Posted on 05/30/2004 6:41:22 PM PDT by Lando Lincoln
Can my generation ever repay the sacrifices made by our parents and grandparents? Yes, and no.
We baby-boomers can never completely understand the suffering our grandparents and parents endured during the Great Depression. Trying to feed their families anyway they could, men would sweep the streets and clean toilets. They would do anything they had to do to buy milk or bread for their children. Yet, through these troubled times, the crime rate was low, dispelling the notion that poverty is the cause of crime. Never had so many Americans felt poverty like that experienced in the years leading up to World War II.
The stock market crash of 1929 set off a chain of world events that would not correct itself for nearly two decades or one entire generation. America was so intent on pulling itself out of the depression that many did not see nor admit to the gathering warnings of war from Europe.
December 7, 1941, the day that would indeed live in infamy, changed everything. There are few days in American history that are remembered as vividly as December 7, 1941. That was the day that America grew up. That was the day that Americans put aside their own wants and needs and pulled together to face an enemy that stood diametrically opposed to everything citizens of this country held close to their hearts and had engrained in their souls.
With the exception of Great Britain, the free countries of Europe were falling before the Nazi machine and being absorbed against their will into the German empire. England, despite standing strong, suffered a terrible beating every night from Germany’s new buzz-bombs. Hitler knew as long as the United States kept her head in the sand and ignored his aggression, all of Europe would be his, including England, in time.
Japan was impatient. Japan ruined Hitler’s plans by attacking our ships in the American Naval port, Pearl Harbor. When America declared war on Japan, Germany honored their country’s pact with Japan as allies--perhaps the only agreement Germany honored--and declared war on America and the Second World War was underway. It didn’t happen a moment to soon. Had Pearl Harbor happened one year later, it may have been too late. America’s failure to recognize the strength and danger of the Nazi empire nearly ended the great American experiment in her adolescence.
Is the World War II generation the ''greatest generation?'' These WWII heroes say no, they are not. There is great wisdom in those few words. Is there a ''greatest generation'' or is every generation the greatest?
Our founding fathers saw greatness in this fledgling country and that the men of that generation fought and died for their freedom--and for ours. That generation gave us the chance to fulfill our destiny. It was up to succeeding generations to see that the country reached its destiny. The torch was passed.
There have been 12 generations in the 228 years since America severed the ties with an oppressive English ruler and took the first, uncertain step towards an unknown future. The first generation of Americans was willing to give up life, limb, and property to be free.
Each succeeding generation had hurtles to overcome. Each generation was successful.
America’s fourth generation had perhaps the greatest challenge of all. It was asked to keep America united. This challenge was made even more painful because demons from within had divided the country. "...but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came." (Abraham Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.) The scars on that generation ran deep, but it survived, endured, and grew. More Americans died in the Civil War than in all American wars combined.
Our seventh generation went to Europe and fought in trenches and flew bi-wing airplanes made of paper and wood. World War I, the war to end all wars, sadly did not teach the world that tyranny and oppression cannot stand. Some still do not understand that the human spirit must be free.
One generation later, Americans once again heard the drum-beat of war. As every generation before them, it answered the call. Woefully unprepared for war, Americans united, sacrificed, and died not only to keep America free, but to give the nations of the world the chance to be free. Foreign soil became the final resting place for 400,000 Americans from 1941 to 1945. Those men and women did not die in vain. Those who survived shun the title of the ''greatest generation.'' ''We had a job to do and we did it,'' these great Americans have said. The eighth generation did a superb job, and we and the succeeding generations are grateful.
The World War II generation accepted the torch of freedom handed to them with love and that torch was protected by the souls of all those who had given their lives and from previous generations of Americans who gave their sons, daughters, fathers, brothers, and husbands to keep America free.
The Korean War generation, the Vietnam War generation, and the Gulf War generation passed the torch of freedom from father to son.
