To Honor the Fathers…

By fromskilledhands ( June 6, 2009 at 8:40 am) · Filed under Caring, Heroes, , ,

They are fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, old men now. They are forgotten heroes, many of whom as boys really, witnessed the horrors of genocide, the stench of death. grandpaandgigi

They signed up to help the war effort. To fight for their country, for what, in their heart of hearts, they felt was right. Hastily trained, they went overseas, on ships that were floating cities. My father was an optometry student, my father-in-law, an architecture student. Both were sent to Europe. My Dad had been tested to be a fighter pilot. He rated highly, but his air sicknesses changed that direction, and he was sent to work in a hospital in England. He never talked much about his experiences there, choosing only to relate humorous ones.

My father-in-law was in the engineer corps. They were sent ahead of the rest of the troops to clear mines and to build roads and bridges. He had no idea that when he was sent to the town of Buchenwald, Germany, that he would witness the some of the evils of human nature, horrors he has relived in the years since.

Neither man talked much about what they witnessed and how they felt about it, sharing only snippets of these experiences that shaped their lives. It seems to me that sometimes the quietest people have the most to say; we need to take a moment to listen, with our ears, our eyes and our hearts.

Share this!
[Bloglines] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [kirtsy] [LinkedIn] [Reddit] [Squidoo] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] [Yahoo!] More »
Powered by Bookmarkify™

10 comments »

  1. Jodi Anderson said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 12:04 pm

    Beautiful and honorable sentiments.

    My grandfather died about 16 years ago. For a long time, I regretted not asking him more about the war. He was a quiet man, but had a wonderful temperment and a great sense of humor.

    I have come to realize, though, that he probably would not have wanted to talk about the war. He was injured three times (two purple hearts and an oak leaf cluster). He arrived in North Africa and entered Italy from the south, where his regiment went on to free a concentration camp. He was also in France and Germany.

    In a nearby tourist town, “the Ducks” have always been a popular attraction. You ride the boats similar to those shown in the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, the land/water vehicles used by the military. The Ducks take you through Lake Delton, the Wisconsin River, Mirror Lake and other local land attractions. As an adult, I have realized and wondered if such an *attraction* was traumatizing for veterans of war or if it was a proud moment, to share this with families and friends.

    Just sort of thinking out loud here.

    Again, very beautiful.

  2. rudeek said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 2:48 pm

    Their sacrifice was great and for many, the memories they brought home have endured. My father served state side, my uncle was injured on Iwo Jima, and my husband’s uncle served in Africa fighting Rommel’s Panzers. They all had amazing memories to share.

  3. Cat B said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 5:30 pm

    So beautiful, Debra. Thank you. My dad was in the Canadian army and landed in Normandy on D-day after six years in England. He was wounded two months later and, mercifully, evacuated to England. He was a jolly soul but he didn’t want to talk about the war. He kept his feelings in which can’t have been easy sometimes. At the end of his life he was interviewed in the paper and came out as a pacifist though he believed WW2 was a war that had to be fought once it started. Sadly, there were so many warnings before things started, even from Churchill himself, that were ignored. We went with my father to the 60th anniversary D-day celebration in Montreal. This meant borrowing a wheelchair because he couldn’t walk that well any more and then riding in a shuttle bus up to the hill where the ceremony took place. Some of the other gents on the bus had come from St. Anne’s Veteran’s Hospital nearby and hardly knew what was going on but they were very tenderly cared for by their nurse companions. When my dad saw them he remembered a fellow he knew who came back from the war and straight into St. Anne’s, too damaged to ever reemerge. My dad thought the commemoration ceremony was a bit disappointing as there weren’t too many men left and the speeches were boring. He thought the prime minister should have been there though we explained there were ceremonies in other cities too. What made him happy though was that both my son and husband were there too.

  4. fromskilledhands said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 6:13 pm

    No one had the tools to help these soldiers cope with what they had experienced, and to be able to share it. So many have been silent, the current wars bringing these feelings to the surface.

  5. Pat said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 6:57 pm

    It does seem to be a common thread that these real life heroes don’t like to remember the awful events they witnessed. As a British woman I’m very aware of what we owe to all those brave men and I hope it will never be forgotten. I was pleased to see in France today there were many cadets – teenagers who must now be aware of what these old men did for us and they can pass the knowledge on to the next generation.
    That’s a lovely photograph Debra.

  6. Gayle said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 7:17 pm

    I followed you back from my blog, Thanks for the kind words.

    I have read your blog on Erly’s who I found fro easywriter’s blog. . . so I kind of know you already. I just started my blog and I am an artist also. Your Pottery is Fabulous.

    Your post today was very Beautiful, Sad, Wonderful and Touching all at the same time and I love the Wonderful picture of your Father and his Dog.

    cheers, parsnip

  7. Eryl said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 7:40 pm

    I couldn’t agree with you more, I love talking to old people we can learn so much from them. Love the photo!

  8. fromskilledhands said,

    June 6, 2009 @ 8:37 pm

    Thank you all for your kind words. The photo is of my father-in-law and his dog. So characteristic… I will be writing about my mother-in-law, too. Like you, Pat, she is British, and worked in a factory during the war.

  9. MaryWitzl said,

    June 7, 2009 @ 4:49 am

    Thoughtful post, Debra, and I love the photograph too.

    My father was in WWII as well and his experiences haunted him for the rest of his life. His ship was torpedoed and he was lucky to survive; most of his shipmates died. Unlike my uncle, who was in the Army from 1945 through 1948, my father NEVER wanted to talk about the war — or certainly not to my uncle, for whom it was all an adventure and a great lark.

    We should never forget about what these men had to do. It is so easy to pay mere lip service to their sacrifices.

  10. Mary Ann said,

    June 7, 2009 @ 10:35 am

    My dad was on Iwo Jima and never talked about it at all. He talked about his buddy, Red, who went through it with him but he never talked about what they went through. I never pushed him to talk but now I wish I had. It’s the stuff we never talk about that we need to. I didn’t know that then.

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment

CAPTCHA Image
*
All content is copyrighted. Use only with permission.