Our town takes Memorial Day pretty seriously. Our former governor was here to deliver a few words on Saturday at the war memorial down the street. There was even a parade and a community picnic.
My dad's six brothers fought in WW2 and we didn't lose any of them though I did hear some hair raising tales from a few of them. This is my dad's draft card. See the big red line. He was caught lying about his age so he could join up with them but he was too young. Busted.
We had quite a few civil war deserters in the family but the only war death I could confirm through Ancestry was this guy's. This is the death certificate of a great uncle who was killed at 19 in a terrible train collision in Philadelphia on his way back to barracks in NY after a family visit here in DC during WW2. That counts, right? If it hadn't been for Adolph Hitler this kid would have been doing teen age things instead of marching off to war.
Whenever I hear folks today complaining about how bad things are I think that they just don't watch enough old movies. I dare anyone to sit through this and not have to reach for a tissue. Spoiler: It is NOT a comedy. Sending our kids off to war is never funny.
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Too true. I don't recognize the movie but will definitely watch it!
ReplyDeleteDave and I have often said, people today wouldn't be able to handle what our grand parents and great grandparents went through. I'd like to think we'd all rise to the challenge if the worst happened, but I really don't think we would. How the COVID pandemic went down, really made me lose a lot of faith in humanity
ReplyDeleteWe have a long history of war veterans in our family but thankfully we didn't lose anyone to the wars themselves. All came home safely.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Betsy
I'd like to say that I will watch The Human Comedy but I don't think I'm quite up to it. Given the state of the world, it seems people would understand that "war is not healthy for children and other living things". (So said the t-shirt I wore in the 60s; I would wear it today if I had one.)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the thoughtful post for today.
ReplyDeleteMy dad landed on Omaha beach the day after D-Day, survived that and later survived the Battle of the Bulge. He had some pretty horrific stories to tell too and carried a bit of german schrapnel in his knee and hip until his death in his late 80's. I'm thankful I don't personally know anyone lost to war, although the family lost many to both world wars and I know a tremendous amount of disabled vets. I have a very hard time saying "Happy" Memorial Day. Just seems wrong.
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