As a reminder the national holiday we recognize today, November 11, was stablished by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 as Armistice Day. It served as a celebration of the end of WW I. After WW II and the Korean War, Congress was pushed by citizens and groups to recognize the day for all veterans, not just those fallen in service to our country. In response Veterans Day was approved and President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law in 1954.
With two fathers having served during WW II, the day will always be a special one for wifey and I. I have posted summarized versions of these stories previously, but many have not had the opportunity to read them. These will provide a bit more detail. I hope they will be a source of inspiration to you.
You’re In The Army Now
The Great Man from hillbilly land in Tennessee served as a heavy mortar crewman in the 36th “Texas” Infantry Division in the Army in the German theater and was captured in a fierce battle in and around Monte Cassino, Italy. That battle lasted nearly five months and had Allied forces from several nations involved. Complicating efforts was the desire by the Allies to preserve as much of the historically significant landmarks in the region as possible, which the German military was using to escape attack. In the end stage it was efforts of the Polish troops that brought it to a successful conclusion and opened the path of Allied troops toward Rome and final victory in Italy. Allied forces suffered approximately 55 thousand casualties along with 20 thousand Germans. At war’s end the Texas Division had suffered 19.5 thousand casualties. A summary description of this horrendous battle is below.
The Great Man survived over 13 months in German Stalags and farm labor camps before being freed by Russian troops on April 13, 1945. He once attempted to escape a labor camp by swimming across a river with strong currents with two other prisoners. They did not make it and one of them drowned in the rapids. They were forced to sleep in old barns and on the frozen ground in the dead of winter, praying that the Allied bombers would not have them in their sights. During the last two months of captivity in 1945 the German guards kept them on the march. At one point they were strafed by allied planes who thought they were enemy combatants. Six of his fellow brothers were killed and they had to dig their graves. The Russians freed them a month before the official end of the war as their guards fled from the area.
He suffered from malnutrition and frostbite from the ordeal as well as from PTSD throughout the remainder of his life. Once he arrived back in his hometown there was nobody there to greet him at the train station, they had no idea of when he was coming. His family believed he had been killed in action the entire time until notified by the military after his release in late April. Even then they did not believe he was alive as other townspeople had received similar communications in the past only to find their family members had died. He began walking the approximate 5 miles to the small family farm in his broken physical condition until he could not any longer. The last bit of road he crawled until his momma saw him and came running. He could not believe her eyes when she saw him along the road.
It would have meant more to be home if The Great Man did not remember the years of abuse he suffered from his alcoholic father before he left to serve. As it was, he had nowhere else to go and he knew his momma would help. By this point his father was a shell of himself anyway, as the drinking had led to health problems as he had his legs being amputated at the knees from diabetes caused by the alcoholism.
He weighed less than 120 lbs. and initially could not sleep in a bed in their home. For months he slept on blankets on the ground under the front porch. Over time he regained strength from being back working and living on their small farm with food to eat.
His two brothers also returned to the family home after serving in the Navy. This lifted his spirits and he began to heal. He started attending church with his momma and met a pretty teenager he adored. They fell in love and eloped to Georgia to get married a year later. Upon their return it was not long before she was pregnant at the age of 18. The pregnancy went well until the sixth month and she began hemorrhaging. The old country doctor came to the small run down home they rented and thought it was time to try to give birth as both mom and baby were in serious danger. A few hours later a tiny baby girl weighing about three pounds was delivered. She did not make a sound and they all believed she did not make it. The Great Man began massaging her tiny chest and prayed to the Lord the entire time while the doctor addressed the needs of his wife. A few moments later they were overjoyed when the tiny baby began to cry.
Daddy’s Girl was born. She was nurtured at home, there were no NICO units or incubators to help her along. They got by with what they had and could do along with the help of that country doctor, families and friends. Daddy’s Girl turned out to be a tough fighter, just like her dad. This guy will be forever grateful. As a result I was able to grow old with the love of my life, experience being a girl dad, and now be a papaw to three wonderful grandchildren. We are forever grateful that The Great Man never gave up.
Four more children were born to the couple over time. He worked jobs where he could find one along with the farm work and eventually found a job at the Post Office in town at age 36. He was so proud and the townspeople all enjoyed visiting with him when they came by. When their parents passed away, he and his brothers sold that scrub 30 acre farm so they could each have enough for down payments on small places of their own. They were so happy to have homes with running water, indoor toilets and electricity for the first time in their lives.
Life happened and The Great Man stayed in touch with all of his POW buddies at annual events through the decades that followed. There were 30 from his unit that were initially captured. When they began their reunions they tracked down 21 who were still alive or could be found. They visited each other’s homes or at met up at motels through the years. They all came and visited The Great Man’s family home one weekend 32 years afters the war and again, some 9 years later in 1986. By that point only a dozen participated, half of the original 30 were deceased. The original 21 in the group were from every corner of America. All of The Great Man’s and his Angel Wife’s children, spouses and grandchildren came to meet the men and their wives. The time was filled with good food, laughter and interesting stories.
However, when we heard the Kansas public school teacher turned superintendent take his turn our eyes grew moist. He described how he hid a tiny notepad and pencil stub under the sole in his shoe that a kind, local German woman snuck to him when they were taken into town to haul grain seed back to the farm labor camp. At night in the dark when the guards were not watching he recorded dates and important events of most days. It served as a journal that helped him chronicle those last few months of their captivity when they were exposed and in the most danger. He had provided each POW brother a copy of it, which we still have today.
Many of the men spoke of how they cherished the potato peelings the thoughtful German women would throw to them that helped keep them alive. They talked about how the Russian captives in the Stalags were treated much worse than they were.
As a separate thought, maybe that helps to explain some of the deep seated hatred that we see between Russians and the Ukrainian/Euro Nazis today. The Russians seem intent on the total destruction of the nation that grew out of that Nazi stronghold. Perhaps it was not the best idea for our uniparty to have given away $350 B of our national treasure to a disgusting Day One lost cause.
As the families visited and told their stories we all knew we were in the presence of greatness. These men and their devoted wives were the best America had to offer to save the world.
The time came when Daddy’s Girl needed to become both The Great Man’s and his Angel Wife’s primary care giver. There were countless doctor and hospital visits, loads of laundry, bills to be paid, food to be provided and errands to run. With a family of her own, she was getting worn down. However, it became clear that The Great Man was being prepared to go home at age 80. The nightmares about the war that gripped him all those years no longer bothered him as life left his body. No more being embarrassed after diving under the kitchen table when a plane passed over their home or grabbing his rifle if he was startled by an unusual noise at night. Daddy’s Girl laid in bed with him at the nursing home as he went to be with Jesus. Their unshakeable bond was on display until the end. His trials and health issues were released as he entered into the waiting arms of Jesus.
His legacy was seen in the faces and words of over 700 people who came to the funeral of a man who had never held a position higher than janitor in his home town. This was followed by a full honor guard burial. Angel Wife handed the American flag that was presented to her by the honor guardsman to Daddy’s Girl and said, “Here, you deserve this.”
His greatness was found in the stories that were told and the lives that were made better by the strong, selfless, caring manner of The Great Man who was always there for his nation and others as had been done for him when he needed them most.
Anchors Aweigh, my boys…
The coal miner’s son was a Little Guy who took after his 4′ 10″ diminutive in stature school teacher and Appalachian poet mother who oriented him to the importance of seeking a higher education despite living in poverty. Then Pearl Harbor happened. The Little Guy left his community college classes and headed straight for the enlistment office. Standing 5′ 6″ tall and weighing 129 lbs., he was upset to learn he was barely tall enough and did not weigh enough. For weeks he did everything he could to gain weight including carrying rocks in his pockets when he tried to enlist the next time. The enlistment office personnel looked the other way as he stepped on the scale to find he weighed the minimum 133 lbs. to join the Navy. So, The Little Guy joined America’s military the same year as The Great Man in 1942.
His small size turned out to be a benefit for the role he would be assigned later. After basic and flight training on radar and as a radioman along with plane electrician in the Naval Air Force in Jacksonville and assignment to sunny Pensacola, his crew was soon based in the Aleutians at Attu, Alaska. Attu was a cold and barren place that was nearly devoid of life forms after the Japanese took it in the early days of the war.
