Remembrance Day - Would anyone like to post their remambrance?

[bitsy]

Today is Remembrance Day here in the UK. We remember the fallen from all wars and think of all those who have served or are serving and their families.

Would anyone care to join me in remembering someone special who gave their life?

I remember my Grandad, Frank Midgley. He died aged 19 in occupied France, three months before the end of the Second World War, leaving a widow and a baby daughter.

Thank you, Grandad. I'll never forget that you died to preserve democracy and my freedom.

 

[dionythicus]

My uncle didn't die in Vietnam, but he did serve there twice. He came home addicted to drugs and lived a very hard life. He committed suicide a few years ago because throat cancer meant having his voice box removed. I didn't know him well, actually only really got to know him a couple years before he died. One day at lunch, we were talking about Vietnam, and he started to talk about some of the atrocities he had done, but he stopped himself and apologised. I told him honestly that if he ever needed to talk about that, I was willing to listen. Nothing he could have done would make me not love him or think any differently about him. He appreciated that.

I think our war in Afghanistan is another Vietnam. I pray America will think better of continuing the war because I think of a whole new generation of war vets with my uncle's memories and problems.

Thank you, Uncle Jim, for serving our country in a terrible place during a horrible time. I love you.

 

[tricksterpup]

Bea Arthur

 

[wstphal]

I remember my father. On Pearl Harbor Day he was 35 years old, had flat feet, a single kidney & severe near-sightedness. He was a physician. He heard the news, grabbed his medical license & drove around looking for a recruiting station. He found the Army station first, parked his car, took his paperwork & went inside. The recruiter told him "Doctor, you will NOT be drafted, based on the health issues you have." My father said, "Sergeant, WILL the Army take me if I volunteer?" He served in the US, Britain, France & Germany before VE-Day, then with the Occupation in Germany for over a year. Facilities he was at were strafed, shot at, occasionally bombed. He took it all in stride, from what I can tell. He insisted on going thru weapons training, arguing that field hospitals occasionally get hit if there is a sudden advance by the enemy, and was the despair of his instructors -- he could shoot just fine with rifle & side arm but could NOT shoot the Army way. He was a helluva guy & I miss him every day.

 

[The_Thunderer]

I would like to remember my grandfather... he is still alive at 96, but is reaching that "point" in his life. He's got dementia and has begun taking things out on my parents (he's my mom's dad).

Well, he used to tell me stories about the Bataan Death March. He was one of the soldiers who survived horrible and terrifying that ordeal. The stories he would tell often spoke of watching friends being killed, eating bug infested rice, torture, etc. Well, he survived that to go on to the Korean "Conflict" where he told stories of seeing thousands of Communist Koreans and Chinese soldiers just yards away from his position.

Grandpa was definitely a flawed man. But he and so many others stood up and faced HELL when we needed them to. I'll always remember that.

 

[Rich in KY]

I have not had a relative or friend get killed in a war in a long time.

But just about everyone knows someone, who knows someone, who lost someone.

I want to remember every man and woman who has given their life so that I can have all the freedoms that many of us take for granted. And thank those who continue to protect those freedoms.

 

[Hypancistrus]

We have never lost anyone to a war in recent memory.

My great-grandfather immigrated from Poland in 1917 and in order to become a naturalized citizen, he joined the Army. He served in France in WWI, where he lost his leg. He returned home to the US to recover along with one of his best friends, who had been seriously wounded. His friend, who was also Polish, had a young wife and two baby daughters (my aunt Mary Lee was 2 or 3 and Cecilia was an infant) and knew he was dying from his wounds. He asked my greatgrandfather to take care of his wife and daughters when he died, and grandpa did. He and my grandma had three more kids, the oldest of whom is my grandfather. I never got to meet Greatgrandpa, because he died in the 70's, but my grandfather and father still speak fondly of him, and one day I hope to return to Poland to see where he lived and what he left behind to come here.

Both of my grandpa's served in the military. My mother's dad was drafted into the SeaBee's at the end of WWII and served in the Phillipine's. My dad's father was drafted for Korea and served there as a mortar man. He has photos he sent back home to my grandma, and it's interesting because as he has gotten older, he talks more about those pictures.

Many thanks to ALL of our vets and current military members for protecting all of us.

 

[bitsy]

Thank you folks, those are very moving tributes.

 

[Emanon]

I remember my Grandpa... they would not let him be in the infantry and that tore him apart. He wanted to fight but they did not let him; he served in China Burma and India during WWII in the motor pool. He was in for another year after the war was over. His 6 brothers also went to war and all of them came back.

A few years after the war he started showing signs which were similar to MS. He lived much of his life in various stages of decay, inside and out.

He NEVER talked of the war and did not even tell his children what he did in the war. He gave me his dog tags hat and battle jacket.

RIP Grandpa

 

[jesserca]

I remember my Uncle. He was Vietnam and although he didn't die in Vietnam he died last year from complications of Agent Orange. He was a great man and one of the biggest supporters of my music. I played Ashokan Farewell and the Star Spangled Banner on my flute at his funeral. I'm glad I did but I don't think I will ever play at a funeral again, it took weeks for me to practice and not remember playing for that purpose.

 

[tom e]

I remember a Private named Benjamin Freeman, who really I didn't know at all. He came to our chow hall (kitchen trailer really) where we were just finishing up serving chow- throwing away left overs etc. He had a really distraught look on his face, and he was really late... All we had left were vegetables. I said sorry and gave him what we had, and he went off the trailer and at some point after that he jumped off the edge of the Haditha electric dam- Our trailer was at the top of the dam, and that's where soldiers would sit and eat chow.
I knew lots of people who died in Iraq, but this kid always comes up first in my mind. I always wondered what the heck was going through his mind and whether we could have talked to him more and helped him.

 

[Hypancistrus]

I remember a Private named Benjamin Freeman, who really I didn't know at all. He came to our chow hall (kitchen trailer really) where we were just finishing up serving chow- throwing away left overs etc. He had a really distraught look on his face, and he was really late... All we had left were vegetables. I said sorry and gave him what we had, and he went off the trailer and at some point after that he jumped off the edge of the Haditha electric dam- Our trailer was at the top of the dam, and that's where soldiers would sit and eat chow.
I knew lots of people who died in Iraq, but this kid always comes up first in my mind. I always wondered what the heck was going through his mind and whether we could have talked to him more and helped him.

That is terrible, to have to live with those unanswered questions. I am so sorry for that, Tom. *hugs*

 

[yellowbellyhippy]

Im not a fan of the military (Im a peace tree hugging hippie) ;-) But I do think of the families that have lost loved ones. <3