Growing up in the Sixties, with a job in an appliance store, I was in a lot of homes helping with deliveries and service calls. That was just twenty years after the end of World War II, and many of those homes had war souvenirs such as ash trays made from artillery shells. You would also see service photos of soldiers, sailors and Marines. The guy I worked under was middle-aged and he would always ask about those photos, and invariably it was a son that did not come home from the war.
After I was out on my own I saw a lot of veterans in my work. I remember visiting with a World War I vet near Louisa, Kentucky who had a book full of photos and history where he served in France. He would have talked all day if I had been able to stay and listen. I have heard many stories over the years, and that is one of the things I will miss during my retirement years.
The one that sticks with me most, and it always comes back to me on Memorial Day, is from a World War II Navy veteran. He saw Kamikaze attacks, and the ship he was on came alongside a ship that had been hit, and damaged badly. As they came next to the damaged ship he was directly across from a gun mount that was on fire. A blonde kid was in the mount, heaving ammunition overboard. He said the kid could not have been over seventeen, and as he was throwing ammo, it all exploded. That man was in tears while he told me about that, and his memory stays with me. I am sure my old friend is gone now, because he would be way up into his nineties. I hope that you all will remember that boy, too, and appreciate the sacrifice that our fighting men and women make for us.
