| ....thanks for sharing your feelings about you dad and his service to our country. My farther also was one from "THE GREATEST GENERATION" and I am equally proud of him and his military service during WW2. He too was reluctant to recount any war experiences although I was able to extract one from him and he finally offered a second just a short time before he passed in 2005. The first came about when I ran across a faded 40+ year old local newspaper clip in with a bunch of family pictures whose headline stated "Local PFC Dines with President" When I asked what this was all about he recounted the circumstances. My farther was the son of a carpenter in a small town in Jersey. In that town was a large Czech enclave who brought with them from Europe a young men and women's social organization known as "Sokol"., which was dedicated to gymnastics. Although not Czech, he joined as a young boy and by the end of high school ,became a fantastic gymnast..........possibly world class at the time. In addition, he was a crack shot, having captained his rifle team all four years in high school. After being drafted, he shot a new record score on the rifle range and combining this with his athletic ability and sharp mind, was named top PFC in his entire boot camp at Ft Gruber Oklahoma in 1943.. As such he was allowed to attend a dignitary dinner whose guest of honor was none other than FDR himself. He told me he sat across from FDR , perhaps 10 seats down table and could not take his eyes off of him the whole dinner. It was the thrill of his life up to that time. He went on to join the 88th Blue Devil Division (313th Combat Engineers) and fought in the Italian campaign basically as a demolition/explosives expert.....lifting mines, booby traps and such. The only time he offered a war experience was perhaps a year before his passing in 2005. He already was not well and I was visiting one weekend. That evening I turned the TV on to a rerun of "Field of Dreams". Having seen it before, and having been a baseball pitcher as a youth who often threw long and hard to him to practice, I thought he might enjoy it. Near the end of the movie, he started (out of the blue) to recount an old war experience. It seems his unit was on leave off the front when a USO unit came by to entertain the troops. It was made up of a troupe of acrobats who set up a temporary high bar and did a series of exhibitions of high bar routines and exercises. When the exhibition was completed, the troupe leader announced that they were recruiting new members and that anyone in the audience who wanted to come forth and demonstrate their abilities would be considered for possible membership. After several had made attempts, my father came forth....the high bar being his specialty. Stone cold, he performed a near perfect routine including a then unique landing. Apparently everyone was impressed ......as the USO troupe leader came forth and on the spot offered him a place on the team. Incredibly, my farther declined.....choosing to remain with his outfit. The acrobatic troupe leader turned out to be none other than a then very young..... Burt Lancaster. I will never forget that story. |
