I wept today....

[Dem2theMax]

68. My Dad was Army, in for eight months before Pearl Harbor,

and was on a ship to the pacific a week after the bombing. He spent 36 straight months over there.
When he came home, he got a job, married my Mom, and never spoke about the war.

One night, I rented 'Saving Private Ryan,' and somehow got Dad to watch it with me. He hated sitting
still long enough to watch a movie. Anyway, that night, he had nightmares for the first time in years.
(That he would admit to.)
I felt horrible because I had talked him into watching the movie.

Dad wouldn't talk about the war, the 'things he was ashamed he had had to do in order to stay alive.' But
he would share funny stories about his buddies, and the still he made, the 'jungle juice' that came out of
that still, (must have been 90 proof,) and he kept all the dark memories to himself.

The day before he died, in December of 2012, he finally told me a few of those dark memories.
I think he knew he was dying. Maybe telling me some of the bad stuff was a way of confession for his soul.
He was supposed to have been awarded the Bronze Star. I have the paperwork for it sitting right next
to me. He wouldn't let me submit it because 'he was not proud of what he had to do to get that Bronze Star.'

Dad got Malaria too. He kept quinine pills in the house for years, as he had more than one bout with Malaria.
When the pills were no longer available, he kept tonic water in the house, as it contains quinine.
About two months ago, I came across the bottle of tonic water in the pantry. I figured that after at least four
years of sitting there, it had to be flat. So I tossed it out and went to the store and bought more. I don't drink it.
But I have to keep it in the house, in honor of Dad.

I think of the hell my Dad went through for thirty-six straight months. He told me one story that in real time,
on an island in the pacific, maybe took up two hours of one of the 1,095 days of his time over there.

And I think of every veteran, retired, passed away, still serving, and I could never, EVER, think of any of them
as being weak in any way, shape or form. If anyone dares to talk to me about Trump after this horrid man has had
the gall to talk about our men and women in uniform in such a disrespectful way, they will hear of the hell my Dad
went through, all so they could have the right to keep voting. And I will keep talking until they hang their heads in shame and walk away.

catbyte, thank you for bringing back some memories for me, memories of my Dad, MY hero, my best friend in the entire world. I miss him every day. Hugs to you, from one little girl to another. (Who just had her 60th birthday not too long ago, and still can't wrap her head around the fact that her Daddy wasn't here to celebrate it with her.)



Dem2theMax