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Posted on 06/06/2023 12:37:52 PM PDT by buckalfa
That is one possible outcome. Yet could some tangible crisis such as another war rally the American people to what they once were?
I remember my grandfather saying the only thing that saved America from the Great Depression was the Second World War.
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I had two uncles who were pilots in the USAAF in WWII and one of them flew his P-51 on very long range escort missions from Iwo Jima - he had three kills in the air a six on the ground. My dad was deaf in one ear from a childhood accident but they took him in the army anyway to illustrate training manuals.
When I was in the Marines in Vietnam, our Sergeant Major served on Iwo and had been wounded in his first minutes after landing.
I miss all of them.
My dad went off to the wild blue yonder back in 2004 a couple months before ronald reagan. He didn’t care to be buried in arlington national cemetary—though he had the right to do that. rather he’s laid to rest near his parents in a cemetary in Juniata County Pennsylvania. His wife joined him ten years later.
They had a good life together.
We don’t put up our home’s outside flag everyday. We put it up on days like this one, with so much history and sacrifice.
My wife and I are 83 and 84, and we remember Pearl Harbor and other key dates like this one.
We do not know a single WWII vet, who is still alive and only one surviving wife of that era/time.
My wife comes from a small midwest township. Her younger brother and cousin her age did tours in Nam. Her brother said that there are only 4 vets still alive in that town.
That town used to have parades, and other celebrations for vets.
Her Sibling donated his Nam Uniform which is on display at the local historical society. He will go there with his 3 buddies and stand by an exhibit of uniforms going back to the Civil War. Most visitors have no idea of where Nam is and the long war. Most are not aware of the long and bloody Nam war.
> It was the loss of those professors. <
Yep. History professors read about the Battle of Berlin. They write about the Battle of Berlin. This janitor was actually at the Battle of Berlin, holed up in a building with a panzerfaust (a German anti-tank weapon). He was a living witness.
Yet all those professors walked right past him as he mopped the floor.
I do not agree that future generations in America will not know freedom.
I believe the yearning to be free is a God-given gift for all people.
Who is born to cling to and be content with enslavement?
Show me a society where those oppressed do not want to be free of their chains.
Social Science Professors with Ph.D.s are some of the most arrogant men and women on the earth, especially hard core leftists. To paraphrase Winston Churchill-they love working people. The love to watch them work as they walk by to the faculty lounge for a two hour coffee break.
My dad was in the Merchant Marine, but after his ship was torpedoed he quit and went to work with the Corps of Engineers building camps for German P.O.W.s.
“Well, I made time to talk to him. Eventually he opened up to me. Turns out that he was a WW II vet. But not on our side. He was a member of a Waffen SS unit that was raised in Italy. He did not surrender when Italy surrendered. He stuck with the Germans, and fought in the Battle of Berlin.”
Had a few conversations with a Polish guy. Was 17 or 18 when Germany invaded Poland, got just a few days of training then was captured by the Germans, was from an area of Poland that had swapped between Germany and Poland several times over the years and spoke German. After an interrogation the Germans decided he was German an into the German army he went. Fought on the Eastern front in the German army. He could tell things weren’t going well and deserted. Slowly made his way across Ukraine, Poland (picking up some ability to speak Russian and Ukrainian along the way). Made it into Germany near end of war tried to get to Western front to surrender to Allies but was picked up by police not to far from the front and placed in a camp. Before anything bad happened camp was overrun by US army. After being interviewed by US army he is offered a job as an interpreter since he spoke, German, Polish and some Russian and Ukrainian. Having nothing better to do he joins US Army (he is allowed to again because of language skills)after the war is over (now in his third army). Korean war breaks out and he winds up with a tank unit near the China border just before China joins the war. Tank unit is subjected to Chinese human wave attack and starts to pull out he argues that they can fight it off based on experience against Russian army while in German army. Few of the Chinese had guns most just hoes and shovels so not even as well equipped as Russian troops. But unit pulls out anyway. He made it thru 2 different wars as part of 3 different armies. Not something he set out to do just happened.
> Social Science Professors with Ph.D.s are some of the most arrogant men and women on the earth, especially hard core leftists. <
I don’t believe in escalating a situation, or anything like that. Seriously. Calm and respectful is usually the way to go.
But one of my biggest regrets while working university security is this. I dealt with my share of snobby professors. But none of them ever gave me a reason to pull out my nightstick. Too bad.
Was I wrong to have said that? Probably.
I grew up under remarkable tutelage.
We also had a rather abundant supply of cool stuff at the local army surplus store. That includes dummy mortar shells to oxygen masks. In high school I had an incredible shortwave receiver ... it came from a B-17. I had an gyro platform from a B-29. We even had field telephones and a battalion switchboard.
> My dad was in the Merchant Marine, but after his ship was torpedoed he quit and went to work with the Corps of Engineers <
Those guys suffered a higher casualty rate than did the Marines. It is a disgrace that they did not receive any veteran recognition until 2019.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/merchant-marine-worst-losses-wwii/
My Mom died two years ago at 94 years of age, my Dad a few years earlier. There are not to many people left who participated in that War and Era. He was Army air corp. Both grew up in the depression. They truly were The ‘Greatest Generation.’
My father passed away last year and was a Korean war vet. He told a story about working with a guy that survived the Bataan death march as well & if they were going out for lunch, he refused getting into a Japanese car.
God bless then all. My dad passed in 1990 at 71. WWII, Korea, and advisor in Vietnam. Then Civil Service in Vietnam
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I used to golf with an old timer who was always the most pleasant guy to be around. Then I found out he was a 2nd Lt. in the Marines and was on the second wave of Marines on Iwo Jima.
The Greatest Generation...
You’re prob around my dad’s age. 73. He said the same. Virtually all the men when was growing up were WW2 vets.
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