My dad was a gunner in B 24 and B 17s Went over after D Day, barely made it back to base during Market Garden (tossed out everything but their boots), did his missions, went back to Minneapolis and met my mom. Not bad for a boy from the farthest prairie s of MN
My dad was also in Operation Market Garden. But he jumped out of airplanes. If I drank, it would have earned me a few free beers when I was in The Netherlands.
In awe of/by those guys. I can’t imagine living outside for > 400 days in Northern Europe, much less being able to think, move and ‘fight a good fight’. (Salute !)
My Dad enlisted in General George Patton’s 8th Armored Infantry Regiment, his freshman year of college. Crewed a tank during Battle of the Bulge, and drove it off an L.S.T, on to the beaches of Normandy. Endured horrible winter conditions in Belgium and France. Liberated prisoners from a sub-camp of Auschwitz, knocking the fences and walls down with their tank. Wouldn’t talk much about it. Was invited to go back for a reunion on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, and I offered to take he and my Mom. He said “I didn’t want to be there the first time. Why would I go back now?”
Might have known my grandpa, he followed a very similar path. After seeing the movie as a kid, I asked him if Patton really was an SOB. He said yeah, we all hated him but respected him just the same.
It's because of MEN like him that I get a weird feeling inside when people tell me, "Thank you for your service." I fixed submarines & made an aircraft carrier go putt-putt across the ocean, and spent a whole lot of time drunk off my ass, met a whole lot of awesome people that I'm friends with to this day, and got to play with some of the baddest toys on the planet. Never was I in any mortal danger from anyone but myself. I feel somehow that I'm stealing the honor that these men earned.
