Henry Rifle Forums

~SALUTE~

Buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy

PT7

salute indeed .... I'm surprised at the lack of WWII movies on tonight

Never forget.

https://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=172

ETERNAL FATHER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbQtLbYE4_w

Cate

Greatest generation of the USA. Salute indeed.

Salute. Our best generation at their best.

Had a chance encounter with a Pearl vet and his wife while they were having diner at a casino in northern Wisconsin. They were celebrating their 61st anniversary We both had our military hats so we knew we were vets and his said Pearl Harbor Survivor on it. I motioned the waitress over and said their meal was on me and not to tell who bought it. On my way out he stopped me and said thanks. He figured it out I guess, as I quizzed the staff later. I told him he was an American Hero and him and his wife were the Greatest American Generation. His wife looked up at me and said " Yes, but look at what you did with it"

That simply statement real shook me. In her perspective, we let down the Greatest American Generation. That statement has haunted me since then. I not going any further with this as don't want to get political with this. Draw your own conclusions.

Wiz, the thing that so impressed me is that most of the WWII vets I've met, some true heroes, came home, shed their uniforms, and got on with their lives. Many of them, you would never know they'd served unless you asked a direct question. Two of these guys were decorated bomber pilots, flying combat missions in Europe. One came home to start a very successful real estate / construction company. The second returned to a long career as an engineer in the oil businesss, living all around the world for a good portion of his life. They were both proud of their contributions... Just rarely spoke of the time.

My Dad was a member of that Greatest Generation. He was an 18 year old kid when he put on the uniform in 1944. The war was over less than a year after he set foot on his first ship. He would step off off the gangway from that ship in Tokyo Harbor less than a week after the surrender. He never talked about the war but talked about the men he knew and would never see again. On his deathbed he looked past my Mom to the doorway and smiled. He said one word "Carl" it was the name of his oldest and closest Navy buddy who had passed away ten years earlier. Dad passed with a smile on his face. His buddy was there to take him back onboard.