Thanks, Guys!
Here's to my Uncle Bri, for Vietnam.
Here's to my Grandpa Bob and his brothers, for World War II.
Here's to my Great Grandpa Herb, for World War I.
Here's to the family from Indiana, for the Civil War, and to the fiance of my great-aunt, who died just south of Chattanooga.
Here's to the family who served quietly and didn't end up with stories passed down to me.
Here's to the ghosts of the Civil War, who I hope are making good use of my can opener, which strangely disappeared right after we moved here, who sat along the railroad tracks right out my back door for much of the war.
And here's to all the other soldiers who don't have anyone remembering them specifically today.
posted by Aunt B at 5/30/2005 10:54:00 AM
6 Comments:
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I mean, yeah!
No gals in there to thank?
I don't have any female veterans in the family, that I know of.
But, of course, they were back taking care of kids or working to support the war effort.
Before my grandpa was shipped overseas, he'd travel with troops from North Carolina out to Montana or North Dakota, and when the train would pass through Chicago in the middle of the night, my grandma and her friends would go down to the trainyard and throw fruit to the soldiers.
That story tickles me. I wonder what that must have been like for all the guys but my grandpa (who was regularly making the trip and knew what to expect). It must have been weird to wake up to the sound of fruit hitting the train and then seeing a small group of women standing by the train tracks, waving and tossing produce.
I think that historically, women have been left out of the Memorial Day celebrations (or acknowledgements). Although not fighting the wars, per se, they were stepping up to fill the jobs, take care of things at home, etc. And got no "glory."
And now, nothing irks me more than the news out of Washington that George W. is leading the charge to keep women out of combat--still and again.
So, your initial post has challenged me to think beyond my Grandpa Walter, my dad (coincidentally also known as "Grandpa Bob), and all the other soldiers I have known and not known--and to try and shake loose some thoughts of the women.
Despite being raised by a cadre of feminists (older sister in particular), I am at times an abysmal failure to the sisterhood.
Sigh.
Here's to all my relatives that had the courage not to fight.
Thanks guys.
Elias
Oh...maybe it was the wrong day to say that.
There was no disrespect intended.
Elias,
You crack me up. Don't the Mennonites find it unseemly to gloat?
Plus, coming from a family that did the same thing--is Great Grandma's last name Heistein or Hiestein or Heistien or Hiesten or what, exactly?--I don't know that making the vowel combinations in your last name impossible to remember and so easy to fuck up, so that you are unfindable by government agencies really constitutes a political stand.
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