Share your memories of a friend or loved one who served our nation in the comments section here.
Memorial Day 2012 open thread
by Greg Reibman | May 26, 2012 | Newton | 22 comments
by Greg Reibman | May 26, 2012 | Newton | 22 comments
Share your memories of a friend or loved one who served our nation in the comments section here.
drivers man be like
Men's Crib November 3, 2023 8:51 am
My dad was a World War II veteran. His service in Germany towards the end of the war was definitely the defining period of his life. He came home wounded with a gunshot wound in his abdomen. He recovered completely but I remember as a child the chill I’d get seeing that wound – it was clearly visible till the day he died many, many years later.
Many and deep thanks to all the men and women who have served our country in the military – but most particularly those that died or were wounded while doing it..
Army private Harold Morton Reibman was injured during the Battle of the Bulge (frost bite) and transferred to serve as a file clerk in Dwight D. Eisenhower’s office someplace in France.
Ben Sklaver was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. Ben had founded the Clear Water Initiave (http://clearwaterinitiative.org/) that works to provide clean water to people in conflict-affected areas of northern Uganda after serving there. In Afghanistan, Ben worked in a civil affairs unit, building and sustaining local leadership and building basic infrastructure such as water points and schools – similar to the work he had done in Uganda. On October 2, 2009, he was killed by a suicide bomber while on foot patrol in the Afghan village of Murcheh, located in Kandahar province in southwestern Afghanistan.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/11/opinion/oe-abraham11
Joe Burke was part of the 14th Engineers during World War I. He participated in almost all the battles that American forces were engaged in from September 1917 to the Armistice more than a year later. He was never wounded by gunfire, but he got a bad dose of mustard gas which affected his breathing in later years.
He never wanted to talk about the War with us, but he did ask me once to shower at night instead of early in the morning. He said that if he was still asleep, he would hear the water and feel the sensation of being back in the trenches with the steady rain, cold, raw weather and hoards of rats running in every direction.
He left the American Legion in the 195o’s because of what he felt was their over the top championing of Douglas Mac Arthur after he was fired by Harry Truman. Dad thought Mac Arthur was a showboat and he never forgave him or Hoover for trashing the Bonus Marchers in 1932. He didn’t think war should be glorified and he always felt that the biggest “chest thumpers” were the ones that never went over there.
Finally, I don’t agree with Tom Mountain on a lot of things,, but several years back he wrote a moving article about the forgotten veterans of World War I.
PFC William M. Brandel served in WWI. PFC William A. Brandel served in Korea.
I honor all veterans for their service. At the same time, I sincerely hope that we’re done.
My cousin, Major Alfred Demailo was a medivac pilot in Hueys and Cobras in Vietnam 1967-8 and 1970-1. He was shot down eight times.
Anyone that has held a weapon for us and reserved a length of time in their lives for us has earned a very high level of respect and gratitude. Thank you, and please reach out any time where you have a need, large or small.
Charles Steele served as mechanic in the UK in WWII and then as a clerk. Part of his responsibility later in the war was to process the information on those returning to their families after making the fullest possible sacrifice. He did not directly see combat, but he did understand war and service to the nation.
He passed away earlier this year.
I share @Bill’s sentiments above.
Community and engagement is something veterans know as instinct, unlike the falseness of those words from some political types and leader-types of small commerce clubs to highlight. Bless those that served with utter fear for death and ask no one to respect their steps.
Greg many thanks for this thread.
My grandfather served in the Pacific in World War II. He enlisted in the Marines because they were the most elite branch. He told me about sitting in the mess hall once and overhearing other officers talking about him, one saying that he was Jewish, and the other one saying “No, Malcolm Fleschner cannot be Jewish, he is too good of an officer.”
He did not receive a physical injury but was honorably discharged with what today we would call PTSD, and his neighbor in the next bed over while he was in the hospital was Kirk Douglas. My grandparents ended up becoming quite friendly with them and my grandmother gave me a photo of Michael Douglas’s mother pregnant with Michael and wearing a borrowed bathing suit from my grandmother.
There can never be enough appreciation for the sacrifice of so many so that our lives can be safer and freer. In the words of John Adams: “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.”
