Thank you. I seem to recall maybe you mentioning the golf, the kitchen and the veteran before.
My Dad profaned golf though he could hit the ball a very long way when pressed. He seemed to be able to do about anything but that is another story. His opinion of golfers was a lot of them cheated or lied about their scores and he did not discriminate.
He also worked for the giverment and had a gang of scores of WWII veterans in his organization. I accompanied him to work from the time I could get around and often went to the field with the various veterans when Dad had to be in the office. There were few war stories. My learnings were more about character borne of inspiration from the stories of the individuals Dad would tell me about his people. A lot of who I am was from being with these men and I believe I should be grateful to them for that alone.
I have wondered today what would have happened if we, the US did not engage in this monumental conflict in Europe the way we did. What if we had left it at North Africa, Sicily, Italy or daylight raids of the Eighth Air Force and mountains of supplies and ships and men that carried them with so many not arriving safely? In all probability, if we kept supplying them, the Russians would have reduced Germany to an even smaller pile of rubble than we and the British had by bombing. What then would have become of Europe? The answer seems obvious and much worse than it actually was anyway. I wonder how many wondered the same thing at that time that I do today?
You are welcome. I am sure among the untold stories are the conversations between Churchill and Roosevelt about the need for the invasion and rapid advance across Europe to have any say in structure of post-war countries.