I'm thumbing thru a 60+ year old scrapbook here. My dads letters home, maps, original orders and clippings. Thought I'd share a little, not that my dad was any different than the rest of the day, indeed they were ALL the GREATEST, as you guys agree.

After the Paris Liberation I read he went on up farther in to France. He wrote of seeing little communities with many graves. They mostly said.........American soldier--Name--Date-- World War # 1---1918.
From there to Belgium, Luxemburg, to Germany, back to Aachen, then to Bastogne. ( a very bad time ), then to Belgium at Battalion Headquarters, just as it was being surrounded by the Germans.
This was a bad time. On December 16th they were in the middle of the German offensive, surrounded, and my dad wrote to my mom from the foxhole :

............I sometimes wonder if I will ever get home. Honey, when the shells start falling and the robot planes come over, you sometimes wonder if it ever pays, and then God brings you thru once again and you are grateful.............

I'm sure a synopsis of every letter, from every foxhole.
There are so many interesting ones here.
The Greatest Generation for sure. Just thought I'd share for those that were interested

Mike ( madness & ) Mayhem

Flanders Field is a graveyard in France near the beaches of Normady
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Thank you Mike for posting this and for what your dad did for our nation. A real hero! Jesse

Jesse Knapp

Mike
Interesting comment your dad made about wondering if he would get home. My dad was from Canada and in 1939 joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Became a fighter and light bomber pilot. Went to England in 42 and flew until the end of the war. He was in Canada on his way to the Pacific when the Bombs were dropped on Japan.

He kept a diary and the first year in England was more about the non war stuff. He was the Squadron boxer and told stories of the ring (and pub) fights. As the war progerssed the diary got darker. Then in early 44 the last enrty. Something to the effect of I don't know why I write, I'll never make it home to read it. 1 in 3 RCAF pilots didn't make it home, but my dad did. There were no set number of missions for them. You just kept flying.

One interesting story. My dad voluntered to fly a light bomber alone at night with 1 piece of cargo. A man with a parachute. They flew almost to the German border where they rose to 7-800 feet opened the bomb bay doors and out the jumper went. Dad went back to England not knowing if the man made it or not. Never knew for sure what the mission was or even the mans last name. I was Army Airborne and made one night jump. I know how my heart was racing and my jump was for the fun of it. Can't imagine the thoughts going thru that mans head as he dropped out the bottom doors and pulled his chute behind enemy lines. A true hero that no one knows about. One of many.

I agree "The Greatest American Generation."

This past weekend, we attended the annual WW2 weekend at the Reading, PA airport which was organized by the Mid Atlantic Air Museum. Reenacters, many aircraft including a B17, B25s, P40s, a P51; all flown during the day, displays, tons of vintage equipment and many veterans. Several memebers of the "Band of Brothers", a decorated German pilot and the American who shot him down (best of friends now) and many others speaking of their experiances. A very emotional day and an opportunity to talk to and thank these guys in person. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in this.

Cole

Mike and Stewart:

Yes, they were the greatest generation because they knew what
hard times were and we had the leaders, generals,etc. that
had the guts to fight a war like wars have to be fought if you
are going to win. It's too bad we don't have any leaders left
that have the guts to do what is necessary to win wars instead
of whats happened in the last 3 wars. Polotics don't win war
fighting with all you have wins wars.
My two cents worth.


SEB

Mike,

Thank your Dad for his service. I try to remind my students what was at stake during WWII by telling them that if we'd lost that war, I'd never be able to criticize people in government the way I'm able to under our system. I also have friends who have no aunts or uncles or cousins because they were exterminated by the ****s. We can all argue about whether we should have fought in Vietnam or invaded Iraq, but there can never be any doubt that we owe our freedom to those who sacrificed so much to preserve our way of life during WWII. And that is way that the men and women of Mike's dad's generation is entitled to be called the Greatest Generation.

Mike and David....perhaps we Americans have had it TOO soft. I mean look at the sacrifices All Americans made in WW2. Because "we " sacrificed ...we haven't had to since then....Point is if we truly had gotten behind a war effort like we did in the 1940's...Viet Nam would have been won about 1971. You remember tjhe "mother of all battles"...The Republican Guard .. Give me a break..THIS Iraqi War and The Afghanistan tjhing would both be over by now.I am not saying we should have ,I'm saying we could have....And without Nukes.But as a nation we have taken a lot for granted. It amazes me how we know that the Persians, Greeks, Romans,Swedes, Brits etc all became complacent and lost their respective Empires, and yet ,here we go...

I don't renmember how to spell Complacent. But I'm old , so if it is wrong forgive me. P.S. I served during the Viet Nam War. I was stationed in Heidelberg Germany...And not one Viet Cong got past the Neckar River.

Where the Neckar and the Salm rivers met - I was stationed there. Dad was a high speed morse code operator stationed in Burma, China in WW 2. Lost over 60% of his hearing because of it. We did our part. Damn proud of it.

"The future isn't what it used to be."