On Boston Common, there is a “flag garden” of over 33,000 American flags — one for every Massachusetts service member killed since the Civil War. It is quite awe-inspiring and worth the short trip downtown.
http://www.massmilitaryheroes.org/
My Uncle James J. Rice died on the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba which sank during convoy duty in the North Atlantic in June of 1943. My brother James J. Rice who was named for my Uncle and he died in Vietnam February 7th 1968 after pulling another wounded marine to safety.
My father Irving “Chicky” Sheff very rarely spoke about the war to the point I have no idea what his rank was. What I did hear, in bits and pieces, is that at one point he was a scout for his regimen. He would go ahead of his rank in the phillipines (or wherever) and make sure that it was safe for everyone else to march. I dont know what he saw or what happened, he wouldnt talk about it, but he did bring home some cool swords and stuff. From what I could gather he was stationed in Japan, Philipines and Florida. What away to see the world.. Thanks to everyone who puts themselves out there to save our freedoms. God Bless You.
Vicki, did your cousin know Hawkeye:)?
My mother’s Godfather William Uanna, always referred to as Uncle Buddy, assigned to the office of the Secretary of War and attached to the 509th composite group to ensure the physical and security operations for the Manhattan project in Tennessee, Los Alamos and Tinian Island. Later sent into Nagasaki for 4 weeks as part of team of scientists, engineers and doctors studying and physical and medical damage from the bombing. A proud Massachusetts native who served his country until his life was cut short on duty for the CIA.
My dad never served in the armed forces, but he did work at the Watertown Arsenal before, during and after World War II.. We should give thanks also to the huge numbers of folks, including lots of women, who worked so hard in supporting the effort back here in the states.
It is with sincere gratitude and appreciation that we take this time to remember those who gave up their freedom so that we may enjoy ours. Thank you, to the families who shared their loved ones. My deepest appreciation and gratitude to the service men and women who came back, who lost friends and soulmates. Know that we are grateful for what was done on our behalf so that we may continue to live in a country governed by the people, for the people and of the people. May we live to be worth your sacrifices.
This holiday, we take a moment to remember those who didn’t come home, to support those who mourn them and to thank those who served with them. We are able to be who we are, to complain our complaints and to laugh with our family and friends because of those who fought for us.
” I tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.” — Private Ryan to Captain Miller’s grave. From “Saving Private Ryan”
My uncle, John C. O’Connor, served in Europe for 4 years during WWII but never spoke about his time in the army. His son and my cousin, John C. O’Connor, spent his career in the military. My brother, a third John C. O’Connor, was in the army in the late 60’s and spent 13 months in Korea.
My father, Myles B. Amend, Jr., was a Vietnam-era captain in the “Fighting 69th” – the 69th Infantry Regiment from N.Y. After graduating from law school and passing the bar, he was transferred to a JAG unit, but he petitioned to be sent back to his infantry unit and eventually was, a potentially risky request for a married man with 3 little kids during the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, he died when I was 6 (not military related) but one of my most vivid memories of him is watching him lead the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City with his regiment. Many other uncles, great-uncles and in-laws also served in World War II and Vietnam – in the Phillipines, in the 10th Mountain Division, and on ships in the Vietnam Gulf – and they and all who served are owed much honor and gratitude.
How could I forget my Aunt Claire who served in the Army Nurse Corps during WWII.
My father and uncle both served with the US Air Force in the early 60s.
My aunt was a US Army nurse who was on a ship that landed at Omaha Beach during WWII. She is now in her early 90’s, living in Grand Junction, CO
My father Edmund Yates and my uncle Jack Wittock served stateside during World War II because they had each lost an eye in childhood accidents. My father spent much of the war as an aide in a camp serving wounded veterans; he was sort of the Tony Curtis character in the Gregory Peck movie “Captain Newman” M.D. My Uncle Jack from Michigan served at Fort Devens. He met my Aunt Marion while visiting Worcester. My Uncle Paul Richardson was accepted for service despite having recently recovered from a burst Appendix. He joined the Army Air Force, was trained at various locations around the Country as an armorer, and served at various islands in the Pacific, loading bombs onto the B-17’s and B-24’s. His longest placement was at Guam. My Uncle Bill Terry of Upper Falls, who had been a star athlete on the Braceland Playground and after marrying my Aunt Mary raised his family in the family house on Pennsylvania Avenue next to the playground. He served as a military policeman in the Army and eventually joined a combat unit and fought his way across Europe. Given his residence and coaching/playing history at the playground, I hope to have the path to the playground next to the tennis court named in his honor.