My DIL continues to go to the ever smaller reunion of her grandfather’s outfit. It is an interesting connection to the memory of a young man who was KIA within days of joining the outfit as a replacement just after D-day. The anniversary of his death is just days away from now. He never knew his daughter or her daughter or any of the others who were born after his young life ended.
My old friends that helped raise me are almost all gone. The last two are 90 and 93. One was a seaman in the Pacific and became an outstanding engineer. The other was a Marine pilot at Pelileu and other terrible places of the time. He retired as chief pilot of a large corporation. Both of these men continued to work for some 30 years after they retired the first time. Their minds are still sharp but they get tired. They both remain gracious, kind and carry themselves with the honor, integrity and strength of real men.
I’m looking at the picture of my father when he was a teenager on the beach while in flight training at Pensacola. Full of energy and ready for adventure. That is the way he and so many of these men lived their entire life, looking from one adventure to another. Sometimes they were adventures of their own making and made only in their own minds. It was their way to stay motivated and to live as completely as they possibly could. Almost every day with Dad was an exciting adventure. He made life an event.