Greatest Generation

pineywoods · April 23, 2008, 10:50:43 PM

I lost a neighbor yesterday. Veteran of the Normandy landing, battle of the bulge, and Bastagnone, and as good a neighbor as anyone could ask. I don't remember who came up with the name "the greatest generation" but they sure got it right. Not many of them left. He will be laid to rest with military honors.

BTW the family will get a custom case for the coffin flag made from a tree off his farm, cut on my mill, and assembled in my shop. Least I could do.

WDH · April 23, 2008, 11:10:41 PM

That is quite an honor you are bestowing, Pineywoods. I am sorry for your loss. Your gesture will be important in remembering this fine man.

WH_Conley · April 23, 2008, 11:29:50 PM

Not just a loss to the community, but to the nation.

sawguy21 · April 23, 2008, 11:41:50 PM

What a great way to honor the man and his family.

sgtmaconga · April 24, 2008, 01:03:02 AM

Another one walks the beach again....god bless him

Norm · April 24, 2008, 07:45:01 AM

God Bless America and men such as him.

Please let his family know how much we appreciate his service to our country.

thecfarm · April 24, 2008, 07:52:31 AM

That is some nice of you to do that pineywoods.Yes,there are fewer of them.He lived through a lot during the war and the hard times here in the states during that greatest generation.I have not heard that before,but do agree with it.

woodbowl · April 24, 2008, 09:54:05 AM

What an honor to have lived and served in that generation. What an honor to be able to commemorate your neighbor.

zopi · April 24, 2008, 01:57:46 PM

Rest in peace, Brother, your post stands relieved.

"I AM THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;
MY NAME IS "OLD GLORY".
I FLY ATOP THE WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDINGS,
I STAND WATCH IN AMERICA'S HALLS OF JUSTICE,
I FLY MAJESTICALLY OVER GREAT INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING,
I STAND GUARD WITH THE GREATEST MILITARY POWER IN THE WORLD.
LOOK UP! AND SEE ME.

"I STAND FOR PEACE – HONOR - TRUTH AND JUSTICE.
I STAND FOR FREEDOM.
I AM CONFIDENT
I AM ARROGANT
I AM PROUD.

WHEN I AM FLOWN WITH MY FELLOW BANNERS,
MY HEAD IS A LITTLE HIGHER
MY COLORS A LITTLE TRUER
I BOW TO NO ONE!!!

I AM RECOGNIZED ALL OVER THE WORLD,
I AM WORSHIPPED - I AM SALUTED - I AM RESPECTED.
I AM REVERED - I AM LOVED AND I AM FEARED!

I HAVE FOUGHT IN EVERY BATTLE OF EVERY WAR FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS:
GETTYSBURG, SHILO, APPOMATTOX, SAN JUAN HILL, THE TRENCHES OF FRANCE, THE ARGONNE FOREST, ANZIO, ROME, THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY, GUAM,
OKINAWA, TARAWA, KOREA, VIETNAM, THE PERSIAN GULF AND A SCORES OF PLACES LONG FORGOTTEN BY ALL
EXCEPT BY THOSE WHO WERE THERE WITH ME,
I WAS THERE!!

I LED MY SAILORS AND MARINES
I FOLLOWED THEM
I WATCHED OVER THEM
THEY LOVED ME!!

I WAS ON A SMALL HILL ON IWO JIMA,
I WAS DIRTY, BATTLE WORN AND TIRED
BUT MY SAILORS AND MARINES CHEERED ME!
AND I WAS PROUD!!!

I WAS AT GROUND ZERO IN NEW YORK CITY ON SEPTEMBER 11TH AS COWARDLY FANATICS ATTACKED AMERICA.
I WAS RAISED FROM THE ASHES OF ONCE PROUD BUILDINGS BY BRAVE FIREFIGHTERS.
HEROES, WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES TO SAVE OTHERS, SHOWING ALL THAT AMERICA, ALTHOUGH BLOODIED, WILL NEVER BE BEATEN.

THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY ME CANNOT WIN
FOR I AM THE SYMBOL OF FREEDOM,
OF ONE NATION UNDER GOD
INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

I HAVE BEEN SOILED, BURNED, TORN AND TRAMPLED ON THE STREETS OF MY OWN COUNTRY
AND WHEN IT IS BY THOSE WHOM I HAVE SERVED WITH IN BATTLE, IT HURTS.
BUT I SHALL OVERCOME
FOR I AM STRONG!
I HAVE SLIPPED THE SURELY BONDS OF EARTH
AND FROM MY VANTAGE POINT ON THE MOON;
I STAND WATCH OVER THE UNCHARTED NEW FRONTIERS OF SPACE.

