Posted on 05/09/2005 8:49:06 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Go out of your way to find someone 75 or older, whether you know him or not, and thank him for making this country, and this world, a better, safer place.
Sunday was the 60th anniversary of World War II's end in Europe. Those who fought the war, whether abroad or at home, deserve not just our thanks, but our understanding of their sacrifices that made the period since the American (half) Century.
It is almost impossible to overstate the enormity of our parents' and grandparents' achievement in stopping Adolf Hitler from forever changing our planet.
Baby boomers who lived through the Cold War and members of the younger generations who now see Islamic terrorism as the primary threat to their existence may wrongly look back at the pre-atomic-bomb era as a safer time.
Yet the relative security and outright prosperity the post-World War II generations enjoyed as their birthright occurred because the United States, Britain and, yes, the Soviet Union — with some help from Canada and Australia — freed Europe from Hitler's grasp.
In the early 1940s, the Continent was firmly in his control. Who knows what might have happened had he been able to remain in power?
Time and technology have eliminated the protection our two great oceans had provided the United States from attack. Had World War II turned out differently, that protection would have been erased sooner.
Who can imagine what Nazi Germany, perhaps in time with its own atomic bomb, would have done?
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
I SALUTE YOU!
Sincerely,
LNewman
In this day of modern conveniences and soft living, it is difficult to imagine what these brave men and women had to contend with. After first overcoming the economic disasters of the Great Depression, they then defeated three of the largest military powers the world had ever known (Okay so Italy wasn't that much of a threat by herself, she still provided the Germans with a lot of basic foot soldiers in North Africa). Probably the most amazing thing about this is that they were able to accomplish this without crippling the American economy. The British economic infrastructure required nearly a decade to recover from the war, but the American economy actually thrived and expanded in the middle of the war.
Huh??? The "Greatest Generation" may have risen to the challenge in World War II, but they collapsed afterwards as they gave birth to and raised the baby boomers (apologies to FReeper bboomers, you are an exception).
It comes to me that our Greatest Generation's contribution was/is so strong that we might imagine never having to face these issues again. I know this to be folly. We must ALWAYS be ever vigilant.
My mother-in-law was buried today in Riverside National Cemetery next to her husband's grave. They were married in 1940, when he was a sergeant in the Army Air Force. They were stationed in base housing on Hickam Field near Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He jumped out of bed when the bombing started around 7:00 am, and ran off to the air field five blocks away. He was in a hanger with 29 other men trying desperately to get American planes ready to take off when a Japanese bomb hit the hanger and 25 of his friends were killed. His wife didn't know if he was dead or alive for three days while she stayed inside and took care of their baby boy. She watched Japanese planes flying down the streets of the base at street light level strafing running servicemen. She was shipped back home (in a memorable trip) afterward, and he stayed on Oahu and was later sent to Guadalcanal and other Pacific war battles.
They were damn good people, and they never complained or whined. They did what they had to do, and that was it.
BELOIT COLLEGE'S
CLASS OF 2005 MINDSET LIST®
1. Most students starting college this fall were born in 1983.
2. Ricky Nelson, Marvin Gaye and Laura Ashley have always been dead.
3. The New Kids on the Block are over the hill.
4. They want to be PHAT but not fat
5. IBM Selectrics are antiques.
6. Thongs no longer come in pairs and slide between the toes.
7. God has never been a "he" in most churches.
8. Hard copy has nothing to do with a TV show; a browser is not someone relaxing in a bookstore; a virus does not make humans sick; and a mouse is not a rodent (and there is no proper plural for it).
9. Moscow has always been opposed to "star wars."
10. Recording TV programs on VCRs became legal the year they were born.
11. The British Royal family has always behaved badly.
12. There has always been Diet Coke.
13. Artificial hearts have always been ticking.
14. The Social Security system has always been on the brink.
15. There have always been warnings about second-hand smoke.
16. They have never experienced a real recession.
17. A hacker is not just a kid who won't stop fooling around.
18. Grenada has always been safe for democracy.
19. They were born the same year as the PC and the Mac.
20. The U.S. Senate has always had a daycare program.
21. One earring on a man indicates that he is probably pretty conservative.
22. CDs have always been labeled for explicit content.
23. Lethal Weapon in one form or another has always been "at the movies."
24. Boeing has not built the 727 since they were born.
25. Sarajevo was a war zone, not an Olympic host.
26. They don't remember Janet Jackson when she was cute and chubby.
27. Drug testing of athletes has always been routine.
28. There has always been a hole in the ozone layer.
29. They have always had access to email.
30. The Colts have always been in Indianapolis.
31. The precise location of the Titanic has always been known.
32. When they were born, Madonna was still a radiant woman holding a beatific child.
33. Jimmy Hoffa has always been officially dead.
34. Tylenol has always been impossible for children or adults to open.
35. Volkswagen beetles have always had engines in the front.
36. They do not know what the Selective Service is, but men routinely register for it on their financial aid forms.
37. Ron Howard and Rob Reiner have always been balding older film directors.
38. Cal Ripken has always been playing baseball.
39. They have probably never used carbon paper and do not know what cc and bcc mean.
40. Lasers have always been marketed as toys.
41. Major newspapers have always been printed in color.
42. Beta is a preview version of software, not a VCR format.
43. They have never known exactly what to call the rock star formerly and presently known as Prince.
44. They are the first generation to prefer tanning indoors.
45. Survivor is a TV show not a rock group.
46. They have heard "just say no" since they were toddlers.
47. Most of them know someone who was born with the help of a test tube.
48. It has paid to "Discover" since they were four.
49. Oprah has always been a national institution.
50. With a life expectancy of 77 years, they can anticipate living until about 2060.
And the Greatest Generation maintains their title!
Thanks so much for a terrific story. Wonderful comments, also. Thank you. Thank you!
Shakespeare said it best: "We shall never see their like again." (but we've got some very similar heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan right now!)
Char :)
Truer words were never spoken.
God Bless.
Exactly! They may have defeated Germany and Japan, but they allowed King FDR to socialize our Nation, and they raised a pack of spoiled-rotten brats that have taken us further down the path of distruction.
Kudoes to them for defeating facism, but shame on them for laying down on the job when they came home.
Every time someone mentions the "Greatest Generation", I keep one eyeball on my wallet.
"Kudoes to them for defeating facism, but shame on them for laying down on the job when they came home."
More importantly shame on them for the changing demograhpics they have left us. Some legacy!
They didn't do a damn thing to arrest the demographics trends. They could have done something back then, but instead preferred to get home a drink their beers.
"Huh??? The "Greatest Generation" may have risen to the challenge in World War II, but they collapsed afterwards as they gave birth to and raised the baby boomers (apologies to FReeper bboomers, you are an exception)."
Agreement bump. Thumbs up for not letting us be conquered by fascists. Thumbs down for instead letting us be infiltrated by communists.
Qwinn
You stupid idiot, where do you think the Baby Boom Generation came from? Do you even know what the Baby Boom Generation is? Try Google search and even you might learn something, although it's doubtful.
It's the children and grandchildren of the Greatest Generation that preferred to drink their lattes and not think about having those inconvenient offspring and THEY had less children than their parents and grandparents. It's expensive to raise children, it might even cut down on your vacations.
Where do you keep the other eyeball, inside the wallet?
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