doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Greatest Generation

The children of the "dirty 30s". Bless them for the world they gave us. I apologize to my boy all the time now because the "boomers" aren't leaving anything nearly as nice.

I had read somewhere that several prominent historians consider this country to have 3 great generations . All the greatest I think . The first was that of our founding fathers and independence . The second was the Civil War generation where they forged their way west and settled the land under difficult situations as well as the war . The third was as discussed, the children of the depression and WW2. My later father was a WW2 vet, so I am biased but the other two for sure as well.

I believe the humility of the participants is part of what makes them great. My great uncle lost a leg at the battle of the bulge, and I didn't even know about it until I was nearly a teenager. Apparently he came closer to dying than anyone but his wife knew. After his death his brother (my grandfather) finally heard the whole story.

I do remember hearing him talking during the first gulf war about how CNN mentioned some of the soldiers hadn't had a shower in a week. You can imagine his empathy.

CHAZ

I know a young man who has had a lot of trouble in his life with substance abuse. He is a Dad now, of a little boy and a little girl, and I think he is getting his life straightened out, and beginning to understand what things are most important. Recently, on the anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, I was reminded that his Grandad was a Corpsman who landed at Normandy and spent the entire first day and night on the beach treating the wounded. He was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery. He was a simple man when I knew him. He drove a motor grader for the county and scraped dirt roads on our end. He would ride me most of the day on that grader, just because he liked me. I reminded the young man of his Grandad's service. I hope it was not wasted words.

SRH

stan: yours is a wonderful post...because by relating the devotion this young mans grandfather exhibited to a cause greater than himself, it will hopefully help this young man to devote himself to a cause greater than himself; specifically, to the care and nurturing of his family and thereby himself...it is comforting to think that a sacrifice made so long ago can still be useful today in making our world a better place...

There were a lot of brave men in that war. I knew as a boy one of my uncles had been in Sherman tanks with Patton but did not understand how lucky he was to get through the war. He had five tanks shot out from under him. Two the tracks were knocked off, one the turret was blown clean off killing all but two men, one a hit that went right through the tank and one which caused the tank to burn where it was hit. He survived but had scars and burns which were bad to look at twenty years later. He loved Patton to his final day but I doubt he loved those Shermans.

Taking a Sherman up against a tank which outgunned you, was better armored and would not catch fire at the drop of a hat took more courage than I can imagine. He did say they tried to never engage a Panzer with less than four tanks. There was no point because they did not last long enough for one of them to get around the rear of the German tank. Only there could they deliver a killing blow if they could get close enough.

Those were men. Not saints or anything like that but men who took on a task and saw it to the finish. People today have gotten so use to instant this or fast that they are not willing to struggle for long before they are looking for a way out. Those men did not and that is why we are not learning German as our language to this day.

My uncle Lester Shedd joined the Marine Corps in 1938. He was captured in May 1942 when Corregidor fell to the Japanese. He spent 39 months in a Japanese prison camp until he was liberated by the Russians in Manchuria in 1945. I can not begin to imagine the horrors he witnessed and lived through.

With all this discussion, it is still up to us to make sure that what they sacrificed so much to leave us is not pi$$ed away. BTW in my opinion the troops we have now are the best trained and most experienced we have ever had, they just don't have enough help (and respect) from their political leaders.
Mike

I don't know if it was the Greatest Generation. I've put a lot of thought into it. I've interviewed hundreds of Second World War veterans in my work and read considerably of how they performed compared to those of Axis countries.

I've convinced myself there was something special of those who served on our side of the Atlantic because they're the only ones I knew face-to-face, and it's probably accurate to say the same for all of the other countries, too.

Two points: they saw their duty and did it in a different way because they served at a different time from ours, with different values, different training, a different sense of commitment and accountability.

Secondly, in all those pictures of those serving in zones of combat, by their gun turrets, aircraft, sandbagged positions, not knowing they would be alive or dead from one day to the next, did you notice they were always smiling?

"The Greatest Generation" is a great moniker given by an effective story teller.

They accomplished some remarkable and admirable things.

I don't know if there is such a thing as the greatest in generational terms.

I do know that I will not be able to trust the east coast intelligentsia for a definition.