My Grandfather Hero of Iwo Jima

[Chicago Democrat]

I never met him in person but today I went to visit my grandmother Minola and she told me about her husband who I look alot like. They were married in 1943; he was actually in the Marines went the war began and my mother Sheila was born in March of 1944 while he was away.

He was in the battle of Iwo Jima and was wounded twice in that battle and amazingly lived and came home on VE day in May. Im not sure how many died in that battle but I think most of his unit was killed. Minola said he was never the same after the war and was "haunted" for the rest of his life.

War is hell and it totally sucks and I can't help but wonder how many of the kids in Iraq are going to be haunted. I know what my Grandfather would say about what is going on in Iraq right now; he was a lifelong Democrat. Minola is 85 years old and hates the War and is going to vote for John Kerry.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. War destroys

it can radically change people. The poet dies in battle, to be replaced by a person with radical phsycological problems. The farmer lives in denial for twenty years; only with therapy does he realize the horrors he faced. The career soldier puts his medals in a box and never talks about those tours of duty in Viet Nam.

[Gman]

2. My dad was also a Marine at Iwo Jima

His brothers and sisters all say he wasn't the same after the war as he was before. I wouldn't say dad was "haunted", he just didn't talk about it like most of the guys that were in THE war. I'm sure your grandmother calls it THE war. There's only one THE war.

[Octafish]

3. The people who like war have never been in one.

Bush. Cheney. Rumsfeld. Wolfowitz. Perle. DeLay. Frist. The list of inglorious chickenhawks is long and shallow.

Your grandfather was a great man, Chicago Democrat. We Americans today, and people around the world, owe our freedom to him and his colleagues -- all of whom sacrificed on our behalf.

[blm]

4. I hear you, CD.

.

[0007]

5. Thanks for a little of your family history

We lost two cousins in Iwo Jima