My Uncle Rick each year for Memorial Day find someone to tell his Dad's story, (My Grandpa) about serving our country in World War II. I wrote to my Uncle about a month earlier, and asked if I could be his "person" this year. He agreed and sent it to me by e-mail. This was the letter he wrote to me.....
Please share this with your children, so they will know of their grandfather's service to our country.
Every
Memorial Day, or on a day thereabouts, I have found someone, or a small
group of people and have told them of my father’s service to our
country. Not only to honor him,
but to honor all the men and women who have served, who have fought in
battle, who have been wounded, and, especially, the multitude who have
given their lives for our county.
As
the years have gone by--and I have been doing this for decades--I have
found that I cannot get through it anymore without crying. Therefore,
I’m writing it this year, and I’m including all of you who are related
to him, so you will all know, and will turn for a moment and think of
the sacrifices of all these hundreds of thousands of people, and not
just them, but their families, as well. We all suffer from war.
My
father was born April 18th, 1919. He was in his first year at GMI when
he was drafted into the Army. He served in the Pacific Theatre, in the
Philippines and in New Guinea. On the coral beaches of the Philippines,
he was shot from behind by a sniper, and the heavy round went through
and through on his shoulder and wrecked it for the rest of his life. In
the beaches and jungles of New Guinea, he and his squad were in some
vicious fighting, and one day while Dad and two other men were sitting
in a trench during a bombardment, a mortar shell landed on the stomach
of a man sitting two men away from Dad. That man and, if I remember
correctly, the one sitting next to him were killed. Dad took multiple
pieces of shrapnel to his knee, which was then damaged for the rest of
his life. In addition, his hearing was damaged, and he suffered from
tinnitus (ringing in the ear) for the rest of his life.
Finally, he contracted malaria in the jungle and had a great deal of
trouble with that disease for the first decade after returning home.
As
a result of these injuries, he received an insultingly low disability
benefit. I don’t remember the amount, but Mom showed me the check one
day, and I was shocked. In addition, while they didn’t talk about this
until they started paying attention to it and got a name for it, I
believe he suffered from a pretty severe case of PTSD.
In
addition to the two Purple Heart medals he received for his injuries, he
was also a Sargent and squad leader. He and his squad were once trapped
behind enemy lines in the jungle for three days, and he brought them
all out without a scratch. For that and for an assault on a machine gun
emplacement, If I remember rightly, he was also awarded a Bronze Star
and a Silver Star. For those of you who don’t knew the honor of those
two medals, let me just state plainly that they are given to heroes. Our
father was a hero, a true warrior, and we all miss him to this day. He
died on, June 6, D-Day 1984. He died unnecessarily, from an internal
bleed they never should have missed. Our father was a highly
intelligent, creative, intuitive (beyond belief, really), and skilled
person. The war changed his life from one in which he would have been
highly educated and, quite likely, very successful
economically. Perhaps it’s true that we all would have lead more
successful lives, if only...
We
didn’t get called to make the sacrifices and suffer the life changes he
was given, but what happened to him, also happened to us. Remember him,
and remember the others like him, and their families as well.
And may peace be with us.
Rick
I
am forever grateful for my Uncle for Sharing this with the whole
family. I knew some of those facts about my Grandpa, but it was so nice
to have the gaps filled in. I am forever honor and grateful to have
known, such a wonderful man in my life, that I called Grandpa. I only
got to spend a short 6 years of my life with him, but to this day I hold
many fond memories of him. My Grandpa was a true Hero!
Your
probably wondering how I tied this in with family home evening. I
gathered the family together, Karrie's family joined us. I talked about
why this day, Memorial Day is so special ,and what it means. I then
showed the kids a picture of my Grandpa, their Great Grandpa ,while my
Brother-in-law read the above story. I know I felt the spirit strongly
today in our family room. I told the children that many people have die
in the service of our country. They have help make it possible for us
to worship where and how we may, and for the freedoms we have. I also
told them that many in this world don't know about the gospel and the
promise that we can be together forever. That those who have died at
war can once again be with there loved ones. I talked about what a
great blessing in our lives to have that knowledge and the peace that
can bring. I told them that we can see Grandpa Spafford again, and
what a joyful day that will be. We should want to share this with
everyone we know.
We
ended our lesson with a song and pray and then started our activity. To
help share the knowledge we have of the gospel we decided to buy red,
white, and blue helium balloons; and attached pass along cards, with
information that people could call to know more about the church and
eternal families. We also wrote messages on the balloons that said
things like... God Bless American, We love you Grandpa, We support our
Troops, Jesus Loves You, etc.
We
gave each child and adult a balloon to let go into the sky. We had
some troubles with the weight of the card and the string. We quickly
learned the string had to be very short to not put so much weight on the
balloon. The kids had blast with this, they watch their balloons float
high up in the sky. My dad even laid on his back on the ground to get a
better view and some of the grand kids joined him. It was fun to point
out the different colors and see how high they were going. I once did
this activity in Elementary school to see if anyone would write back,
kind of like a pen pal. It was a neat experience.
I
don't know if anything will come of those pass along cards, but it sure
felt great to take time to remember our veterans, and soldiers. It
also felt great to help share the gospel to others and the knowledge of
how Families can be together forever! We ended the evening with Ice
cream Sundaes. I think this is definitely a repeat family home evening
for future Memorial days.
God
Bless American ,and all those who have served and are serving in the
Military. Happy Memorial Day to everyone! We love you Grandpa Spafford!
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