Today is December 7th…….

…..A day that will live in infamy. For all WWII Veterans still living, you have my utmost respect.
Far from being a Vet, I was 8 years old at the time and didn't really grasp what had happened although I knew it was of importance as the folks and my grandparents were glued to the radio most of the day. My dad had served in France, along with his brother, during WW1.
My service time wasn't 'til 1953, a typical 4 year hitch. just at the end of the Korean War. Don't even recall Viet Nam being on the horizon at the time.
 

Far from being a Vet, I was 8 years old at the time and didn't really grasp what had happened although I knew it was of importance as the folks and my grandparents were glued to the radio most of the day. My dad had served in France, along with his brother, during WW1.
My service time wasn't 'til 1953, a typical 4 year hitch. just at the end of the Korean War. Don't even recall Viet Nam being on the horizon at the time.
My Pop served in France also. He lost hearing from all of the bombing and was sent back to the states and reassigned jobs. He lost 70% in the left ear and 40% in the right ear. He was over there for five months. Pop told me that he knew he wasn’t going home. He was sent to Utah to work in the underground arsenal supplies area, mainly munitions, grenades, bombs, etc. He said he sweated his butt off, not to mention, he lost weight, which he could not afford to lose. He was a tall, thin dude, but strong as a horse.

He was OK with Truman dropping the bombs to end the war, but he was sick about all of the civilians that were killed, or walking around with all sorts of injuries and radiation sickness.
 
I lived among WW2 vets for most of my first half century. One of my HS teachers was survivor of the Bataan Death March and several men in my logging camp home were survivors of ships sunk by the Jap Imperial Navy. Men like these went on to make the USA strong and unified until the Vietnam experience started tearing everything apart. when I joined the Navy there were still a few old senior sailors from WW2 hanging around.
 

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