Posted: 2/28/2011 11:43:45 AM EDT
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I just had lunch with a neighbor from Crescent. He is a retired LTC, USMC and an Iwo Jima vet.
I enjoy his company a great deal and it's hard to see him slowing down. I think about him, my Uncle Bob (WWII Navy and kamikazi survivor), and my long gone dad quite a bit. I'm fortunate to know and have associated with these old vets. If the men today measure up to these gentlemen, we still have a very strong nation! |
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Quoted:
I just had lunch with a neighbor from Crescent. He is a retired LTC, USMC and an Iwo Jima vet. I enjoy his company a great deal and it's hard to see him slowing down. I think about him, my Uncle Bob (WWII Navy and kamikazi survivor), and my long gone dad quite a bit. I'm fortunate to know and have associated with these old vets. If the men today measure up to these gentlemen, we still have a very strong nation! Dan, Do you ever go the the 4th of July parades in Crescent..? |
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I have driven my M35a2 in it the last three years or so for the American Legion. We also do the Christmas Parade...
The guys really get a kick out of riding in the back.. There are several members that are in the mid 90's and I'm afraid will not be with us much longer. I have sat at the monthly meetings and listened to some of the stories they have told and it makes very thankful to have know them. It's really something to listen to a man in his 90's tell you what he had to do when he was 19 to defend this country. They are all very humble about it. My time in the gulf was a vacation compared to what they did. I know we all take a look around and see what is happening and have thoughts of wishing (or praying) that we had men like that now. Just remember that we do. They are just a little busy right now. Wait 30-40 years and they will tell you about it... |
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I had a great uncle Bonny Renegar in Crescent that died a few years ago. He was in his upper 90s. He had served as a CB during WWII.
Uncle Bob told me a story that got to me. He said he was on the beach helping unload the LST he was serving on on some forgotten island in the Pacific during WWII. He said someone said "Bobby?" and he turned around to see Uncle Bonny. Running into his uncle in the middle of an island invasion in some piss hole atoll in the Pacific was amazing. He took Uncle Bonny onto the ship and they ate chow together. He said Uncle Bonny was starving and really chowing down. All I can say is I grew up around men like that ALL my life. From an uncle who served at Chosin Reservoir, to Uncle Bob, to my dad who served in the CBs from the Phillipines, to Antartica, to Gitmo, to Viet Nam, and a hell of a lot more places. I hope our men are that good now. I think of our last WWI vet dying and what he may have seen in the war he fought. A nation should never forget what their veterans have done! I've been very lucky to have been around men like that. |