Senior Moments
Jim Cassidy
Senior Moments
Jim
Cassidy
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A Tribute
to the Greatest Generation
Germany was a wasteland, it’s major cities laying in blackened ruins from countless armies,led by the United States Military Machine intent on it’s final mission. There was nothing left but chaos, death and destruction as the war ended in Europe. In the Pacific theater, the end was also in sight. In order to avoid a tremendous blood bath on both sides from a proposed invasion of Japan, and after much soul searching by the Allied leaders, the Atomic Bomb was dropped; first on Hiroshima and three days later on Nagasaki, instantly incinerating and evaporating thousands of Japanese. It was the dawn of a new era for the world. At the Hiroshima drop, the young crew of the B-29 Enola Gay, watching the mushroom purple cloud fire ball from hell boil over 1800 feet into the air, were heard to cry out—”My God what have we done” to “Holy Moses” to “The War is Over”- It was effectively over. A short time later, General Douglas MacArthur accepted the surrender of the Japanese Government aboard the great battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. At the surrender ceremony, MacArthur, the Conqueror, uttered words of peace to the vanquished as he said,”it is my hope that a better world should emerge”. It was a world that had seen 50 million of its people die in six years of war. Of the 16 million Americans in uniform, 400,000 were killed in battle and 750,000 wounded in action. The General spoke by radio back to his America, whose long night had finally dawned with victory: “and so my fellow countrymen, today I report that your sons and daughters have served you well and faithfully. They are homeward bound - take care of them.” And so after almost sixty years a great Memorial has finally been finished in Washington, DC, dedicated to that greatest generation of warriors who saved the world. They did return to home and changed the face of this country into what it is today. Through the G.I. Bill of Rights these millions of ordinary Americans returned to heir jobs, went back to school, bought and A Tribute to the Greatest Generation Happy Birthday America built thousands of homes, raised families. Thank God for
their safe return as they remembered their 400,000
comrades who didn’t make it home. Now the greatest
of all war Memorials has been dedicated this past
Memorial Day. It was erected and set in a place of honor
on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to remember
forever these ordinary men and women of World War II.
Located between the Lincoln and Washington Memorials
whose inscriptions tell of our beliefs as to freedom and
democracy, this magnificent Memorial, dedicated to the 16
million men and A lump comes into their throats as the aging veterans from that long ago campaign shuffle through their own monument, in a Mall of monuments, a tribute dedicated to their valor and bravery. Although bent with age, many stand a little straighter, their jaws jutting out justifiably with pride and their eyes showing some of the old sparkle as they hang on to their families. These veterans did not look for this Memorial as they did not seek anything special when they returned from this great war. There are only four million of these WWII veterans left to answer the call, but thank God they are finally able to see their own Memorial and remember their glory days when ordinary young men and women did extraordinary acts of heroism to protect our freedoms. God Bless Them All - and God Bless America! Send your questions
comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
Freedom isn’t free. It was the
late summer of 1945 and the last days of the most
catastrophic and devestating war the world had ever seen.