The very small, primarily native Aluet population of the island who did not escape had been savaged by killing the adult males and sending the women and children back to Japan as prisoners. Later, it became the site where the blood of thousands of Japanese and hundreds of American troops lost their lives. The 500 or so remaining Japanese troops who survived the final battle were so brainwashed about their plights they committed mass suicide as well as murder of each other rather than being captured. A summary of the struggle is below,
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/retaking-aleutians-1943
Once retaken, The Little Guy’s squadron was assigned and utilized as spotters who focused on reconnaissance in the Pacific. The initial plane they flew was a B-24. From 1944 until the end of the war it was a PB4Y-2 Privateer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_PB4Y-2_Privateer
With each battle of our military they would be based into those areas to spot enemy ship, submarine and troop movements in the region. This led to him eventually spending time with his crew mates in Okinawa, Korea, Taiwan (Formosa), Myanmar (Burma), and China as well as post surrender, in Japan briefly. He saw the aftermath of the atomic bombs and other destruction from the air.
Interestingly, although they never met, he was stationed in Okinawa during the same period as one of The Great Man’s brothers who was a crewman on a Naval ship assigned to that battle and later based there.
It was a stressful period wondering if the plane would go down from Japanese attacks and becoming shark bait. Dodging flak was a regular occurrence. His crew survived it all due to a good tail gunner, “Gunny” Hagedorn, along with the help of American fighter pilots who protected them as well as the Lord’s will. He only experienced frostbite in his feet and an occasional nightmare about the widespread destruction he witnessed from the experience. He counted himself fortunate. His experiences led to a deep appreciation for President Truman’s decision to end the war with that atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
After the war he returned to college life. At that point with the better nutrition and physical conditioning from Navy life at age 24 he found he had grown 3″ taller and was 20 lbs. heavier. After college and a short term job in an aluminum mill; there was a return to the mines and a mining school to become a surveyor. After that there was a move into industrial construction as a surveyor and engineer from his education at the University of Tennessee. That led to a final long career in his field with a steel manufacturer. Along the way it meant hitting the Hillbilly Highway as he searched for a better life than could be found in dead end coal mining camp towns. Before he left the region he married a young woman in one of the coal mining towns who wanted out as well. Their first child, Daddy’s Boy, arrived on the scene a few years later as he worked construction on a major DOD project a half dozen years after the war. As that project wound down he found work doing what he loved in that steel mill town in SW Ohio.
The Little Guy was in his element. He shared a bond with many of the men at the mill as former brothers in arms serving their country. Generally there was great respect shared in that work place with all races and cultures of people employed there. They shared a common bond as the working class that loved their country and the work. You would find them gathered on weekends at the ballfields and high school stadium. Daddy’s Boy was coached up in team sports by many of his co-workers. These were the same fields that decades later produced home run hitting Kyle Schwarber – a current MLB All Star along with former NFL stars Todd Bell and Chris Carter.
Despite his important role in mill operations and maintenance he never made much money. Most weeks he worked 50-70 hours for the overtime pay to help the family make ends meet. That left very little family time except on weekends. However, before he left in the mornings he would cook breakfast for Daddy’s Boy and his sister. He did not want them to go to school hungry. The Little Guy never knew that he would be working with and living a half dozen blocks from the grandfather and family of a future Vice President. He would have been very proud of JD.
Life happened and The Little Guy grew old. Unlike The Great One, he never knew the stability and love from a good marriage. With the passing of his beloved parents he turned even more to his two children and families, sister, and friends for companionship. He knew Daddy’s Boy would always have his back just like he always had his through the years. As his body began to be wrecked by cancer and his relationship with his wife worsened; he left to live with Daddy’s Boy and family. Despite his body shutting down, in his own words the next five months became some of the best of his life emotionally and spiritually. He had always adored his only grandchild and family times brought him great joy. Wifey (Daddy’s Girl) was like a daughter to him for all of those years and he would always remind Daddy’s Boy, “You have a keeper, son.” He even returned to his faith, began attending church for the first time in over 40 years, and for possibly the only period in his life led prayers over meals.
As his time grew short, he asked for one thing from Daddy’s Boy, to be taken back to SW Ohio to say goodbye to his old friends and make arrangements at the funeral home. The trip that normally would have brought great sorrow turned into a joyful event as he visited with his buddies as his daughter joined us. Since his youth Daddy’s Boy had known The Little Guy’s best friend who was a co-worker. He had been a positive Christian influence. Spending time together was so rewarding for all four of us.
