Papou's Tribute: Veterans Day

"Papou" Chicago/2008

I just read that obese ten year olds have the arteries of forty-five year olds. That is so offensive to forty-five year olds, I should know! Anyway, I know this blog can be ridiculously inane at times, and this post would have been no different if not for a letter sent to my father from my younger brother, and then forwarded to me. It struck me on so many levels, not least of which is the realization that I have no real concept of what it means to sacrifice. Also, I notice that I have been a knee jerk war opponent my entire life--unapologetically so btw--because almost every U.S. military action in my life time has seemed gratuitous. World War Two was different.

My ninety year old father, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment in Chicago, is a veteran of WW II. He served in the Air Force, flying thirty-five missions over Europe, while his six Greek-American brothers also served simultaneously in the European theater. That life is so removed from anything I could ever imagine. No surprise that I didn't understand why my father was upset that I had worn his incredibly sharp green wool Air Force uniform, stripes n'all, to a Halloween party in 1998. I went as Ben Affleck in "Pearl Harbor", wearing it to a smokey venue, and not exactly showing it, or him, the respect either deserved. Anyway, it fit like a glove, and I looked great in it, but still...I didn't get it.

My brother Mike gets it. He sent this letter to him this week:

Hey Dad,
I wanted to send you an email to wish you a good Veterans Day and to thank you again for your service to our country. What your generation did to protect our freedom was second to none. The U.S. was forced into that war after Pearl Harbor was attacked and if it wasn’t for the courage, bravery and the strong character of your generation, we wouldn’t be where we are today. I’ve spoken with you about this before, but it makes me proud when you said that you were not upset that the country DRAFTED people into the military, that you KNEW you had to get in there and fight back to protect our {Country} regardless if they drafted you or not.

I appreciate you sharing some of your stories with me over the years, like crash landing in Brussels when you thought you were over Germany and had to make a decision to bring her down or jump. You guys decided to bring the big bird down to the ground and take your chances. The ball turret should have dug into the ground and force the front of the plane into the ground but by the grace of god the ball turret sheared off on impact and you were able to belly in to the field successfully. The landing was rough, but you survived. You and your men got out of there as quick as you could, thinking you were in Germany (but in reality you had made it to Brussels, a safe zone). As you were running out, the natives were running in to the plane and ransacking it. You didn’t care what they took, you were just happy to be alive.

Or, how about during one of your first of 35 bombing missions when the heavy flak pierced the thin plane lining and narrowly missed you, but did cut your oxygen hose. You knew from basic training that a man can only survive a few minutes without sufficient oxygen. You were running around the plane looking for a replacement hose unsuccessfully and desperately yelled at the pilot in the cockpit about your dire situation. He calmed you down and showed you the location of a replacement air hose. You were so worked up that you started getting sick out of the bombing doors, but you kept going and got your mission completed.

Or, how about the time you got caught without your dog tags by the MP and they put you in a holding cell. You kept telling the police that you needed to play ping pong on your Captain’s team that night. The police kept saying, you’re not going anywhere tonight! You asked to make one call, and when you reached your Captain he said, “let me talk to who ever is in charge over there”. When the military policeman got off the phone with your Captain he turned to you and said “why didn’t you tell me you were playing ping pong tonight with the Captain?!”. He let you go.

These are only 3 of the many war stories that we have discussed over the years, thank you for sharing them with me. Thanks again for your sacrifice.

Mike