I've found where the heroes have gone

[wroughtn_harv]

I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

We sat across from a frail old man in a very warm to hot house last evening. He was wearing shorts and slippers. It was hard to communicate because his hearing is almost totally gone. A neat as a pin house in a neat as a pin neighborhood in Ardmore OK. We wanted to confirm he would meet us at Ft Sill Labor Day.

Saturday my wife's stepdad died. Eighty one and it was the way it should be. All of his kids and some of the grandkids there along with the hospice nurse. The nurse had told us that when everyone was there he would probably go. It seems that's the way it works sometimes and this was a one time sometime.

We now know there will be at least two fewer there at Ft Sill Labor Day weekend. The annual reunion of the Eighteenth Field Artillery will carry on, just fewer members showing up in person.

They were there DDay of forty four. They went through the battle of the bulge. They know the Holocaust was real because they smelled it long before they found it.

Two years ago I took a video camera and got about six hours of interviews with them for posterity. It was one of the big moments of my life. Man did I get the stories. They are the greatest.

I found out they like us remember the war. And they like us have all the same stories. The cold, the heat, the food, the women or rather the lack thereof, and the black humor.

The biggest difference between us and them is some of them were together from thirty seven until the war ended in forty five. We still have the widows of the members flying in from all around the country. The bond is so strong that it keeps them, the widows and children showing up on occasion.

I remember a bunch of guys from the first tour. And yet I have no names at all from the second, go figure. So I can go to the Nam registers and see the requests for specific guys and understand that. And yet see the requests from the guys who want to know if anyone remembers them and accept that as fact too.

But I know where the heroes will be Labor Day weekend. I'll sit across the table from them and be in just as much awe as my personal hero Bill Moyers is when he talks about them in his shows.

C Battery's commanding officer was a man named Elmer Hale. He likes to be called Bud. The men like to tell about how when he showed up as a shavetail they still had horses to pull their howitzers. They gave him a wild one to ride to sorta initiate him into a their macho real man world.

He rode it. It bucked and rared and kicked and acted like a spoiled five year old at the Dairy Queen. But he rode it out and did it with style.

They all have a story about how they screwed up and how he handled it with the same style and grace as he did that horse.

They love him.

He was the last one I interviewed on the tapes. Two of the guys brought him in. He didn't want to. But he did.

I'd ask a question. He'd look at me like I was a fool. He'd reply with the shortest no or yes or why or what possible.

Then I pointed out to him that some of the guys had stayed in after the war and had great careers in the military. He was a decorated Captain and I was curious why he got out.

He teared up. I teared up. The three heroes sitting standing behind him teared up as he explained. It was all about the men. If he could have kept the unit together with all the same men he'd have stayed in forever.

He knew it would never be the same without them for him. He decided he didn't want to know what it would be like without them.

Every one of the guys spent over half their interviews telling about how great it was to have Bud for their company commander. And all he can talk about is how it was so great all because of them.

I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere. We might file it under "funny how it works."

 

[pajoube]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

Thanks Harv,
There is a strong message there for all of us.
PJ

 

[cowboydoc]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

I'll agree with you Harv. My grandfather is 87 and is one of those WWII heroes. He's also been my hero for 37 years. Those kind of men built this country into what it is today. They didn't know any better than to work hard their whole life and build this country for us. I sure wish there were more of their kind alive today.

 

[gerard]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

Nice post harv - I think it's important to remember the past and think too many people forget to honor the people who have sacrificed so much so that we can sit back and enjoy the life we have in this country. I've always found it sad and ironic that the people who always protest wars have the ability to do that BECAUSE we've gone to war and won in the past.

"Sometimes the tree of liberty needs to be watered with the blood of patriots" Thomas Jefferson

 

[Chuck52]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

Gerard,

<font color=blue>I've always found it sad and ironic that the people who always protest wars have the ability to do that BECAUSE we've gone to war and won in the past. </font color=blue>

It's also good to remember that not all wars are created equal, and that protesting against a war can be a patriotic act. I note that you say "always protest", so perhaps we agree on this anyway.

Chuck

 

[cstocks]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

My uncle is a WWII veteran. I have often thought about taping some of his stories but never have. He is my hero and always has been even I never got to hear of his war experiences until the last few years. He never wanted to talk about the war and all my life my mother told me never to bring up WWII to him or ask him any questions about what he did during the war. She said it would be too painful to talk about.

Early in the war he flew a B-24 Liberator on submarine patrols off the east coast of the U.S. His plane was credited for sinking the first German sub near the U.S. Atlantic coastline. His plane and crew were featured on the cover of Life magazine once or twice during the war. My grandmother showed me one of the magazines when I was a kid and I was awestruck because I had no idea what my uncle had done anything during the war that would get his picture on the cover of a national magazine.

Later he flew bombing missions over north Africa and Germany, again in a B-24 Liberator, and was shot down twice. Both times he was fortunate enough not to get caught by the enemy. The first time he was shot down he parachuted into enemy occupied France but was picked up by the locals and hidden in a haystack that had been hollowed out just for the purpose of hiding people. The French underground dressed him up in French garb and he rode a bicycle right past German soldiers through the local towns and villages and was put on a train and transported to Spain. He posed as a mute and traveled with an elder French woman who did all the talking and helped him get out of the country. Once in Spain he had to declare himself to be a deserter in order to get shipped back to England. If he had declared himself to be what he was, an escaping soldier, Spain would have shipped him back to the Germans.

My uncle wanted to participate in the D Day invasion but the military command would not let him go because his brother had been killed in the war and he was the only surviving son. So he had to sit that one out.

After the war he had a nervous breakdown and I suppose that is why he refused to talk about it for over 50 years. Then about five years ago he opened up and started telling story after story of his experiences in the war. I guess he decided it was time to get the demons out. My mother told me that all those years he had nightmares about the war. Once he opened up about it the nightmares went away.

