Replies

I have spent a lot of time in the area where your MIL grew up. The people there are extra special, and most very patriotic. Both my grandfathers were coal miners, one working in Harlan County, KY, the other in southwest Virginia, during WWII.

Both were recruited from the coal mines to work in a secret government project known as the Manhatten Project. Their contributions changed the world, and their (and their children’s)lives.

I attended the funeral last week of a dear friend/fishing partner who won a Silver Star in the pacific in WWII. It is so sad to lose this great generation, and we need to tell their stories as often as possible.

Yes. You're absolutely right. It is left to us, the living, to tell their stories as often as possible. I am reminded of the words of the character of Pvt. Ryan each time I visit my father's grave site in Arlington National Cemetery: “...I tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that it was enough. I hope that in your eyes, I have “earned” what all of you have done for me.” Indeed, have any of us truly earned what all them did for us? How many of us understand the debt owed to those who gave us life, clothed, fed, and educated us, and fought and died in the hope that we would never have to?

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

The young man pictured at the start of this thread is my Uncle Ralph. I've never found his grave.