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Offline Flyin6

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Can I get you anything?
« on: March 23, 2020, 07:43:44 PM »
I talked with a man today, an 80+ year old man. I asked him if there was anything I can get him while this Coronavirus scare was gripping America.

 

He simply smiled, looked away and said:

"Let me tell you what I need! I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for... I need to believe this nation we handed safely to our children and their children...

I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies...that they respect what they've been given...that they've earned what others sacrificed for."

 

I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there, quietly observing.

 

"You know, I was a little boy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn't know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war. There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.

And no home went without sacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm's way. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family...fathers, sons, uncles...

Having someone, you love, sent off to war...it wasn't less frightening than it is today. It was scary as Hell. If anything, it was more frightening. We didn't have battle front news. We didn't have email or cellphones. You sent them away and you hoped...you prayed. You may not hear from them for months, if ever. Sometimes a mother was getting her son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.

And we sacrificed. You couldn't buy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper. EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort. And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort. My generation was the original recycling movement in America.

And we had viruses back then...serious viruses. Things like polio, measles, and such. It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined. We didn't shut down our schools. We didn't shut down our cities. We carried on, without masks, without hand sanitizer. And do you know what? We persevered. We overcame. We didn't attack our President, we came together. We rallied around the flag for the war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win. And we would lose more boys in an hour of combat than we lose in entire wars today."

 

He slowly looked away again. Maybe I saw a small tear in the corner of his eye. Then he continued:

"Today's kids don't know sacrifice. They think a sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country. Today's kids are selfish and spoiled. In my generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped out with single moms who's husbands were either at war or dead from war. Today's kids rush the store, buying everything they can...no concern for anyone but themselves. It's shameful the way Americans behave these days. None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.

 

So, no I don't need anything. I appreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than this virus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you? Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your tv?"

 

I smiled...now humbled by a man in his 80's. All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my rear.

I talked to a man today. A real man. An American man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will never understand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But we should work harder to learn about them..learn from them...to respect them
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Offline cj7ox

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Re: Can I get you anything?
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2020, 10:14:17 AM »
Amen, Brother!
~Sean M. Davis

“The citizens of a free state ought to consist of those only who bear arms.” ~Aristotle

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Offline Flyin6

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Re: Can I get you anything?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2020, 11:11:43 AM »
Makes me think of my dad

I never even knew he served until I was digging around in mom's cedar chest one day and found a pair of sheep skin mitts and sheep skin lined leather coat with some lieutenant bars attached.
Site owner    Isaiah 6:8, Psalm 91 
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Offline cj7ox

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Re: Can I get you anything?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2020, 11:31:08 AM »
Same with my uncle. I found out from my grandmother when I was teaching OCS at Ft. Indiantown Gap that her brother was buried in the cemetery there. It was then that I found out he was a WWII vet. Uncle Mickey was always one of the friendliest, and I always enjoyed visiting with him as a kid even though he was always drunk. Turns out he was an infantryman, and served from D-Day invasion through the end of the war in the European Theater. He liberated one of the concentration camps and was tasked with bulldozing bodies into mass graves. That messed him up so bad he couldn't function without alcohol.
~Sean M. Davis

“The citizens of a free state ought to consist of those only who bear arms.” ~Aristotle

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Offline Flyin6

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Re: Can I get you anything?
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2020, 10:03:41 PM »
There are some guys around here. I am trying to reach them but they close off. I hear from their girlfriends or wives. My neighbor is a retiring full colonel who tries as well. Whenever some vet ends up in the emergency room, or jail, or something, he often gets the call. He does all this under the carpet. Lots of good men are still working in the shadows. Thing about good men, is they often go unnoticed because they care not for any personal recognition. These WW2 guys were the poster child for that trait.
Site owner    Isaiah 6:8, Psalm 91 
NSDQ      Author of the books: Distant Thunder and Thoren

Offline cj7ox

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Re: Can I get you anything?
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2020, 01:59:33 PM »
...they often go unnoticed because they care not for any personal recognition. These WW2 guys were the poster child for that trait.

Truth!
~Sean M. Davis

“The citizens of a free state ought to consist of those only who bear arms.” ~Aristotle

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