Thanky, again, Daddy.
Folks, Pappy Cracker is* a Marine--he be one of the few survivin' Pearl Harbor vets--an' prolly the youngest---he ran away, joined the Marines at 15, survived the attack at Pearl Harbor as a 16 year old.
Please wish him an' all Vets well on this memorial day.
* Pappy read mah post--an' let me know in a jiffy that "wuz a Marine" is inaccurate, "Once a Marine, always a Marine," he wrote.
Yessir!
11 comments:
Thank you, Pappy Cracker, for your service and your amazing courage as a 16 year old!
Thank you Pappy! I hope Auntie can tell us some of your stories of the day. Like how it came to be that you were able to join up at such a young age? Did you fib to those recruiters???? ;)
Recently, an original painting by Greg Burns (who paints with his teeth) came to be in my office ... of the U.S.S. Oklahoma, which was sunk on that day of infamy. The vets that survived worked for many years to get a memorial placed at Pearl Harbor to commemorate those lost on the U.S.S. Oklahoma. At any rate, I've been looking at this beautiful piece for about a month now, and trying to relate the days of a clear-cut good versus evil match-up to today's world and its vague shades of gray. Sigh.
Thanky Caroline!!!
PamOKC, thas' profound. I'se shure like to see a photo of that paintin'.
I can't imagine any of the teens and young adults I know today showing the presence of mind and fortitude of some of those young men and women who fought in WWII. Admittedly, I don't know that many (most of my friends and family do not have children and the ones who do, with the exception of my niece, are all pre-teen), but the ones I have had contact with seem rather soft in so many ways. Polite enough, semi-articulate, but ill-formed and floating. It is indeed a different world. Gosh, that makes me sound like my parents . . .
WOW! Thank you, thank you, thank you Pappy Cracker!
15?
Yikes!
Amazing story Aunty ... thank you for sharing, and reminding us all to never forget the men and women who have served and are still serving.
Wow. 16? Can you imagine? Well, I can't. Thank you to Pappy Cracker and every marine who served this Country.
Pan has a good question.... how did a 16 year old get in to the marines?
All
Daddy paid a barmaid to sign the papers stating he was 17.
An he were already 6' tall.
Reckon the service need bodies an' mebbe
din't check to many enlistees bona fides.
thanky pappy cracka.
he had the honor of serving in a real war with a clear and present danger. wars with rules and protocols. the asymmetry we have now; the vagueness, the undeclaredness, the never ending occupations....its difficult. I really feel for the soldiers.
I would like to add my own thanks to Pappy. He was in a deadly place and still survived.
And not diminish his service to our country, I would like to add thanks to others as well.
To my grandfather who served in WWI.
To my own Dad who was a WWII POW.
To my father-in-law who was wounded in WWII.
To my uncle for his service in Korea.
To my husband for Viet Nam.
And to others of other wars long past and even going on today as we fight terrorists.
Without them all we would not have the freedoms we do.
Thanks Pappy, and Dad, and Mr. Serendipity, everyone else.
You are all heroes.
Serendipity
Thank y'all fer these affirmi' messages. Freedom is dimin' in many place, includin' significant sectors of our own country--if ya' honore freedom honor them that sought to preserve it, then let's defend it in our own communities--strong communities make fer a stronger nation.
16 .. I can't even imagine. And to think that my daddy went in at 17 ... they were mere boys!
We have a pearl harbor vet still singing in our church choir. He is a very dear and sweet man and sings tenor beside my 14 year old ...
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