Rememberance Day : One Story...
He volunteered to fight in 1939. As a young Christian, the idea of being involved in combat sat a little lighter on his shoulders when he began to believe the stories about what the Facists in Japan and Germany wanted to do to those deemed unfit and unworthy to live: Jews, Chinese, Parapalegics, the mentally ill, and any and all who stood up to the oppression that was sweeping across much of Europe and Asia like wildfire. The world was literally going to Hell for a generation of young people who knew there was no other way to respond. He was sent to Burma and India for four years of combat. this was not Vietnam. There was no chopper to carry you back to base. The enemy was more numerous and better equipped. He once said " we canoed into the jungle and two years later we canoed out. " He caught dysentry, malaria, and a host of other parasites.
He said that everything in the jungle wanted to crawl up your backside and turn you into a meal... Today, we eat, we entertain, we live, and we love amidst a democracy that we hardly even notice. But we are all condemned to the worst kind of selfishness and ignorance if we can't give that generation one day or even one minute of one day every year to thank them for forfeiting their youth so that we could prosper, love, and worship freely . What happened to the young man ?
My father died at the age of 65 when I was 28 of complications from that war. He never knew my children or those of my younger brother, but when I look at those children , I whisper a prayer of thanks for that young man who volunteered to forfeit his youth for ours in 1939.
He volunteered to fight in 1939. As a young Christian, the idea of being involved in combat sat a little lighter on his shoulders when he began to believe the stories about what the Facists in Japan and Germany wanted to do to those deemed unfit and unworthy to live: Jews, Chinese, Parapalegics, the mentally ill, and any and all who stood up to the oppression that was sweeping across much of Europe and Asia like wildfire. The world was literally going to Hell for a generation of young people who knew there was no other way to respond. He was sent to Burma and India for four years of combat. this was not Vietnam. There was no chopper to carry you back to base. The enemy was more numerous and better equipped. He once said " we canoed into the jungle and two years later we canoed out. " He caught dysentry, malaria, and a host of other parasites.
He said that everything in the jungle wanted to crawl up your backside and turn you into a meal... Today, we eat, we entertain, we live, and we love amidst a democracy that we hardly even notice. But we are all condemned to the worst kind of selfishness and ignorance if we can't give that generation one day or even one minute of one day every year to thank them for forfeiting their youth so that we could prosper, love, and worship freely . What happened to the young man ?
My father died at the age of 65 when I was 28 of complications from that war. He never knew my children or those of my younger brother, but when I look at those children , I whisper a prayer of thanks for that young man who volunteered to forfeit his youth for ours in 1939.
posted by mark at 6:15 PM
3 Comments:
i remember the day mark. i was at college and heard the news. someone teased me by saying, 'you look like your best friend just died.'
i loved your dad. he was an amazing man. you are very lucky.
I wish I could thank personally all those who died or put their lives on hold for not only myself, but for my family past, present and future. Words alone cannot express my gratitude. I salute them one and all.
edna
Wonderful. Well done.
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