Last surviving veterans

Timely post. I've been walking around Disney with the family, thinking "Boy, these Vietnam vets sure are looking like WWII vets lately."

 

Dad was invited, with a large group of other vets, to travel to Washington and visit the memorials last October.

They traveled with personal escorts that pushed many of their wheelchairs.
About half of the vets were Korean War vets (the forgotten War).

I've heard bits and pieces of his war years as I grew up but didn't hear a complete story until one weekend where he was hospitalized after breaking a hip. It seemed the narcotics loosened his tongue.

Since then he has shared much more.

Recently I got the chance to transcribe letter he wrote to his family during his two years abroad. He said that he left out the bad parts.

Within fifteen years we will be seeing the last of these vets.

Rob

 

The Korean War Memorial in DC has always been the most powerful, in my own opinion.

I had one uncle who fought there. He said by the time he landed, there was barely a tree or building standing anywhere.

 

The Honor Flight Network is a good organization.

https://www.honorflight.org/

The regional chapter near us does a good work.

 

My Dad is 92 and fought in the Pacific WW2. He had PTSD real bad (didn't have a name for it then) when us boys were growing up, yet as far as I know he never stepped foot in a VA hospital. He's deaf in one ear from a cannon blast and had nightmares and would wake us all yelling at the slant eyed SOBs in his sleep. Its hard to know what caused his quick temper though because he grew up meaner than a junk yard dog in a bootlegging clan in deppression era Appalachia. Fighting the Japs was icing on the cake, I guess.

He's mellowed out a whoooole lot since then. His mind is still sharp and he's actually pretty interesting to talk to now.

 

I remember taking "MEALS-ON-WHEELS" to a vet that fought on Guadalcanal & every once in a while he would open up about some of his experiences. The one I vividly remember was him discussing a vicious battle as the Japs were raining down mortars and him seeing heads w/no body rolling past, or an arm/leg bouncing past.
I can see why most do not want to talk about such, as if I were in that situation I'd probably clam up too!!