I HAVE BEEN A SILENT WITNESS
TO ALL OF AMERICA'S FINEST HOURS,
BUT MY FINEST HOUR COMES
WHEN I AM TORN IN STRIPS,
TO BE USED AS BANDAGES FOR MY WOUNDED COMRADES ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE
WHEN I FLY HALF MAST TO HONOR MY SOLDIERS,
AND WHEN I LIE IN THE TREMBLING ARMS OF A GRIEVING MOTHER,
AT THE GRAVE-SITE OF HER FALLEN SON OR DAUGHTER
I AM PROUD!!!!

MY NAME IS "O L D G L O R Y"
LONG MAY I WAVE DEAR GOD
LONG MAY I WAVE.

pineywoods · April 24, 2008, 10:18:38 PM

Quote from: zopi on April 24, 2008, 01:57:46 PM
Rest in peace, Brother, your post stands relieved

Thanks zopi, that says it all
Funeral sevice today, the U.S.Army sent an honor guard and a real live bugler to play taps.
This man had lived quietly among us, raised a family, and was a good neighbor, never talked about his service to his country..
Now we are finding out what kind of man he really was.
He waded ashore on omaha beach on D-day, fought his way across France and into Germany as part of a tank killer squad. These guys took on tiger tanks with a bazooka and M-1. On christmas day 1944 his outfit found themselves cut off and surrounded by hostile forces during what's known as the battle of the bulge. They were out of food and medical supplies, and low on ammunition, when a message came from the german commander suggesting they might as well surrender. The reply was one word "NUTS".
I'm a vet myself, but after learning what this good neighbor and many more like him have done, I feel rather small,,,,and grateful.

fat olde elf · April 24, 2008, 10:55:24 PM

Good Job pineywoods !! We have lost another hero.....God bless America....

mad dog · April 25, 2008, 09:00:37 AM

We also lost another hero, My Dad passed away on April 17,He was in the Navy. We also had three Navy men at the burial.They passed the flag to my brother who was in the Air Force. Very sad day :( :( but now He is not suffering and is in Heaven beside my Mom

Tom · April 25, 2008, 10:05:10 AM

I would have been honored to have been there to help pass the flag, Mad Dog. He's in Fair winds and following seas now.

Salute!

tcsmpsi · April 25, 2008, 01:33:42 PM

My condolences on your loss, pineywoods. I know that such folks don't often feel comfortable in the 'regular' world, and it is a unique blessing when they find a 'spot'.

I've only got about 3 of that 'greatest generation' left who regularly come by the shop and 'hang out'. Sometimes, if it's rather busy, they'll find a chair and just 'be'. And, as often as not, one of the others will show up who find the spot comfortable.

A while back, one of them remarked to me about seeming to be a 'popular' pallbearer at some funerals. I find that it is often a lonely world for such folks, when it seems as there is little left but idiots running things, and the same following them. Where basic 'right and wrong' has gotten all confused and misaligned.

I am not close with many folks. Almost all seem to be/have been from that generation.

deeker · April 25, 2008, 05:42:28 PM

Pineywoods, and Zopi. Great posts. The picture on my profile is my Marine son while in Iraq. After his tour of combat as a sawgunner he asked my father (soon to be 90 in june) what he did at Normandy. "We liberated the Vatican that day", not a bad answer. I am worried about losing him in the future. He was in the 3rd ID US Army from north africa to berlin. He was wounded 8 different times, hospitilazed 5 times. Lost many friends. And is friends with several Germans he had captured during the war. He has always said, "they were drafted like me".
As for the Greatest generation, might have to do with the "We" instead of the "I". That preceeds most of his comments.
Please attend the funeral, and give 'em a salute from me!

Kevin Davis
Ruff Cutts

ARKANSAWYER · April 25, 2008, 07:27:08 PM

I have been blessed to know several of these. Had a Great Uncle who I sat with in his last days. He told of things he had done in the Great War in the Pacific. I saw a man who could chew 16d nails and spit out a barbed wire fence with a tear in his eyes. A man who was never more then a few hundard miles from the place of his birth, except for them 4 years in the US Army. Hands hardend by 70+ years of farming trempled like an Aspen leaf in a slight breeze. I've often wondered at the Great things done by that Generation how many more things might have been done had not so many been lost. Or was it the tempering of war that brought the fine edge to the steel? There was a PBS special on by Ken Burns about the war and the Generation that fought it. Thank God some one had the good sense to capture it before they were all gone.
May GOD Bless them left in the wake of such a fine man.

pineywoods · February 15, 2009, 10:31:21 PM

Laid another one to rest yesterday. Veteran of the battle for Europe. His son will get a display case for the coffin flag, made in my shop of walnut from my mill. I know of only 2 still living. If you know of any of these heroes, visit them while you still can. We owe them..

ellmoe · February 16, 2009, 08:14:24 AM

Very good of you pineywoods. I had a vietnam Vet come in the other day to make such a box for another WWII vet. He wanted a little bit of cedar. He got it, but his money was no good here.

