That story was so vivid, I felt I like was there. That account is a true treasure, and you're very lucky to have it. Ah, the innocnce our parents could enjoy back in those days..and the romance! My Dad being a sailor who owned many boats spent much of the war teaching navigation in New Orleans. He always said this made him feel embarassed because he wanted to be part of the battle action, but during war they put men were they needed them most. He did finally manage to spend a lot of time at sea, but only ran into a couple of close calls with U-Boats.

My parents were also gaga over one another. Their earnest willingness to admit to this has always charmed me. The photos of your parents added a lot. Your Dad looks so earnest it makes you ache, and your mother was obivously a beauty to long over during the cold hard winters your father was a prisoner of war. Thanks so much for sharing this. It really brought home all the personal reasons we have to celebrate Veteran's Day.

Thanks, Randy, for sharing your dad's story with us, and many thanks goes out to your dad for sharing an important piece of his life with you so that we all can have a better understanding of the life and death struggles of soldiers during times of war. If our leaders, who have never had to experience the type of struggles that your dad and many other soldiers have, had, then maybe they would then be more rational in their decisions of sending troops off to battle.
My hat goes off to your mother also, in being the influence for giving your father the will to survive the harshness of war. For if it hadn't been for her and her embedded memory within your fathers will, we also wouldn't have you.

Adrift in the Sea of Humility

Randy, thank you so much for sharing this again. And thanks to your Dad for his service and for his willingness to relate his story.

~Russ

Another article to pay homage to a great man can be viewed in the Daily Times (link...) illustrates the emotions that endure decades after the war. 'Rosie the Riveter' (aka Mom) spent the years that my hero was a POW in Germany, working in Ohio.... diligently riveting airplane wings. At that time such work was considered a contribution to the "war effort." Dad is the house, but Mom is the foundation of this family. Together they are a dynamic duo. We (my brother and my sister, two grandchildren and 3 (4 legged) grandchildren (Misty, Pupster, and Godzilla the Chinchilla) are blessed. Thanks.......Mom & Dad.....

Pam

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
– Pablo Picasso

– Pablo Picasso

Forwarding to my Dad on his special day ^j^

for sharing this. I was at two different churches to day for very different reasons. At the big mega church out west they didn't even mention the veteran's.

pgs

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut