Indelible Images

My dad, who served in both WWII and the Korean War, has always kept my interest in these wars high. I guess it's every son's quest to discover his father's journey. My dad is filled with stories from his life of almost 84 years. Some of those include meeting Frank Sinatra and Gary Cooper, as well as being under-aged and kicked out of a bar by Nat "King" Cole. The written recollection entitled, It Occurs To Me, is a monument to Pop's days on the earth. His story is still being written and it will be published one day.

Since the 50th anniversary of D-Day, the movie Saving Private Ryan, and HBO's Band of Brothers, there is a resurgence of interest in WWII. Numerous first-hand recollections of the young men and women who survived these terrible battles have been written into memoirs, video taped and kept for posterity. As the "Greatest Generation" fades away into history, I am thankful for all the information I can gather about these brave souls.

Two DVDs I purchased lately are a harrowing, intense collection of stories by men who fought in the Pacific, European and N. African campaigns of the war. One is called Peleliu, 1944: Horror In the Pacific. Produced in 1991, it contains interviews rarely seen of the late Eugene Sledge, one of the central characters in HBO's Pacific mini-series.The second is WWII In HD from the History Channel (2009). This DVD, a linear account of the entire breadth of the war, is available in Blu-ray and contains over 7 hours of color footage, much of it recently discovered and mastered in high definition.

It is amazing that after almost 70 years these aging veterans recall the frightful images with an emotional immediacy--just as if they were still there in the midst of battle. I will continue to study the Greatest Generation, once described by a news correspondent at the beginning of the war as being a generation unable to rise to the occasion that invaded their young lives. However, as subsequent history has proven, my dad's generation did indeed rise admirably to the responsibility forced upon them. I am forever grateful.