Posted on 10/24/2004 10:29:19 AM PDT by M0sby
That's a very moving tribute and he must have been a wonderful man.
What a beautiful tribute for a good man. My prayers are with him and your family {{HUGS}}
BTTT!!!!!!!
Sincere condolences on the death of your father. My family would like to extend our thanks for his sacrifice that bought the gift of freedom that we enjoy.
I am sorry that I missed your post. Let me now extend to you my condolences and the thanks of my family for the gift of freedom that we enjoy due to his unselfish service.
M1911A1 can certainly turn a great phrase. Many thanks for the ping to this important thread. Hat's off to the great old soldier and condolences to his family.
God bless,
Veto!
Thank you for sharing.
God bless and keep your father/father-in-law.
=)
This is so beautiful and a great tribute! It was such a wonderful read, it left me wanting to know more...so well written.
You and your family will be in my prayers. I'm sure your Dad/Father-in-Law is smiling down and watching over you.
May his soul rest in peace knowing how truly loved he was. What more to want from life than what he had...God,Country and Family.
I lost my Dad three years ago at the age of eighty-four, as was your father-in-law, M0sby. He, and your father-in-law, and those men with whom E-A-S was privileged this summer to share the experience of a lifetime in Normandy and other significant World War II battlefields of western Europe, were cut from entirely different cloth that those of us who are the children of their generation. And that special fabric from which they were formed is even further removed from our children’s generation.
Those of us who are the children of ‘the greatest generation’ would do well to reflect on your husband’s recollection, ‘I was very conscious of this faults, sometimes without thought for the furnace that forged them.’ Indeed, the men of our fathers’ generation endured a forging the intensity of which we have not experienced, and are really incapable of comprehending.
I attended a Bush rally last week in Hershey. The President was introduced by Maj. Dick Winters (who now calls Hershey his home) – Winters commanded Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from Normandy to Berchtesgaden. His heroism was memorably protrayed in the acclaimed mini-series, ‘Band of Brothers’.
At Hershey, Maj. Winters introduced the President by saying, ‘Mr. President, you are … (at this point he broke down slightly, and had to take a few seconds to compose himself before continuing) … Mr. President, you are surrounded by the Band of Brothers from central Pennsylvania!’ The hearfelt, moving introduction was received with a standing ovation.
I (and both of you) may, in a small way, understand why this charactered man, who has been forged in ways that we can only vaguely, vicariously imagine, broke down momentarily when he referenced his band of brothers. I suspect that two of your comments, E-A-S (‘A more exceptional group of Americans I've never met’ … ‘as these men pass on, I will not merely note the passing of historical figures, I'll be losing a friend’) encapsulates what we as a civilization are losing with the passing of each of these genuine heroes. Men who possessed an inner strength, courage, humility, sense of duty, allegiance to country, and unwavering commitment to defend the divinely-bestowed gift of human freedom that resulted in an eternal legacy – a legacy that they did not seek, and that many of them even feel uncomfortable acknowledging. Their humility, and enduring sense of duty, will not allow it.
God bless them all. They have blessed us beyond our ability comprehend, let alone repay.
~ joanie
I envy you having met him. He is a fine example of where greatness and humility come together.
But then, they all are.
I love you both, dearly.
BTTT!!!!!!
My dad turns 80 this Saturday - he's a vet of N. Africa and Italy.
Everybody, don't forget to remind your children and grandchildren of the great sacrifices these men made for them . . .
This was well posted. This was well written. This was a life well lived.
Condolences to his family and may God rest his soul. It made me think of my father and I shed a tear or two but then a picture popped up in my mind of all those veterans shooting the breeze together in heaven and I had to smile.
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