I was having an OK day, not great but OK, until I saw this. These guys saved civilization as we know it.
I had a few personal WWII acquaintances along the way:
Frank, Iwo Jima (He saw the first and real flag). My dad and mom and Frank and his wife were friends and of course I being a history nut was interested in his stories. He wouldn't talk about it much. Except that he said he wouldn't have lived if ?"wasn't for the Indian."
Dick. He was at Normandy. He would never ever talk about it.
My favorite was the Indian. Sorry, Native American. Sgt. Allen June was one of the original 29 Code Talkers. He lived only a few miles from us and somehow I got invited to his house warming. It turned out it was a Navajo "Blessing Way" ceremony. We almost left due to the family and I was told that we were specifically invited because of the story I told him about Frank. He was not at Iwo Jima but one of his friends was and was probably the reference. It was a moment I will never ever forget and always treasure. Here is a photo from the house warming:
My daughter and I are in the background. In the front is his son (a practicing Navajo Shaman, the Sgt, and his wife
If you are interested in a very personal one-on-one history of WWII I would like to recommend you look at the entire web history of Private Art. I heard about this maybe 5 or 6 years ago (probably longer). It's "letters from home" and it will take you a while to go through all of them. It is worth the time. Linky:
http://www.private-art.com/
This was on the national news for quite a while when it first appeared and I'm certain this is what the INternet was invented for.
But while we remember all of the WWII vets passing away at an accelerated rate please also remember that the same applies to those who through various miracles survived the Holocaust. We fought to free them. It was worth it.