Not all were bad memories for him. He has told me about the girl in England that he wished he had married (he remained a bachelor all his life.) Just last year he told me some stories about encounters with celebrities that left my jaw hanging. When he was in flight training school in Fla. there was a shortage of rooms. Clark Gable was his room mate for two weeks until they could get a private room for the movie star. Later when he was stationed in Newfoundland doing submarine patrol, he crossed paths with Gable again. I asked him if Gable remembered him and he said he did.

Earlier in his training my uncle was sent to San Diego to the factory where the B-24s were being built. He spent six weeks there learning the ins and outs of how the plane was built and operated. One Sunday he was milling around the base and a man stopped and talked to him. The conversation got around the Spruce Goose. The man asked my uncle if he would like to see it. My uncle was given the personal tour of the Spruce Goose by Howard Hughes himself. He was not allowed to go inside the famous airplane but got to look at it and hear about its design and details by Hughes himself.

While he was still in Ca. he and a buddy were hitchhiking down the highway one day in their uniforms. A fellow picked them up and told them how much he appreciated what they were doing for their country and offered to take them back to his place for dinner. He fed them and invited some girls over and they were entertained in grand style in his mansion all evening long. Their host was none other than Adolf Coors.

I am glad that not all of my uncle's memories of the war are bad ones. It is sad that it took so many years to let the past go and move on with his life. He was one of the lucky ones who got to go home after the war and enjoy the fruits of the labors and sacrifices he and many others made to make sure we can all enjoy the freedoms that we have today. For his sacrifices I honor him and salute him. He is my hero.

 

[rocky2]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

We just celebrated my dads 81st last weekend. He’s still active, and now I have to cuss at him to slow it down because the guy still can do the physical work of someone half his age. As time goes on, he relates more stories from his life as a MSGT. in the 1st Armored. I guess after the big show he just assumed it was his job at the time and not a big deal to sit around later telling “war stories”. Or maybe it's because the gutless attack on his country last year is more personal. For whatever reason he started opening up more of his travels thru Algeria, Tunisia and North Africa dealing with field marshal Rommel and the Afrika Korps. Then into Anzio where 100 of “Old Ironsides” tanks were lost in a single day.
To the “old man”, without accolades and fanfare and not sounding like a eulogy, yep…you’re a hero (to me at least). You’re a thread that patched and strengthened some holes in the fabric of our country. The fabric that the farmers who took up muskets in the beginning wove. Never looked for a free meal or a free ride.
Next month I’ll hit the half century mark, and I can only hope that what you’ve taught me over the years will someday put me into your ranks. Thanks dad.

 

[john4nh]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

My great uncle also remained a bachleor his entire life after the war. I can only wander what they must have seen to be changed for so long. He does not talk much about it neither other then to say "those germans were tough Son of a guns" I only wish he still had the mind (91yold) to relay some of the stories. He was wounded patched up and sent back to the front. I for one as a generation X'er am at awe of that generation.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

<font color=blue>I've always found it sad and ironic that the people who always protest wars have the ability to do that BECAUSE we've gone to war and won in the past.</font color=blue>

Evening Gerard,

I'm one of those who protest loudly and often. You see I believe our protests are proof that their efforts and sacrifices were not in vain. I see someone who don't look like me, don't act like me, and are protesting everything I stand for with impunity. I have to smile. I see it's working.

What good is freedom if it's only talked about? What's the value in liberty if you can't excerise it? Isn't it just as important to stand up for something as it is to lay down one's life for it?

I see someone burning a flag and it doesn't hurt me near as much as seeing one hung on a fence bleaching in the weather. Spontaneous patriotism lost just as quickly.

The person burning the flag is honoring all those who've given their life for this great country. They are excerising the liberty that was paid for so dearly. And I guess I should feel the same way about all the instant patriots who put flags on their antennas while registering to vote didn't. I know that's a fabric of liberty also. The liberty to just coast I guess you could call it.

Like I said, I have to respect those who excerise their liberty by demonstrating just how large and wonderful it is. That to me is the biggest complement you can give a veteran of our wars.

Of course that might not be what they're wanting to say. And that might be the best thing of all.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Re: I\'ve found where the heroes have gone

<font color=blue>I have often thought about taping some of his stories but never have.</font color=blue>

Evening Chris,

I believe the video recording is the best thing since peanut butter on bagels.

What I did was set up the camera off to one side focused on where they were going to sit. I wasn't in the picture, didn't want to risk the camera.

I found out that after a couple of glances at the camera they soon forgot about it and focused on me. It wasn't long into the conversation and they were completely relaxed and it was just us.

If I had to do it over again I would talk less and try to keep the questions more to the point. But at that time I thought it would be better if it was a conversation.

Another thing that was neat was early on I picked up on the fact that everyone had a story about this one first sergeant who was larger than life. It was a great ice breaker. When the conversation would slow down I'd ask about him and then they'd be off to the races.

I strongly suggest videos of family members just talking and telling stories. I mean we have to remember that we're becoming a video generation and raising one even more so. The story telling is becoming a lost tradition. But one on video has legs and meaning.

It's been my experience that war is told with humor, black humor, but humor. It's sorta like the sugar that makes the medicine go down. So don't expect much blood and guts and drama. That's the place where drunks go when they wanna wallow, sometimes if they've never been there in reality.

For me interacting with the old guys is contradictions in action. I'm the first to innocently slip in "African American" in reply to a statement that included the N word. I absolutely love "the zipper's open and I didn't wear underwear today" look that always comes on the other guy's face.

But when I'm with these old guys they are a racist bunch. My heroes and they are racists and yet I love them as they are. It is conflicting.

gotta go, work calls, later.