Let us not forget the Greatest Generation
 

I hope all of you so inclined, will stop a few moments and remember our WWII Veterans, being honored today at 2:00pm. I will have my tissues ready....I am so very proud they have their momument finally. Judy

Amen, Judyrem.. My brother served in the South Pacific and I am a charter member of WWII Memorial..Thanks for the message!!....Helen

I share in your salute of all the sodleirs who helped to liberate Europe at the end of the war;

without meaning to be flippant, the title to the post reminded of the story about Cunard, intending to call their new liner after Queen Victoria approaching King George V and asking if they might call their ship after the "greatest Queen"; and being told "you'd better ask her"- which is how she came to be called the Queen Mary

Thye were all great generations and they all had great heroes.

Amen:My father was a prisoner of war for 2 years Stalag 17b.He was 8th air force top turret gunner b-17 shot down on 21st mission.He flew out of Horham England.He is now resting in Arlington national cemetery.My stepfather landed in Normandy.

Sheila: just using the phrase made famous by news anchor Tom Brokaw, who wrote a book called "The Greatest Generation". My dad had 3 purple hearts and three Bronzed Stars and was on Omaha Beach. I think he was one the best men of the greatest generation IMHO. Judy

ttt

Its about time. **==

As a side note, My Dad who is a WWII vet thought that the televised ceremony would be on at 2:00. CNN and CSPAN said 2:00 and Dad missed the first hour when he started watching at 2:00. When will these networks learn that there are at least three other time zones in the US? How difficult would it be to announce the time as "2:00 only in eastern standard time"? Or "2:00 eastern, 1:00 central,......"

Oh how I wish the news media would get their minds and bodies out of the east coast.

One of the regulars on the bonjourparis.com site, BPAl, was in the Normandy landing.

On this Memorial Day weekend, I would like to pass on my heart-felt gratitude and thanks to ALL veterans who have served in foreign wars, particularly the WWII vets...yes, the Greatest Generation.

My father served his time in Burma, and my father-in-law spent 6 months in a POW camp, Stalag Luft 1 in Barth-Vogelsang, after being shot down over the Czech/Austrian border (ironically, he was on his way to bomb Regensburg).

I'm only sorry that neither father lived to see the WWII monument in D.C. Peace.

Robyn

I too remember. My uncle, 8th U.S. Army Airforce, 785th Bomber, Mission #90 - Amiens France, July 28, 1944...his last day. He is buried in Cambridge England. An American hero.

Like others (but without some details) father-in-law in the Pacific front, uncle-in-law at the Battle of the Bulge. Both came home but have since passed on. Dear friend also on the Pacific Front and still with us. We fly our flag proudly today for them and the the thousands of others.

I had two uncles who were in the Normandy landing. Go to France and visit the cemetary at Omaha, and the village of Ordour-sur-glane that is left in its tragically bombed state'as a reminder of how hell war is-
Heart-breaking!

My father was a fighter pilot in WWII. I wish he had lived to see this day.

I never met my husband's late father, who flew a Flying Fortress (is that an F-17?) during the war. He was of German descent--his father had just come to the U.S. in the 1920s--and had to give serious thought to the fact that he might be bombing his own relatives.

From his experiences there he taught his children that there's no such thing as a good war. I suspect he's very proud of his pacifist son. I know I am.

I would be too, elle.

Excuse the typo above...obviously should read "remembering."

I dare say that many a soldier who "stormed the beaches" felt more like cowards than heroes at that very moment.
Pacifists become heroes and heroes become pacifists at moments such as those being related in this thread. I would not be so quick to exclude the one when we remember those who were called on to fight.
Might I suggest a useful definition of a coward as being one who desires to avoid real service..such as service with bullets whizzing by, in favor of serivce as a "fighter pilot" over the troubled skies of Alabama in the late'60s....

Judyrem, my apologies for not knowing the reference.

I hadn't realised it was your Memorial Day.

Everything here is geared to the 6th June and the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The BBC is doing stuff every day on all channels and on radio as well as TV. there are huge services and remebrances planned for next weekend, with a great theme of reconciliation.

To address the sour note:- pacifists may or may not be right, but they're rarely cowards.

Could we stop this please. The people who died for their country and beliefs, don't need this sort of horrible point scoring being brought into it

The "PEOPLE" you refer to who are buried above OMAHA BEACH would be disgusted by the betrayal of the French govt.,the real reason they betrayed us is to conceal their crimes ie: they were in Saddams pocket.The reason For the UN betrayal is the same,Kofi Annan & friends should be in jail.

I believe that it takes much more courage to be a Pacifist than some would think.
I would like to add my step-grandfather (the only one I had) to this list of fine people.
He was in the Army in the South Pacific and in the Marines in the Korean War. When he was not fighting a war or teaching young Marines how to hold a rifle, he was planting amazing gardens and cooking..he went on to become a very successful chef.

With my dad gone only one and a half years, these days when we remember those who sacrificed for us are particularly poignant. Last night I went through some of Daddy's things - letters, photographs, essays and appreciate once again the incredible man and his long service to our country. He had an amazing band of compatriots on his military journey. I salute them all.