Once again the winds of war are upon us. The twelfth generation of Americans is fighting radical Islamic terrorists who claim no country, have no set borders, and wear no uniform. The goal of radical Islam is no different than America’s previous enemies. Terrorists use different tactics, however. Attacking and killing the innocent is the weapon of choice. Children are targets; babies are targets, and all is justified because it is radical Islam’s belief that Islam is destined to be the supreme rulers of world. This religious terrorist believes that he has God’s will and power on his side just as most of our enemies before him have believed.
December 7, 1941, heralded the beginning of World War II. September 11, 2001, marked the beginning of ''World War III.'' That was the day that America woke up. This enemy hides in the shadows, covers its face, and evokes the name of God as he murders.
The words of ''God Bless America'' come to mind. ''God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above.''
May God protect and guide this ''greatest generation'' as he has all the generations that have become before it. May God embrace those that make the ultimate sacrifice and shield those still in harm's way from danger for they are the parents of the next ''greatest generation'' of Americans, who will stand ready to protect this great country from enemies still unknown.
That is how we will repay all the generations that have come before us. Americans yet unborn will grow and stand ready to accept the torch handed down to them with great love and held high through great sacrifice.
Barbara is a registered nurse who enjoys writing about politics and current events. Her website is at http://www.republicanandproud.com and she receives e-mail at: dickens502003@yahoo.com.
Must have been bad parenting.
Not the only time.Other wars have done the same.
The Great Depression was global and many countries came out of it in a year or two.
The greatest generation made tons of money in the 1950s, and simply gave their kids the best time of their lives...and it all came back to haunt them in the mid-60s.
I am sick of this Greatest Generation moniker. Its main purpose is to excuse TGG of their penchant of voting for the Government to loot on their behalf from The Not-So-Great Generations.
Their modesty and bravery is an example for us all.
Their modesty and bravery is an example for us all.
Interesting perspective, but dead wrong.
"'I've had discussions with some of my liberal acquaintances who say that FDR helped get the USA out with his New Deal. I could have sworn that there has been a lot of evidence that FDR's policies actually prolonged the Great Depression until WW2 came about, do you know anything about this?'
The Great Depression was global and many countries came out of it in a year or two."
Not to mention war just about always boosts the economy - if it's long enough. WWII was that for that SOB FDR. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if that SOB let the Japs bomb Pearl Harbor to surreptitiously put us in war that would actually stop the Depression and mask the likelihood that all his commie methods didn't work.
I agree w/you, so much. Glad some1 else said it so I don't have to type. I'm not a "boomer" either.
In the words of a dying Captain Miller in savingprivateryan:
"Earn this."
We can live as they did, with duty and honor and service and, yes, humility.
YES! Thank you.
The term "greatest generation" is grating on my nerves. Brokaw, I'm sure, is so proud of himself for "coining a phrase" that now thousands are using. I'm sure he gets alot of self-satisfaction from that little contribution to society.
The Greatest Generation (of the US) was the Founding Generation.
2 problems w/the WWII generation. They already had a benevolent dictator who was imposing Commie ideas and were well on the way to accepting this as the proper approach to life. Thanks to the war I'm sure FDR was deified as a great leader so that cemented the mentality that the commie approach was the way to go. So actually, the socialist voting already had reached a floodgate before the war, not after.
Other problem is that this "GG" created the Worst Generation. Since others didn't create really bad generations, this is another barometer of their basic character. They followed the new exciting approach of Dr Spock like sheep, abandoning common sense, and raised way too many spoiled rotten brats.
While there are of course problems in every generation and no populace is ever perfectly in unison, the Founders virtually created the very antithesis to Marxism, and raised another generation that largely stepped up to fight the 2nd American Revolution, and even stopped the Barbary Pirates in their tracks while the superpowers allowed the latter to bully them w/bribery.
There's no way our Founders don't deserve the moniker.
Well, perhaps I just don't know what is meant by "biggest", but if it means "important", it's not so. Frankly, anything to do w/the creation of the US is probably the most important thing in the last 500 years. And that's not a boast, that's a God's-honest assessment.
Thanks for pointing that out, I feel offended. Who can I sue?
Are we into ancestor worship now? Let's just thank them for giving the world the atomic bomb and leave it at that.
Unfortunately, many on the left have hit the snooze alarm and rolled over.
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