Okay, so I always knew that Grampa F. was in the Marines during WWII. But today, I got to see/read some real evidence of it!!! It was fascinating. He let me read some letters he'd sent to his parents, and I read a few articals from newspapers--one was written about those on his ship when they were in the Phillipines, one was written in what looked like a local paper from when they lived in Washington, when he and his brother had met on the ocean. It looked like they were just letting the community know that their friends were still reasonably alive.
It kind of bothered me to see that he'd been among those calling the Japanese "Japs," but I suppose it was WWII, that's just what they were called at the time.
Overall, it was all really very interesting.
Also, i got to see some Japanese money, along with some pesos from the Phillipines, some Japanese matches, Japanese ciggarettes (which were all shriveled), some old cigars (those were huge!), and some cats-eyes that he'd gotten on one of the islands he'd been on below the equator (he asked me to polish a few of them in my rock tumbler; i was a bit nervous about that, because it makes them a lot smaller, but i told him i'd try).
It was really, really fascinating; I got to learn about my grampa (MY grampa!) defending his country--I knew it before, but now it just seems so much more real.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Leave politics to politicians... You as military men, as soldiers, as heroes have the responsibility to protect the state so that all may live in peace whether they are in harmony or have differences."
~Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (to Iraqi troops)
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2 comments:
Cool blog :)
That's a very cool post. Back in Junior High, I interviewed my Great Grandpa about his wartime experiences. It was so totally interesting to hear first hand accounts of some of the adventures he had.
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