Despite their miserable relationship; he had provided a home, vehicle, no debt, enough money in the bank and retirement income to sustain his wife, the mother of Daddy’s Boy, for the rest of her years. The same person who hated and ridiculed him in life and in death; who drove him out of their home while he was dying of cancer, is who he made sure had all she needed to live life well. He often said he did not want her to be a burden on Daddy’s Boy and his sister when he was gone.
After a few days in hospice The Little Guy passed away quietly at the age of 83. His 91 year old former pastor, the same one who had led Daddy’s Boy to the Lord as a youngster, led The Little Guy’s funeral and burial services. The Little Guy’s final journey could all be summed up as finishing well. There were no tears, only a sense of gratitude and love as the honor guardsman presented the flag – to Daddy’s Boy.
Shared Traits
Both of these great men became well acquainted and friends through the years. They talked of their upbringing that was less than 75 miles apart, but living completely different lives. Both were very reluctant to talk about their war experiences. Both worked hard all of their lives to provide for their families. They never made a lot of money, yet, were not burdens on anybody else while providing enough for their wives to live well the rest of their lives. Both men had deep bonds of friendship with other men who lived through tough times. Interestingly, both men were strong supporters of the GOP all of their lives. The uniparty members would have made them angry today. Both men always had the backs of their families and friends. Both men focused on others instead of themselves. Both men exited the world quietly and mentally sharp despite their physical ailments.
Both wifey and I loved each other’s fathers deeply. We also both understood the role of the eldest child in many families, both dads taught it to us. I never fully realized just how valuable that commitment was until both fathers had gone to be with the Lord. Our collective younger family members were looking to us at that point. We also saw it in the eyes of Angel Wife as she laid The Great Man to rest and we helped her through her long battle with dementia after he passed. We saw his life’s partner go to meet him in paradise with all of the family at her bedside. Some bonds just can never be broken no matter who or what rises against them.
Did I mention Angel Wife passed away 11/11/11? Yes, she passed away on Veteran’s Day fourteen years ago today. Did I mention that her Veteran husband, The Great Man, passed away on the second anniversary of 9/11? He told me the day before he died that he knew the military would take out “that SOB bin Laden” at some point. Then there was The Little Guy passing away on St. Patrick’s Day. It was also appropriate due to the recommitment to his faith.
God has His ways and all we can do is marvel at them.
The following song was the story of different people in a different place, but the spirit of the words explains how wifey and I feel as we look back through the old photos and mementos of The Great Man and The Little Guy. They too were just trying to survive in their poverty stricken situations that led to going to war to protect our nation. Every time we hear it, in our minds we can see and hear the voices of our fathers.
Lesson
Each day we walk by the book case that holds those two tightly folded American flags from the burial services that are encased in frames to preserve them for the generations that follow us. We have also preserved the history of these two great men in memory books that incllude old photos, military documents, related news stories, etc. These included aerial and local photos The Little Guy took of all of his crew’s assignments while in the Japanese theater. They are in black and white, of course. It is never lost on us the sacrifices they and all patriots have made to keep America free. But to Daddy’s Girl and Daddy’s Boy, they were our dads who did that and so much more.
Our collective history as Americans matters in world history. In reality, We the People doing as the Lord has desired of us are all that has held the world together for a lot of years now. The future generations who follow need to know and learn from our experiences just as we have learned from others before us.
Please take time to honor those who have served you and your country well this Veterans Day. With those who have passed, keep their memories alive in your minds and hearts. Each generation of patriotic Americans has worked to keep this dream of We the People alive and flourishing. Look those who would do us harm dead in the eyes and do whatever it takes to stop them, just like our patriot fathers and mothers have done throughout our history.
Go to work. Never back down, never give up. Fight, Fight, Fight!
God bless our Veterans and God bless the U. S. A.
Please remember Wolf’s rules for our community. In general that means to be respectful to each other and to pull no shenanigans that your mom might find offensive or otherwise cause jail time. That said, free speech is honored here.
Be blessed and go make something good happen!
