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~Tribute to M1911A1's Father-WWII Veteran~
Freeper M1911A1
| October 24, 2004
| M0sby
Posted on 10/24/2004 10:29:19 AM PDT by M0sby
Please see below:
Thiswas writen by my husband, FReeper M1911A1, about his father Jack, who passed away this morning.
He was 84 years old.
We have come to refer to the survivors of the Great Depression and WWII as the Greatest Generation. This phrase honors those, who like my father, were participants in some of the most difficult and pivotal moments in American history. Yet, as all labels do, it masks extraordinary individual stories in a generalization.
My dads story is the sort that captures a boys imagination. As a young boy himself, he confessed to mischief that I could never hope to match, including filling a mean old neighbors basement with water via a garden hose inserted secretly through a window, and launching ball bearings with a giant slingshot through the walls of his house. As a young man, he went to Alaska, the last frontier, and explored wild lands. He told me of hunting big game with Sam the Indian guide and a Winchester 94 while he scouted and surveyed for the Army constructing the AlCan highway. I remember a picture he kept in his closet, not on display, of a rough young man wearing a cowboy hat, buckskins and brandishing six-guns. There is a self conscience but proud look on that bearded face, as he lived the life of the frontier legends of his own youth, Tom Mix in the flesh.
And then came the Last Good War, and even though he was deferred due to his Alaska job and deterred by his mothers concern over the awful casualty lists, he volunteered to be drafted, so he could justly say to his mother that he hadnt enlisted.
He fought with the 28th Division as an infantryman, and only another infantryman can understand the grim realities of that humble position in a World War. As a child, this idea of my father as warrior held high romance, and only later did I begin to realize the enormous suffering and perseverance that this entailed. He became a survivor of some of the most merciless bloodlettings since the Civil War. Names like the Hurtgen Forest and the Bulge, soon to become the sole possession of historians as time swallows living memory, were reality for my father. It is true that he was part of the great Crusade in Europe, where brave men with rifles smashed the evil of Nazi terror, yet it is equally true that he was a small, shivering, filthy refugee from wars terrible law of averages. The constant misery and horror of death avoided and dealt temporarily took his reason from him after the slaughter of the Hurtgenwald, but he soldiered on and helped save Bastogne. He was a Prisoner of War, and the events that people my age viewed through the comic prism of Hogans Heroes he knew as harsh times of hunger, anguish, despair and determination to live.
He then came home, put the war away, got a career, got married and had six boys. This, as they say, is where I come in. My father was, to me, first and foremost my father, not the boy, adventurer, soldier, husband and businessman that others knew him as. I remember a man who taught me how to conk a trout on the head with a jackknife and to love reading, who whistled the same tune over and over, harassed my mother over the relative weight of the flatware, danced with her when we kids dug out those quaint old 78s, shoved all those sons in a Galaxy 500 and drove what seemed like forever to go see my cousins, showed me the right way to play poker, went to see me play football, corrected me, reluctantly tolerated my errors, and always forgave them. I was very conscience of his faults, sometime without thought for the furnace that forged them, especially as my own manhood approached. I often masked my affection for him, as men do, with sarcasm and humor. My own son knows him as Grumpy Grandpa, and we boys were quick to joke about the irascible old man and some of his politically incorrect ways. Yet, for us and for his times, he and his kind were truly indispensable.
At a lifes end, our humanity demands that we who remain try to measure it and the yardstick we must use is our own experience. My father helped explore the last American frontier; I explored the woods next to our house. My father saw more of real soldiering in less than two years than I have seen in more than two decades. He raised five boys; I struggle mightily with just two. He did this not as a part of some fable from a Greatest Generation, but as an individual man, with all the shortcomings and virtues therein, and that is what made him remarkable in my eyes.
My fathers story is the sort that captures a boys imagination, and as a time has brought me experience, if not wisdom, it has captured my respect and admiration. If my own sons can know a little of him through me, I will be glad for it, and I truly believe that they will be better for it. I cannot offer him more heartfelt praise than that.
Thanks dad
TOPICS: Announcements; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: alcan; banglist; father; m1911a1; veteran; wwii
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Thank you for reading about my Father - In - Law. He was a great man. I will miss him.
1
posted on
10/24/2004 10:29:20 AM PDT
by
M0sby
To: Texas Termite; Brad's Gramma; 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub; Kathy in Alaska; TexasCowboy; Yaelle; ...
Please see this post about my Father -In - Law, Jack, who passed away this morning.