I lost my Uncle a couple of months ago. He was an orphan and lied about his age to join the merchant marines at 15 years old. His was on the ships in the N. Atlantic taking supplie s to Russia and England in the lend-lease program before we were involved in the war. After the war began in the Pacific, he was "invited" to join the US Navy and served the duration out there. He had four ships sunk under him, and was once reported KIA (killed in action). Instead he had "gone native" with a fellow surviving shipmate, on a small inhabited island. When the Navy found him, I don't think he wanted to go. :D Like most of his generation he didn't talk much about his service, but he did parcipate in the dedication of the WWII memorial in Washington D.C.. They recorded some of his experiences, along with those of other attendees, for posterity there.

Mark

Chuck White · February 16, 2009, 09:52:43 AM

It's like the old saying goes; Old soldiers never die, they just fade away!

In a lot of senses, that saying is very true because they will be in our hearts and minds forever. Some of them, we knew and some of them we just heard about. But, they're all very special.

These things really hit home with me, I put in 20 years in the Air Force and I have two sons, one in the Air Force and the other in the Army, and they are both past 17 years. They plan on retiring in less than 3 years. May 1st will be 20 years since my retirement.

Those folks in the future will have many people from the "Greatest Generation" to celebrate and many of us on this board alone will be the participants.

God Bless all of them.

Ron Scott · February 20, 2009, 07:58:22 PM

Tom Brokaw's book "The Greatest Generation" is worth reading.

sawguy21 · February 20, 2009, 09:13:39 PM

Is he related to our fearless leader? ;)

pigman · February 12, 2010, 02:13:11 PM

Every time I here the term " Greatest Generation" my blood pressure rises several points. In no way am I trying to take anything away from what individuals did during that generation. I think in every generation there are heroes and there are cowards, criminals and lazy bums.. You may wonder why I have this negative feeling about the term "Greatest Generation". As a group, not as individuals, they were the ones in power in government that sent some of my generation off to a conflict and did everything not to support us. The civilians of that generation were in power in most large corporations and did nothing to stop the media from painting all of us as pot smoking baby killers. I know there were atrocities by soldiers in RVN, but I am sure there were no more than in any military conflict including WWll .
I might be in what some call the "Hippie generation", but I am proud of the way my generation has treated the soldiers in the last few military conflicts. A close friend of mine served in RVN when his local NG unit was called up. He stayed in the Guard and was called up again when the first Gulf War was starting. The night before he was to leave for training to be shipped to the Gulf, we had a going away party at his house. He called me aside and with tears streaming down his face, asked how I thought he would be treated when he got home. Here was this person with a beautiful wife of twenty years and a teenage daughter, not only concerned about leaving his family or getting killed, he was also worried about how he was going to treated on his return. I just told him I was not sure, but there was a different generation in power and I was sure we would not let the media attack the soldiers again. I was right, when the local media started headlining the soldiers as criminals instead of just being against the war which was there prerogative, the CEO of one of the largest corporations in town informed the paper that they could write what they wanted, but he could spend his advertising money where he wanted also. Can any of you imagine a movie star going to Osama Bin Laden and being filmed encouraging him to blow up more American soldiers and coming back to the USA and still being able to make movies.
I think every generation has heroes that go way beyond the call of duty and a few of them get metals for their efforts.. Also, there are a lot of heroes that get no recognition because there was no one around to witness there heroics. Most soldiers I have observed just do their duty to the best of their abilities and get the job done.

What I am trying to say here is that there are a lot of great individuals, but I don't think any generation can be call the greatest. Sure, some generations have suffered more than others, but suffering doesn't make a person great, just tuff if they survive.

Radar67 · February 12, 2010, 03:28:52 PM

Amen Bob!

Norm · February 12, 2010, 03:40:15 PM

Thank you Bob, very well said.

SwampDonkey · February 12, 2010, 03:42:01 PM

I am one person that doesn't restrict that "greatness" label to just the military. They certainly aren't excluded as I've had family members as young as 16 years old fighting wars. The merchant marine in the north Atlantic never got sweet all after the big one. As a matter of fact, we never had no draft when called upon to serve. But, I seem to recall a whole lot going on from the history books than wars over the last 300 years. 8)