There are no words deep and meaningful enough for us to be able to express our depth of love and appreciation for those people who bore the burden of battle for our country and our way of life. Many of those people gave the most precious thing they had for the United States of America; their lives. It is easy to live in a country like ours and forget the price that has been paid for many people and their families in order for us to continue to live our lives in peace. We have all lost a family member or a deep and personal friend who died in battle for us. We will never see them again this side of heaven but they left a lasting legacy when they died protecting our homeland and our way of life. To say “thank you” is not nearly enough but to live honorably in the society they protected for us is evidence that they lived and that we honor them by seeking to preserve what they gave their lives for.
I was just a very small child when my own father volunteered for the United States Navy in 1942. In fact, I was only a few months old. In order to help protect our country, he voluntarily left his family and all that he knew in order to go serve Uncle Sam in the South Pacific. He was a radar operator and pay master for the ship he was on and believe me it was not fun for the battle was hot in the South Pacific Ocean. I remember him telling me about the many kamikaze pilots who were trying to sink our ships or put them out of service. He told me about the day that a kamikaze pilot had leveled off at the conning tower dad was in. He and the other men at that post thought that they would die momentarily. Every gun in the fleet was trained on this plane which was headed straight for the conning tower where the radar was located. When it was at about 150 yards, it suddenly simply disintegrated due to the number of bullets that were penetrating it from all the guns firing on it. Dad related how one wing went off the stern and one rotated off the bow of the ship. Needless to say, he had not forgotten one iota of information about that encounter. Not long after that event, my father was hurt as he was being transferred from one ship to another. He was on a rope ladder descending the side of his ship and attempting to get into an LST to go to the other ship. The ocean was very rough and he slipped from the rope ladder, grabbing one rung with his left hand. His legs were dangling from the rope ladder and the two ships came together crushing his left leg. He was in the hospital in Manilla for several months after that as his leg healed. Thanks, Dad for being willing to die to protect our family, friends and way of life.
I remember the day my father returned home from the Navy. We lived in a large white house near downtown Tifton, GA. Actually, three families lived there. The men were in the service and their families were living with my Grandfather and Grandmother during those days. Many people had to do this. I was in the back of the house with my mother when the doorbell rang. My mother said, “Bill, go see who that is at the front door” so my little four year old legs ran as fast as they could to see who it was. I saw a man standing there outside the locked screen. He spoke to me and said: “Well, hello young man. Where’s your mother.” I didn’t know who he was so I immediately turned and ran down the hallway to our bedroom to report to my mother. She said, “who’s there” and I said…”I don’t know who it is but he is dressed in a white suit and cap. My mother suddenly realized who it was as she was expecting my dad any day and she broke into a run down the long hallway squealing to the top of her lungs. I was right behind her. Mother unlocked the screen door and my father grabbed her; hugged her and gave her a big ole’ kiss. He then turned and looked at me as I was standing right beside my mother. He scooped me up, gave me a big kiss on the cheek and we spent several minutes just being a reunited family with our husband and father home from the war and out of danger.
My father never talked about his wartime experiences very much. He just didn’t. But, I have always been proud of the fact that he was willing to go and serve our country at the possibility he would not return. And, my heart goes out to all those who did not see their loved ones return as we did. They still miss those men and women who paid the ultimate price for freedom. As I said earlier in this article; there are no words to express our thanks which are deep enough and profound enough to truly express how we feel about what they did for us. A former Marine, Matt Bridges who spoke at the opening of the Freedom Gallery at Abraham Baldwin College said this: “To those who have fought the battle, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.” We must never forget and we must always remember our veterans with the deepest gratitude every day of the year and especially on Veteran’s Day.
God Bless the USA.