2
posted on
10/24/2004 10:33:54 AM PDT
by
M0sby
((PROUD WIFE of MSgt Edwards USMC))
To: M0sby
This has brought tears to my eyes...God rest his soul and thank you for honoring him.
3
posted on
10/24/2004 10:36:37 AM PDT
by
Two Dawgs
To: M0sby
A story about honor and integrity. Love of one's country and love of one's family.
Nothing could be more deserving of our respect. Thank you for posting this heartwarming tribute.
4
posted on
10/24/2004 10:39:43 AM PDT
by
OldFriend
(It's the soldier, not the reporter who has given US freedom of the press)
To: M0sby
Through tears may I say that your father was a great man, the type of bravery that holds the fabric of America together.
Our present generation,in a larger sense, may never know the truth about the past. WWll was an important lesson to learn. Yet it seems to have been washed out by the schools and the media, in much the same way, 9-11 was.
I too lost my father this year, a WWll vet who survived Okinawa,the last battle of WWll. I too wrote his amazing story here (and surprisingly only got three responses).
May your father rest in peace and may WWll not be forgotten.
Thank You for sharing this and allowing me the priveledge to greive alongside you.
5
posted on
10/24/2004 10:44:12 AM PDT
by
Freesofar
(We need W to win ....the WWOT)
To: M0sby
6
posted on
10/24/2004 10:55:42 AM PDT
by
M0sby
((PROUD WIFE of MSgt Edwards USMC))
To: M0sby; M1911A1; 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub; Accountable One; Aeronaut; AKA Elena; Alabama_Wild_Man; ..
Prayer ping. Please post your replies to M0sby; M1911A1

M0sby, M1911A1--My prayers for your family, peace and comfort for all of you. Your dad is at peace... in the arms of our Lord...Praise God.
M0sby, thank you for the ping.
Blessings,
trussell
If you want on/off my prayer ping list, please let me know. All requests happily honored.
7
posted on
10/24/2004 10:59:37 AM PDT
by
trussell
(Unemployed intellectual...will act like a pompous ass for food!!)
To: Freesofar; M0sby
8
posted on
10/24/2004 11:00:11 AM PDT
by
Unknowing
(Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.)
To: M0sby
May God keep him in his tender loving care.
9
posted on
10/24/2004 11:04:45 AM PDT
by
sweetiepiezer
(We have to stop Kerry for our grandkids sake!!!!!!!! GO W)
To: M0sby
What a wonderful tribute.
10
posted on
10/24/2004 11:05:09 AM PDT
by
Bahbah
(Proud member of the pajamahadeen)
To: M0sby; M1911A1
He will be remembered in the intentions at mass through the week.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine; et lux perpetuam luceat eis.
11
posted on
10/24/2004 11:12:34 AM PDT
by
abn11b
(Interdum Feror Cupidine Partium Magnarum Europae Vincendarum)
To: M0sby
Appreciate the reading. Well done.
12
posted on
10/24/2004 11:13:09 AM PDT
by
ex-snook
(Vote for someone who res your views or your views will be ignored.)
To: M1911A1; M0sby
May God Welcome your father Home and Comfort his family and friends.
I am sorry for your loss.
To: M0sby
Well done, and thanks for sharing what would otherwise be a private moment.
14
posted on
10/24/2004 11:19:15 AM PDT
by
international american
(Support our troops!! Send Kerry back to Bedlam,Massachusetts!!)
To: M0sby; M1911A1; xzins; bethelgrad; lightman; Katy Deacon; The Sailor; grace522; kjfine; ...
To: M0sby; M1911A1
May God's peace and love comfort you both.
16
posted on
10/24/2004 11:26:17 AM PDT
by
afnamvet
(Tuy Hoa AB RVN 68-69 Jet Noise...The Sound of Freedom!)
To: M0sby
Nice tribute, it brought tears to my eyes. Tom Mix was my grandmother's cousin, by the way.
17
posted on
10/24/2004 11:28:32 AM PDT
by
Eva
To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
18
posted on
10/24/2004 11:30:53 AM PDT
by
E.G.C.
To: M0sby; M1911A1
A most touching tribute. May God bless your family in this time of loss.
19
posted on
10/24/2004 11:34:04 AM PDT
by
meadsjn
To: M0sby
Please accept my condolences and I thank your father for his service.
20
posted on
10/24/2004 11:36:54 AM PDT
by
SAMWolf
(Vegetables are not food. Vegetables are what food eats)
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