Memorial Day Open Thread

There are all kinds of veterans to remember today!

Don’t forget our furry heroes!

This an open thread.

I thought I’d post this picture of my mom and dad.  My dad is a veteran of World War 2. He was a bombardier for the 8th Air Force–although it was the Army Air Corps when he joined– and was stationed in Northern England.  He once flew under the command of Jimmy Stewart.  He said he sounded just like he did in the movies. He flew missions over Northern Europea in B-17s.  Anyway, he’s nearly 90 and will finally share his war stories with us after years of not wanting to talk about it.  I took him to the WW2 Museum here in New Orleans on his last visit.  He really liked that.  There’s very few of his crew left but they all remained in contact with each other until the day they died. He’s a young lieutenant in this photo.  I’m going to have to get him to remember exactly when it was taken but that’s by the front porch of my grandparent’s house.  I’m posting this in remembrance of all his buddies that are no longer able to reminisce with Dad.  I keep asking him to give me all his stuff–including their pictures and logs–so I can put them in the WW2 museum documents library.  We all will never forget their service.

So, if you have any one you’d like to remember, please post their picture or a remembrance!

UPDATE by Boston Boomer: Here’s a photo of my Dad in his National Guard uniform. I couldn’t figure out how to put it in a comment, so I took the liberty of putting it here. I hope Dak won’t mind. The little girl is my cousin. He was really young. He lied about his age to get into the Guard so he could use the money for college. Dad didn’t meet my mom till after the war and returned to school.

This must have been taken before Dad left for Louisiana for training. His National Guard regiment, the 164th, was the first army regiment to be shipped out after Pearl Harbor. They went right to Guadalcanal to support the Marines who were stranded there with diminishing supplies. They were down to one meal a day by the time Dad’s unit got there. I think Ralph’s father was one of those marines.

When the bombs were dropped my Dad was on the way to Japan. Ironically, I might never have been born except for the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I miss my dad so much. He died on March 11, 2010. He was almost 88.