest generation" really meant. This past summer,I took Dad to a VFW ceremony where the State Of PA was presenting commendations to the WWII vets. They were taking pictures of everyone involved. I'll never forget Dad helping another vet to standup from his wheel chair for the picture. I then realized, they still watch out for each other. To my Dad, my best friend, & my hero, I SALUTE you.

Butch
 
#10 ·
MUZZLEBLAST........ that was a very nice story. I'm sure tht there are many,many more stories like that one. As a veteran I not only take great pride in that fact but care deeply about all of us. Just think about it.... the ultimate sacrafice one can make for their nation is to die. That to me means more now @60 than it did as a snot nose 19 year old Indiana draftee in 1966. More stories?
 
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