My dad served in the Army and in the Air Force. Instead of finishing high school, he joined the Army to fight in WWII like his older siblings. I was surprised to discover some of his sisters served in the military too. My mom worked for a company that produced products for the war but she wasn't in the military. They met and married in Fort Worth and I was born an Air Force brat at Carswell Air Force hospital.
Dad received the Purple Heart for being shot by a German tank in the Battle of Anzio (Italy). The German tank came up over a hill and was shooting at everything. Dad was shot in the back as he fell to the ground for cover. As the tank guns rotated away, he and another soldier crawled behind a tree where the tank could not see them. He still has shrapnel in his back. The German tank was the largest tank in the world at the time.
At some point he was also involved in the release of prisoners of a German concentration camp. He used to have a book that showed pictures of the concentration camp and we used to look at the book without recognizing the horrors of what we were really seeing. I wish I could find the book so those horrors are not forgotten and the sacrifices of Allied soldiers are neither forgotten nor trivialized.
Dad also had frozen toes from another battle and recovered on an American battleship that was commanded by the British. Yes, they had tea in the afternoon.
I am proud to be the daughter of a Veteran.
Here's my brother Alan before he went to Germany:
One time, he was on an Army troop transport plane ready to go to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War but luckily the transport plane never had to leave ground. He spent most of his service in Germany and he used to put Coca-Cola bottles in the snow to cool them.
His service was much different than our Dads experience. And I am grateful that my Dad and brother came back alive and well when so many did not.
Veterans are special people that served our country to preserve our freedom. THANK YOU.
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