God Bless America

The average WWII soldier was 5 foot 8 inches tall, 140 pounds and a high school drop out. And they saved the world for democracy. When not chasing sheep around the field or taking care of critters I've been riveted to the Military Channel and the D-Day footage. I didn't have any kin-folk going ashore at Omaha Beach, but Uncle Billy ran for his life at the Battle of the Bulge. He told us the story many times, of how he and another soldier ran when they were overrun by Germans, the bark flying off the trees from the bullets shot at them. The other guy was shot but Uncle Billy made it to a river and swam like crazy, saving his life. His brother, Uncle Fred, went island hopping through the Pacific and was part of the invasion force in Japan. He got on a bus in rural Georgia and didn't come back for five years. He said when he heard his mother's thick Southern accent for the first time after so long he could hardly understand a word she said. How could we not be enthralled by these heroic stories as kids? I'm still enthralled with the WWII sagas. We lose a thousand veterans of that conflict a day. I wish I asked for more of those stories. Yes, that's AJ holding the flag for his unit at Basic Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. I guess I did my duty, raising up two more heroes.