The Greatest Generation

With the passing of my father, a fine man departed this earth and for all those who knew him, the world feels more lonely. He fought on Peleliu during World War II, but I didn't know it, not growing up anyway. As the last marine I knew from that era, my father represented America's finest.

His experience during the war dominated his perspective on every problem he encountered afterwards; it’s helpful and worth repeating.

My father believed he never experienced any serious problems after the war. He had his share, like everyone else, but nothing as serious as someone shooting to kill him, hearing ricocheting bullets pass his ear, seeing friends die, or shipping them home in a box.

My father loved the Marines, felt proud to be one to the end of his life, but he knew war.

Thanks to my father and others like him, I became a man through trial and error; I grew into it. By contrast, he left home a boy and returned forever changed. He found no glory in war, only unthinkable waste and death.

He never wanted to talk about Peleliu or revisit it, but near the end of his life agreed to be interviewed. When doing so, he recounted a sanitized memory of war, describing it with grace, humility, and humor, suppressing the unimaginable horror that haunted his dreams until the day he died.

After the war, dad returned home and married his sweetheart; my mother, Sylvia. There his life provided inspiration for those who knew him. His good friend, Ethan Seal, described him as an unshakable example of duty and decency while facing the worst conflict in the 20th Century.

Tom Brokaw nailed it. They were America’s Greatest Generation. If not for their courage, sacrifice, and character, I wouldn’t be here today.

And we wouldn’t live free.

New Hampshire’s motto, live free or die, means the world to me and America’s greatest generation showed it's worth dying for.

I pray we don't forget.