Greatness is as greatness was

Post #400,632 by rcareaga 4/1/15 5:39:17 PM Reply	Greatness is as greatness was The Aged P was a Merchant Marine cadet when war was declared, and transferred to the USMC days before this was interdicted. He was with “Edson’s Raiders” early on, and served in Guadalcanal and the Solomons up until he was shot in the course of the Guam landings in July 1944. His injuries were severe: he spent the next year in a military hospital. and never recovered entire mobility. He almost never talked about his wartime experiences while I was growing up. Beginning in about 1985 he took it up as a topic of conversation and hasn’t let it go since. And hell: my early twenties weren’t played for anything like those stakes. True, upon attaining draft age I could have fought the wicked NVA, but this was not, ah, widely regarded as an existential struggle by 1970. Hell, even der Alte, a lifelong firebreathing Republican, told me in advance of that year’s draft lottery that he was prepared to pay my bus fare to Vancouver: “I’ve done enough fighting for this family.” He’ll be gone this year or next. I’m hoping sooner and not later, because as far as I can tell he’s not enjoying a single damned day. cordially,
Post #400,633 by a6l6e6x 4/1/15 5:43:02 PM Reply	He probably agrees with your conclusion. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #400,634 by rcareaga 4/1/15 5:59:18 PM Reply	Interesting hypotheticalfactoid James V. McNulty, who as an OBGYN subsequently ushered me into this world in 1952, was a USN physician on a hospital ship off Guam in July 1944. There's no proof that he ever treated der Alte, but it coulda happened. cordially,
Post #400,779 by gcareaga 4/8/15 6:55:40 PM Reply	Re: Greatness is as greatness was Dad rediscovered his enthusiasm for military culture in 1979. By 1985, he was lobbying for Purple Heart veterans in Sacramento and DC. Ahead of one DC trip, he casually mentioned that he planned to drop in to the Pentagon and visit with the Commandant of the Marine Corps. I snorted derisively (silently, to myself). Sure enough, a month later I got a letter and photo from Dad and there he was with General P. X. Kelly in what looked like an office a Commandant would occupy. I asked him how he managed it. He said the General's aide was initially dismissive. Dad told him:"tell the Commandant that a Marine Corps Raider wants to pay his respects." Dad said that he got an hour with the General on the spot. I am inclined to believe that he wasn't exaggerating. Our old man was one of nature's alpha males in his day. It makes his current state all the harder for his four children to grok.
Post #400,791 by rcareaga 4/8/15 11:23:04 PM Reply	Re: Greatness is as greatness was A former IWT member—an apparent suicide, alas, last year—was in the USMC at that time, and related the story of P.X. Kelly receiving a WWII Marine Raider veteran unannounced, told to the troops as an example of the Commandant's "open door" policy. I have no doubt that this was der Alte. Upon looking up PXK's Wikipedia entry, I find that he went on record during the Cheney Shogunate against "enhanced interrogation." Good, very good on the man.
Post #400,803 by a6l6e6x 4/9/15 3:28:31 PM Reply	Re: against "enhanced interrogation." Yep, folks that served at the point of the spear understand the implications. Arm chair chicken hawks have no clue. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #400,794 by pwhysall 4/9/15 3:24:43 AM Reply	Re: Greatness is as greatness was My paternal grandfather, were he alive, would be your father's contemporary. He fought with the Royal Navy, principally in the far East and the English Channel. After the war, he spent 20 years working as a miner before finishing his career as a foreman at a power station. When I was a boy, "what did you do in the war, Grandad?" would generally only elicit the tales of him and his friend Frank who got into trouble for drinking, carousing and fighting whilst on shore leave. He would much rather hold forth on the state of the nation (he was a resolute republican, active in local politics and community-enriching things like scouting and the Royal British Legion) or mining, or the ins and outs of electricity generation. He was an engaging and charismatic speaker, as comfortable speaking to a crowd as to an individual. But once he hit 75ish, all that fell away. His world contracted sharply, and the only topics of conversation on which I could engage him were the war and his health. This became worse when my grandmother died just a few weeks after my father - a tornado of grief (my father and grandfather were close, and my father died unexpectedly) from which he never recovered. His last few years were spent dominating and victimising my mother, and rambling about what minor ailments he'd acquired this week. There was no joy in his company for us, and I doubt there was much for him. I wasn't pleased when he died, but there was relief. Not least because my mother, a woman who loves life, could actually start to live hers.

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