Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of heroism and love! People need to know how truly special the people from The Greatest Generation were! God Bless them all, including the people like your mom who were left behind to mourn and to carry on!🇺🇸💜
My mother’s first husband died in Denmark, missing for years, leaving my mother with a 7 month old son. She remarried my father, and I was born. We forget what a common story this is when a country is at war. Lives interrupted by others hatred.
Love this and it reminds me of my late neighbor who told me - in her nineties - about her first husband killed in WWII. They married just before he shipped out. She was your mother’s age. Mrs. T. married a DC lobbyist and had 6 kids.
Thank you for sharing your mother’s story. My dad was in North Africa and Sicily too. Maybe they knew each other, were comrades. Brave young men all. 🇺🇸
That was a lovely story about your mother and her lost love.
My father’s brother Cecil was one year older than him. They were best friends growing up, and best friends in college. My mom was also a good friend in college.
Dad had a year of college to go when we entered Pearl Harbor, but then he went into the corps of engineers. He never saw battle; he came in afterwards and rebuilt bridges, roads, and cities.
Uncle Cecil became a bomber pilot out of England. He was in the group depicted in the movie “Twelve O’Clock High.” He did not make it back.
I learned once that a cousin shared my belief Uncle Cecil was still alive, since he went down over water - he kept the plane aloft long enough for his crew to parachute out. We both believed we’d find him one day. He was so alive in our parents’ memories.
We were lucky that we only were invaded once and were too far away to be bombed. Those who don’t know need to be educated about what the Nazis did to the nations they invaded, and how much their bombing brutalized British and Soviet citizens. There was and is a good reason for NATO.
The peace symbol from the 1960s was derived from the British symbol to ban the bombing of civilians. It seems a propos today with the bombing of Gaza. Our administration, which I otherwise support, needs to come out more strongly, especially in the UN, against what is happening in Gaza. It’s not anti-Israel or pro-Palestine. It is anti-bombing. Yesterday’s news: 300 civilians in a displacement camp killed, along with 2 Hamas leaders. That is not justifiable. It is a tragedy.
That number is now said to be 40 civilians, but it is still wrong. My Uncle Cecil wrote to my mother that he was disturbed when asked to carpet bomb cities in Germany.
That is a very moving account, my father was also there at this time fighting with the British and later moving on up in Italy. He survived the war but could never talk about his experiences. We’ll never know the horrors and sacrifices they witnessed
I loved this remembrance. Too many of us are disconnected and think of this holiday primarily as a day off from work, but with a feeling of gratitude in the dim recesses of our brains. In recent years, however, more and more with a growing awareness of what they sacrificed and how it could all be tossed away bc of the sheer numbers of Americans either with amnesia or who never learned history or civics such that they remember what it is to be an American. maybe you woke 50 more people up today. Thanks, Charlie.
I think this is why it hit me so hard, reading this post. Reading about someone honorable and realizing how many Americans are willing to toss it away out of ignorance and anger and selfishness.
Thank you for sharing this beautifully written, personal essay.
An incredible story of enduring love and sacrifice. Thank you for sharing this and inspiring me today.
Thank you for this moving tribute, it is truly a testament to "time will not dim the glory of their deeds"
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of heroism and love! People need to know how truly special the people from The Greatest Generation were! God Bless them all, including the people like your mom who were left behind to mourn and to carry on!🇺🇸💜
My mother’s first husband died in Denmark, missing for years, leaving my mother with a 7 month old son. She remarried my father, and I was born. We forget what a common story this is when a country is at war. Lives interrupted by others hatred.
Thank you for sharing.
Love this and it reminds me of my late neighbor who told me - in her nineties - about her first husband killed in WWII. They married just before he shipped out. She was your mother’s age. Mrs. T. married a DC lobbyist and had 6 kids.
Very heartwarming story Charlie ❤
Great story Charlie! Miss listening to you on AM 620 in MKE!
Thank you for sharing your mother’s story. My dad was in North Africa and Sicily too. Maybe they knew each other, were comrades. Brave young men all. 🇺🇸
Sent to my son, who is in Italy this Memorial Day. May we never forget their sacrifice.
Thank you for sharing this lovely story!
I would like to share this: Remembering The Men of The Vietnam War https://tinyurl.com/3eff5hyc
That was a lovely story about your mother and her lost love.
My father’s brother Cecil was one year older than him. They were best friends growing up, and best friends in college. My mom was also a good friend in college.
Dad had a year of college to go when we entered Pearl Harbor, but then he went into the corps of engineers. He never saw battle; he came in afterwards and rebuilt bridges, roads, and cities.
Uncle Cecil became a bomber pilot out of England. He was in the group depicted in the movie “Twelve O’Clock High.” He did not make it back.
I learned once that a cousin shared my belief Uncle Cecil was still alive, since he went down over water - he kept the plane aloft long enough for his crew to parachute out. We both believed we’d find him one day. He was so alive in our parents’ memories.
We were lucky that we only were invaded once and were too far away to be bombed. Those who don’t know need to be educated about what the Nazis did to the nations they invaded, and how much their bombing brutalized British and Soviet citizens. There was and is a good reason for NATO.
The peace symbol from the 1960s was derived from the British symbol to ban the bombing of civilians. It seems a propos today with the bombing of Gaza. Our administration, which I otherwise support, needs to come out more strongly, especially in the UN, against what is happening in Gaza. It’s not anti-Israel or pro-Palestine. It is anti-bombing. Yesterday’s news: 300 civilians in a displacement camp killed, along with 2 Hamas leaders. That is not justifiable. It is a tragedy.
☮️
That number is now said to be 40 civilians, but it is still wrong. My Uncle Cecil wrote to my mother that he was disturbed when asked to carpet bomb cities in Germany.
Thank you, Charlie.
That is a very moving account, my father was also there at this time fighting with the British and later moving on up in Italy. He survived the war but could never talk about his experiences. We’ll never know the horrors and sacrifices they witnessed
I loved this remembrance. Too many of us are disconnected and think of this holiday primarily as a day off from work, but with a feeling of gratitude in the dim recesses of our brains. In recent years, however, more and more with a growing awareness of what they sacrificed and how it could all be tossed away bc of the sheer numbers of Americans either with amnesia or who never learned history or civics such that they remember what it is to be an American. maybe you woke 50 more people up today. Thanks, Charlie.
I think this is why it hit me so hard, reading this post. Reading about someone honorable and realizing how many Americans are willing to toss it away out of ignorance and anger and selfishness.