My uncle was a pacifist who served as a medic during WWII. Somehow I never realized he was a coward.

I must say that I don't like to us the term greatest generation, as I think it ignores the prior generations that also served with distinction. I think the WWII generation stands out today because the generations that followed it have been very different; we no longer feel much of an obligation to serve our country, and somehow haven't learned the strengths of the people in that generation.

I'm glad they have their memorial now. I hadn't realized until recently that there wasn't one, as I had believed the Iwo Jima flag raising figure was the WWII memorial.

cb: the difference is that while your uncle may have been a pacifist he still did his duty with honor.

War is never noble.

What does noble have to do with it?Tyrants must be put down for the good of the people who can't defend themselves.You make it seem as if man is inherently good and wars are started for fun.I bet if a gang was terrorizing your neighborhood even you pacifists would be screaming for someone to come to your rescue guns blazing.

Anonymous, I know this is beyond the point of the post but I am sure my father was not the only person who missed the correct time. If the memorial had been built in lets say Omaha with the dedication starting at 1:00, the media (CNN and C-SPAN) would still have announced it as starting at 2:00. Case in point. Back when that religious group set fire to their complex in Waco TX at exactly 12 noon the media announced that it started at 1:00. And they accounced it while reporting live in Waco! The east coast based media is just a bit self-centric.

"Pacifists will find all kinds of justifications to convince themselves they aren't cowards." My father was a pacifist all his life. That doesn't make a coward out of him. He fought an overwhelming enemy: Stalin's Red Army (10 Russians against 1 Finn), and full five years in the front line.

After the war he became even more pacifist than before, and joined a pacifist organization and became an active member.

"There never was a good war or a bad peace"

Benjamin Franklin - Sept. 11, 1783

Peace, Robyn

When I think of the "Greatest Generation," it's true that those who fought in WWII come first to mind, but I quickly remember that it applies to my parents, Martin and Edith, both now long gone, neither of whom served on foreign soil nor risked their lives in battle, but who also epitomized what was great about that generation.

They were the people who passed the GI Bill, which is, to my way of thinking, responsible for so much of our way of living today, with so many of us able to own our own homes, so many of us who believe that education is within our reach and can change the world.

My parents were part of the generation that supported the Marshall plan. Try to imagine how much less safe the world would be today had they opposed it?

My parents truly understood and lived the words of the poet John Donne:

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

Being a Canadian, it took me a minute to figure out what you meant by "today". I am focussed on June 6th and the 60th anniversary of the D day invasion.
My husband and two teenagers and I are planning a trip to Europe in August and will visit Normandy and the new Juno Beach Centre just built, and to pay homage at my Uncle's Grave who is buried in the Canadian/Commonwealth War Cemetery in Calais. He landed with the Queen's Own Rifles and survived till Sept. 1944 when he was injured and died of his wounds. He was my Dads youngest brother and was 24 years old. My dad was injured and lost a limb in Ortona, Italy however survived till he was 80 although no one from my family has been to visit my uncles grave. My father in law was in the RCAF and flew missions in Burma. I am remembering them all today and every day and the world they left for us.

I'm with Ben franklin.

While we all honor the things that fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and brothers have done, let us not forget the ladies!!! The women in the French Resistance who faced peril every day, the brave women pilots in the UK who delivered fighter planes in all kinds of weather and even under enemy fire, and the thousands of other women who served in vital ways. My mother worked in military hospitals, dealing with patients who suffered from severe psychological trauma. She wasn't on the front lines, but coping with violent, stressed out patients was no picnic either...more than one soldier tried to cause her bodily harm, hurling tables at her, etc.

Actually, one of the folks @ the flag raising on Iwo was a USN Medic serving with the US Marines - those guys, some pacifists, were REALLY brave!
M
fmr LCDR,MC,USNR
(dad was a CAPT USAAC in War II)

My grandfather met my Italian grandmother during the war. They married in 1946 and moved to the Boston to raise 9 children, one of whom is my mom.

Too bad Grandpa (sergeant, US Army) is not here to see the Memorial finally come into fruition. My grandma is, and I know she was watching with pride. Somehow I think he was there in spirit, watching along with her in his favorite chair!

Btilke; I am so glad you brought up the women involved in the War. My one Aunt was a WAC nurse and my other Aunt was a WAC driver in the UK. Yes, all those wonderful people including farmers and women factory workers and the valiant people all united on the "homefront" were all part and parcel of the greatest generation. My husband and I have disagreements about whether they were the greatest, I say yes, and he says not really IHHO.

And don't forget the women on the homefront, like "Rosie,the Rivertor."
The women who took over all the male jobs and had to shorn their locks.

SCARLETT:From the safety of my home I can tell you that in 1974 I was prepared to enter the draft and if called do my duty in Vietnam,I was a senior in high school.The war and draft ended so I was not called.I can assure you I would have done my duty,IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY!!!

... the members of the greatest generation under arms deserved a great memorial. I salute all who served.

... is it now time for a memorial for citizens who selected CO status, to remind us of the rights we have to voice our opinions and bare our conscience.

<i>The war and draft ended so I was not called</i>

Ever think of enlisting?

Enlisting to fight where?PLEASE!