Monday, November 11, 2013

Lining the streets, seeing the world and remembrance

- The tiny village of Lilburn, Georgia has lined the main street with memorials honoring veterans from the area for Veterans Day.  It was amazing to see them lining the street all the way to the highway that leads into the park in which I walk on weekend mornings.  I am grateful for their service to our country.

- This is the ship my dad served on during World War II (114) - a mine sweeper.  A scary thought.  And I always wonder what it was like for an 18-year-old who had never really traveled anywhere to be suddenly cast into these troubled waters.

 - He never really had much to say about his military service.  My brother-in-law served two tours of duty in Vietnam, too, and never has much to say about it either.  I don't think the silence is from trauma particularly, just a sense that this is what one did.

The poppies in the last photo are in remembrance of my beloved daddy, who I miss very much.  Inspired by Hilary's wonderful post, "Poppies on Remembrance Day..." which can be read here.

20 comments:

Joanne said...

It must also just be so hard to talk about and to explain to people who weren't physically there.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lynn .. thank you for the link - and for the gentle reflective post you've written remembering your father.

I imagine the minesweeper must have been a very difficult entry into war ...

I think many didn't talk about their experiences - too raw, too sad, too ... too many things ... thankfully they all did fight to keep us free ...

With thoughts today - Hilary

TALON said...

My father never said much about this experiences in the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer in WW II. The few times he spoke of some of the horrors, I knew how much it must have changed who he was.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

So many Vets never wanted to talk about their experiences---I do remember a guy that I went to High School with being at a party I gave a number of years after High School and soon after he returned from Korea....He was very bitter and we now know he was suffering from PTS....God knows what he saw over there, but whatever it was, had to have been truly Horrendous....The scars of war that don't always show. Bless all our Veterans.

Change of Subject: Go online and go to See's Candy....You can get the Lollipops sent to you---they even have kind of a little sampler thing with pieces that come in a cup. YUMMMM YUMMMMM YUMMMMM!

Elephant's Child said...

My father also could not/would not/did not talk about it.

Sparkling Red said...

I have been reading lately about contemporary N. American veterans and their experiences with PTSD. It's mind-blowing what veterans have had to deal with. I don't think that I could survive it. There is not enough thanks in the world to repay veterans for what they have given for us.

Chatty Crone said...

I appreciate your father serving me so I can live free in America.

Susan Kane said...

With a sense of content, their stories couldn't really be understood. My dad would meet up with other veterans, and without saying a word, they knew what passed.

Riot Kitty said...

My grandfather was also a teenager in the Navy in WWII. Where was your dad stationed?

Lee said...

We must always remember and honour our veterans.

Thanks, Lynn.

Granny Annie said...

The small towns in Oklahoma line their streets with flags but we do not see such displays in the larger towns and cities.

You can really hear veteran's talking wildly and into the wee hours at military reunions but only with other veterans. There is a mutual understanding of unfinished sentences that does not come with any other people who did not share the experience. It is there also that you will see the tears.

Your dad and other very young men took on such brave tasks and we owe them more than we can every repay.

Beautiful post Lynn.

Betty Manousos said...

happy veterans day!

wonderful tribute today.

great post, lynn!

big hugs~

sage said...

Thank you for your father's service. Mine sweeping would be nerve-racking work. I think most mine sweepers had wooden hulls so they wouldn't explode mines that were magnetic.

LL Cool Joe said...

My parents were evacuated as children, during the second world war, I think a lot of my mother's issues stem from this experience which she won't really talk about.

Leonora said...

Thank you for these three beautiful remembrances. My dad always hung a paper poppy from his rear view mirror. When I was young, the poppies the veterans handed out were made of crepe paper.
My dad was a paratrooper in WWII. The enormity of what our service men and women do for us is humbling indeed.

Lynn said...

Joanne -

I think you are right.

Hilary -

Thank you for the inspiration. Dad said that as the crew on a minesweeper, they were "expendable" - oh my, that must have been terrifying.

Talon -

My dad recovered some memories after he had a stroke - which seems odd. He spoke a bit more of the war years then.

Naomi -

Yes - bless them. We are so fortunate to have so many brave veterans.

I found out there is a See's store not far from here in Atlanta, so I plan to drop in soon. :) Thanks for the tip!

Elephant's Child -

Understandable, I think.

Lynn said...

Sparkling Red -

I agree.

Sandie -

Thank you - that's lovely.

Susan -

Yes - I saw that with my dad, too.

Riot Kitty -

His ship left Norfolk, VA on February 15, 1945, and sailed to Guam, via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, arriving in Guam on May 8, 1945 and then moving on to Okinawa, Japan, the East China Sea, moving on to the Japanese islands (Formosa, etc.), and ending up in Shanghai, China at the end of the war. Daddy went in relatively late. His ship had to remain behind for a while after the war ended.

Lynn said...

Lee -

Thank you - I agree.

Granny Annie -

Lilburn is a suburb of Atlanta, so is very small town like.

Thank you! And I know Ron was a veteran - I thought about that on Monday.

Betty -

Thank you and big hugs to you!

Sage -

I imagine it was terrifying.

Joe -

Great Britain took quite a hit - I'm sure that was scary for her.

Leonora -

A paratrooper. It's amazing to hear these stories - thank you for sharing that.

Snaggle Tooth said...

Great Vet flag pic for the holiday!
I couldn't upload any posts so gave up on the flag one- then forgot to put it on the flash drive to bring-
Nice Poppy remembrance idea

Lynn said...

Snaggle -

Thank you, my friend.