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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bob who wrote (757876)	2/24/2022 5:32:42 PM
From: THE WATSONYOUTH	5 Recommendations Recommended By kckip Maple MAGA pak73 steve harris Tobias Ekman Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793899

....I tell this story every chance I get...and on every Veteran's Day....I'll take it with me to my grave. .......Veteran's Day ...Nov 11.......a time to pause and reflect. .....on this Thursday....Veteran's Day ...Nov 11....we need to pause and reflect........over 16 MILLION from, without a doubt, "Our Greatest Generation" served during WW2................less than 250,000 (<1.6%) remain today.......if you are fortunate to know one, treasure the time you can spend with them and the stories they can tell..........for there will never be a more self reliant, selfless generation in our history...My father was one of those 16 million and I am forever proud of him and his military service during WW2........ He 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 well faded 50+ 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 father was born and raised in a small blue collar town in Jersey just outside of NYC. 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 could have been 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 in late 1942, 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 April 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 (344 days in combat) basically as a demolition/explosives expert.....lifting mines, booby traps and such. This was a particularly dangerous job as the Nazi's were fighting a retreating action all the way up the Italian peninsula.....mining and booby trapping everything in the wake of their retreat. 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 given its father/son redemption theme. During the first 2/3 of the movie, he never let on he was watching or even listening as he continued his nightly ritual of reading the local newspaper. Only later did it become obvious he indeed was following the movie. Toward the end of the movie, he put down his paper and 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. Included in the USO group was 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 acrobat troupe leader announced that they were recruiting new members and that any GI in the audience who wanted to come forth and demonstrate his abilities would be considered for possible membership.....and with it a safe way out of the war. After a number of GIs had made half hearted attempts, my father came forth....the high bar being his specialty. Stone cold, he performed an excellent routine.... including a then unique landing. Apparently everyone was impressed ......as the acrobat troupe leader came forth and on the spot offered him a place on the team. Incredibly, my father declined......having just made master sergeant, he felt an obligation to his men and chose to remain with his outfit. The acrobat troupe leader turned out to be none other than a then very young..... Burt Lancaster. I will will never forget that story. sokolusa.org nytimes.com ok.ng.mil .....see slides 94-110 mtmestas.com (Sgt. Norman Schulz 32389039 47 Pickens St. Little Ferry NJ).....Company C en.wikipedia.org Circus career[edit] Lancaster and Nick Cravat, performing with the Federal Theatre Project Circus (1935–38) Cravat and Lancaster performing on the horizontal bars At the age of 9, Lancaster met Nick Cravat with whom he developed a lifelong partnership.[4] Together, they learned to act in local theatre productions and circus arts at Union Settlement, one of the city's oldest settlement houses.[4] In the 1930s, they formed the acrobat duo Lang and Cravat and soon joined the Kay Brothers circus. However, in 1939, an injury forced Lancaster to give up the profession, with great regret. He then found temporary work, first as a salesman for Marshall Fields and then as a singing waiter in various restaurants.[5] World War II service[edit] After the United States entered World War II, Lancaster joined the United States Army in 1942 and performed with the Army's 21st Special Services Division, one of the military groups organized to follow the troops on the ground and provide USO entertainment to keep up morale. He served with General Mark Clark's Fifth Army in Italy from 1943 to 1945.[6] Landcaster Filmography 1989 Field of Dreams Dr. Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham With Kevin Costner ....Burt Lancaster's last film Doc Graham