It has been my distinct privilege to count among my friends three men who fought in WWII -- each of them heroes, although they would never say it.

My dear friend Martin McCullough landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, with the 116th Infantry. I think he said there were 40 men in his landing craft -- there were six of them able to bear arms after the first day. Martin himself took two hits in the first couple hours, and fought for two more days before being evacuated. On the boat on the way back to the states he refused the medic's morphine -- he was afraid that if he went to sleep he wouldn't wake up. Martin had as much integrity as any person I have ever known. He passed away last January, about a year after losing his wife of over fifty years -- I miss him.

When Patrick "Red" Shelledy's boat went down in the South China Sea he gave his life jacket to another sailor, a big, strong Supply Sergeant who didn't swim well and was going under for what looked to be the last time, Then Pat treaded water for 17 hours, until they were picked up by a garbage scow. Many years later he joked about how he watched the Stars and Stripes go up at Iwo Jima from the window of a head on a garbage scow. He also remembered how the Sergeant whose life he had saved wouldn't give him an extra ration of cigarettes on the boat that picked them up. It still burned him. Pat was a hell of a golfer in his day, and now lives in Seattle with his daughter.

My friend and colleague Joseph Delay went in as a paratrooper behind the lines on D-Day. Joe is naturally modest, and doesn't say much about his experience, but it is clear from the look in his eyes that he still thinks about the men he fought with, and the men he killed. He does tell a funny story about crapping in his helmet for six weeks in a foxhole in France. When Joe says that today's generation just doesn't understand the meaning of hardship and sacrifice you just have to nod your head and thank the Lord for men like him who do. Joe is well and sharp and can still rip off three sets of eight rep's with 150 lbs. on the bench press at our local club.

These men knew and loved and fought along side the men for whom these stars were hung. I salute them all, and hope that we can find strength in their example as we face the challenge now presented to our generation.

It is hard to talk to my grandfather about his service in WWII, and then read stuff like this on the BBC:

"Our Rome correspondent David Willey says 60 years on, some Italians are asking whether America's armed forces should still be classified as liberators. "

from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3764589.stm

It seems some have forgotten the way life was under Hitler and his facist buddy Mousilini (Spelling ?) They yern for a time when dissent was crushed under the heels of dictators, and people struggled to live under constant oppression.

Do they truly not know their own history, or is there some PC force in Italy like there is in the US that glosses over the contributions of great men to demonize them for not supporting favored political positions?

good thing you decided to do US and not Russia - you'd have to post 20,000,000 stars (red) then...

V ... indeed. And most were civies ...

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (Click here should you choose to sign out.)

As you post your comment, please mind our simple comment policy: we welcome all perspectives, but require that comments be both civil and respectful. We also ask that you avoid the extensive use of profanity, racist terms (neither of which we consider civil or respectful), and other boorish language.

We reserve the right to delete any comment, and to prohibit you from commenting on this site, if we feel you have broached this policy. As a courtesy, we will first send you an email noting a violation so you understand the boundaries. This will occur only once, however, and should we ban you from our comment forums we expect that ban to be permanent.

We also will frown upon those who suggest that we ban other individuals for voicing unpopular opinions, should those opinions be voiced in a civil and respectful manner. The point of our comment threads is to provide a forum for spirited though civil and respectful discourse … it is not to provide a forum in which everyone will agree with your point of view.

If you can live by these rules, welcome aboard. If not, then we’re sorry it didn’t work out, and thanks for visiting The Command Post.

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: