Thanks and memorable regards to all of you who put your lives on the line in the service of keeping our country free and safe from enemies of ill regard. Post a tribute to all who have ministered a hand.
Frank was gritty, ill tempered, gruff and coarse. He was also loving, affectionate and devoted to his family.....and I married his daughter.
I have a legitimate 4-F so I never had the honor of serving. I honor the sacrifices of those men and women who served. Welcome home.
I was one of those kids that needed a job so I ran away at seventeen and joined. But I did make the best of it. Gave it two hitches and loved the cadence and even spent a brief stint on the Army color guard. Momma found my old parade helmet in the storage room a few years back and sent it to me.
Thank you to all who served. My time back then was spent at GE in Schenectady Materials & Processes Lab, Measurements Division working on government contracts.
Happy Veterans Day to all! And for those that served this great country of ours, Thank you for your service!
Green18, and others, thank you for the thread and the great pics. I was in for 31 years and almost loved every minute of it.
Veterans in my family (in the US) go back to the French and Indian War and probably if there was one before that (my war history is weak). Here is my great-great-grandfather and copies of his discharge papers. His brother and father were imprisoned at Andersonville. Uncle Jack served in the Pacific theater. He never talked about it. Supposedly among the first to go into Tokyo following capitulation. Dad served in Germany during the Korean War. His math skills kept him from going to Korea. He was in charge of targeting the M65 atomic cannon. He was proud of the fact that he could hit within a block from 10 miles away. Which, you know, was close enough. One of these guys is dad. Happy Veteran's Day to all who served.
Veterans in my family... My dad, 4th from the left, in July 1940, after the worst military disaster of the country's history. His comrades smile, not him. He re-enlisted as an officer in february 1945, and, in the French occupation sector in Germany, managed the finances to help rebuild the devastated local industries. My grandpa in 1909. He fought in WW1 in the cavalry and in the artillery, was discharged in 1916 because he was now deaf. My other grandpa, in 1916. He volunteered in 1914 at the age of 17 and served four years carrying messages on horseback on the frontlines, and was never wounded... But in 1940, being a civilian refugee, he was bombed by enemy aircraft abnd was severely hurt while his wife, my grandma, was killed. My great-great-great-grandpa. He served in the Grande Armée under Napoleon. This photo was taken c. 1859, he was then in his 70s and, like other old napoleonic veterans, posed in his old uniform.
I can only trace my heritage to the last game of the high school football season (dad was a quarterback. Mom was a cheerleader).....