posted on November 11, 2007 12:47:57 PM new
This is always a nostalgic day for me. My Dad was a POW in Germany in the 2nd WW for almost 5 years. He didn't even know I existed until I was 3, and he came home when I was 4 1/2. He was the gentlest most non-combative man you could imagine, and suffered from the effects of the war until he died. To this day I can't watch any television programs or movies to do with war.
posted on November 11, 2007 02:39:27 PM new
We've watched and taped the episodes of "The War," by Ken Burns, on PBS TV stations. It's very moving. I, too, thank our veterans for protecting us, and I thank them for following orders even in wars that are ill-advised. They're not the problem!
_____________________
posted on November 11, 2007 02:53:42 PM new
My OLD MAN spend the whole war a AVON OLD FARMS, a school for blinded vets, many of whom drank booby-trapped wine in France that the Krauuts left behind:
posted on November 11, 2007 03:12:39 PM new
My Uncle Walter was my hero. He was an Air Force navigator. He looked very much like Clark Gable and was sometimes mistaken for him. In my first grade play I was Raggedy Ann and my mother sent him a picture of me in my costume. When he won a contest to name a new plane he named it Raggedy Ann for me. This made the war very real for me. I don't have any pictures of that plane but I always treasured this one.
My father was not drafted because his eyes were bad. I do remember my mother telling someone, when she didn't know I was listening, that if the war lasted one more year he was told that he might be called. I was terrified at the prospect.
My father-in-law came back from the war so damaged physically and emotionally that he never recovered.
I remember that Tomwiii and Jack Webb are veterans and there are others who have talked about it but I don't remember all the names. Thank you all for your service! -----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
[ edited by photosensitive on Nov 11, 2007 07:03 PM ]
posted on November 11, 2007 04:25:14 PM new
When I told my husband that I had posted a picture of my Uncle Walter on the Veterans Day thread. He said "What about my Dad?" so I found this picture of his mother and father in a family album and scanned it.
Thank you Bill for your lifelong sacrifice!
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
[ edited by photosensitive on Nov 11, 2007 07:02 PM ]
posted on November 11, 2007 06:30:54 PM new
I too watch Those Ken Burns Docs. THOSE Men/Women are the REAL Heros of World Freedom/Peace. I SALUTE! Those who perished and those who survived. THEY Truely are a Generation that Changed the World. I Thank you Veterans. Semper fi.
posted on November 11, 2007 06:50:02 PM new
I too have a hard time getting through this day without shedding a quiet tear or two.
I read your post, Amber and ...here I go again! What a sad story.
I was born on D-Day...June 6th 1944 at 6.30am not far from London. Mum always told me that the Docs & Nurses were looking out of the window at a lot of planes and said.."My, something big is going on out there".
Mum replied 'Yes, and something big is going on over here"...that would be me!
A big thank you to all who made it possible for me to even be born and to survive the blitz in London and to all Forces everywhere both past & present.
posted on November 11, 2007 06:55:25 PM new
Otteropp: I think that D-Day was one of the most wonderful and miraculous events in the history of the U.S. So well planned, and such a surprise.
I heard recently that the WWII veterans are dying off at a rate of about 1500 a day; good thing Ken Burns did his documentary now!
_____________________
posted on November 11, 2007 07:08:13 PM new
Today is your Veterans Day and in Canada it is Remembrance Day which serves as a remembrance of the First World War but also has come to include all Wars and Services.
In Canada there is only ONE World War 1 Vet still alive and he is well over 100 years old!
It was interesting today to see bits of Ceremonies from all across Canada on the TV and to see that parents are now taking their young children to them and explaining what they are all about.
Yesterday I read in the paper that in England in the schools they have stopped any references to or teaching about Winston Churchill. I was amazed! I wonder how many kids were at their Ceremonies!!
Roadsmith...I don't think my Mother planned for D-Day and I was definitely a BIG surprise...LOL!
posted on November 11, 2007 07:34:51 PM new
I don't have a picture of them to post, but here's to Grandpa S a marine who survived the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918 and to my other grandfather, Charles Dafoe, an air force intelligence officer who died in an airplane crash on October 15, 1942, I never got to meet him.
