The Greatest Generation

We recently attended the funeral of a great-uncle who had served in WWII, and were priviledge to meet several of his comrades who had served with him. There were only 4 present at the funeral, and they provided the military honors, including the rifle salute at the graveside. These old fellows still looked sharp in their uniforms, and were still able to handle and fire their rifles, despite all being in their 80's.

I grew up around WW2 vets - my grandmother had 4 brothers who served (all gone now) and it was common to hear them describe their service. Our recently departed uncle had a large part of influencing our two sons currently serving in the military.

These fellows were certainly of a different breed. Though the loss of life in Iraq is a tragedy, the cost in human life has been slight compared to what these men endured. Our Uncle was wounded when the truck he was driving struck a land mine, killing several others. He never received a purple heart for the gash in his arm, him and many other simply brushed it off, got patched up and went back to the fight. His buddy, who was officiating the service, had also been wounded - both shoulders broken. Same situation.

If we are to survive, we must endeavor to get something of the fighting spirit they had. Read their stories, remember their sacrifice, and learn from their example. They were not afraid to identify the enemy even if it insulted some - look at the old posters from the era. The enemy wants to kill us, and isn't afraid to say so.