Veterans Thank You For Your Service

[GotRDid]

Duty-Honor-Country!
It wasn’t always a pleasure, but definitely a Privilege!

 

[D Coots]

My daughter gave me something last week that I never knew existed. My mother kept a diary from 1943 thru 1946. She gave it to her grand daughter. My father wasn't drafted in the early years of the war, which was unusual to say the least. My older sister became ill, and the physicians advise was to move to a dryer climate. Common advise in the 40's. They moved, and my father was drafted within weeks. Turns out he had been working 16 hours a day on the Oak Ridge Tennessee uranium enrichment project. I am almost hesitant to read the entries in her diary from the standpoint of comparing the sacrifices that were made by those amazing people, and looking at the entitlement mentality that is so common today. It really irritates me to see what has happened to the USA. A bow of the head to the Veterans and to those families that also gave their all for our Country.

I have my Grandfather's diary from when he was in France and Italy in 1917 and 18.

 

[jamesdmock]

I have my Grandfather's diary from when he was in France and Italy in 1917 and 18.

Dave, like you, my grandfather, Zennie Barron served in WWI in the trench warfare in France. He passed away in 1975 and I wish I would have talked to him more about his time in that war. His son served on the USS San Francisco in the Pacific theater during WWII.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Dave, like you, my grandfather, Zennie Barron served in WWI in the trench warfare in France. He passed away in 1975 and I wish I would have talked to him more about his time in that war. His son served on the USS San Francisco in the Pacific theater during WWII.

James, my Grandfather on my Dad’s side of the family was also in WW-1 as a soldier in the trenches, with a twist. He was in the German Army.
In 1919 after the war, he and my Grandmother, who was pregnant with my Dad, managed to immigrate to Galveston Texas, coming over in steerage in the bottom of a ship. My Dad was born in the bottom of that ship.
That kinda makes me 2d generation American.

They considered changing the surname to “Smith”, but my Grandfather was killed in a bar fight before my Dad was eight years old and it remained Schmidt.
My Dad was drafted in 1944, was part of the forces in the Philippines training for the invasion of mainland Japan if the War had not ended the way it did.
And of course, I was Drafted into the Army in ‘67.

Another interesting note. My Grandfather on my mother’s side also served in the US Army in the Trenches in WW-1. He had a small pension from being hit with mustard gas, and lived to 88 years old.

So there is a possibility, though slight, that my Paternal Grandfather and my Maternal Grandfather could have faced each other on opposite sides of the battlefield during WW-1.

 

[tmwinds]

November 1966. 59 years ago. Just finished basic training at Ft. Benning, Ga.