Pappy Cracker runned away to join the Marines when he was 15. Found a barmaid to sign that she wuz his mama an' give her permission fer an underage boy-chile to join up.
On his 16th Birthday, December 7th, he earned his Purple Heart at Peal Harbor. PFC when he discharged five years later... fought in the Pacific, cold, hungry an' afraid. An' thar' was an army of men and ladies jes' like him.
Does y'all know that few WWII vets is left?
Mah Daddy is one of 'em, an we's gatherin' the clan fer a mighty celebration--specially since his birthday is akshully Dec 7th.
Reckon that makes the comin' Pearl Harbor day extra special fer these brave souls that made all that is dear to us Americans possible to keep--to this point. We owe them thanks, but forgive me if this hits yore ears harshly, we owe them our own future--iffin' we doan protect and defend our way of life, the Constitution, our freedoms, then we's turned our backs on the sacrifice these men and women made. Now they's dyin' an some is wonderin' if what they won can be saved by folks like you an' me.
I'se grateful others feel the same an made this heah little video fer ya to think on....
11 comments:
Papa Troll enlisted in the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor and was selected for Officer Training.
He started out as "Ensign Pulver" and by War's End he was "Mr. Roberts". But all on the same supply ship that was a part of 6 Pacific invasions.
Memorable war-time actions included a Kamikaze Plane that missed the ship by 20 feet but still damaged it and having to arrest a LARGE sailor who'd just killed his buddy with a knife. The latter event caused Papa to swear off alcohol for the duration. That sailor was executed.
In post-war service, he stripped one of the ships that was then filled with monitoring equipment and nuked. I think I wrote about that on the old Troll Report. He became suspicous when an armada of Admirals and DC Bigshots and Scientists arrived and he overheard one of them say " YOU PUT A F===ING TROLL LT. IN CHARGE OF THIS???!!!!" to the chagrined base Commander. I don't think that Commander was executed but I'm sure his hopes of advancement vanished that day.
Papa Troll does NOT wonder if Generation YO! and yours and my generation and the Baby Boomers are capable of doing what is necessary to preserve freedom.
He is absolutely convinced we lack the "cajones", as they say. And similarly doesn't believe Generation Yo! or Boomers could have prevailed against the Axis Powers in WW2.
Let's hope he's wrong and that the tiny generation of us between Boomer and YO! ages can save the day.
And to think my 17 and a half year old niece can't even get off her butt long enough to get a job. As much as I love her, and as much as I hate finding myself becoming one of those "five miles through the snow uphill" kind of people, at his point, I just want to drag her off to the armed forces. Before I wring her neck.
no i am not too hopeful here. the blood of our betters bought the most cush life a generation could ever have. you cant even get people to buck up against surveiliance and monitoring of emails, this TSA police state outrage, taxed into serfdom, doing nada about massive intrinsic corruption. having the bankers steal wealth and then force us to have a debt so great it is more money than is in the world. and still you have rushes on black friday. this country will go down in a whimper as people get "used to" being a cared for cow in a feed lot chewing on dancing with the stars all day.
if i were younger, i would leave the USA. i would. doan know where id go, but this is insane what we are living.
Troll-Man,
ya come from good stock. I hope Papa Troll is understimatin' the Boomers but I meself see hope in the gen Ys. But, too many of 'em wuz unborned.
Moi,
She is in the company of millions more jes' like her--think of all the "celebrities" who went to war in WWII an Korea--how they understood Hollywood wasn't real, but war was...today it is reversed--none of these navel gazers gits it. AN' they ain't got a whiff of what real world horror awaits their marshmallow tushies. Grrrrr!
Chick9!!
Happy B'day Sweet Chile'!
No hope? doan say it--try to git all ya know up to speed. I done give some thought to emigratin' too--but I have a Cuban friend who said:
"MY Grandfather left Spain for Cuba after the Civil War, my father left Cuba when Castro came to power, where on earth will I take my family? There is no place. We'd better stand and fight."
I have enormous respect for men of the caliber of your dad and Papa Troll. MANY of the volunteers were indeed teens who came from farms, factories, schools across this country to stand up and sacrifice for the beliefs of a nation they love.
The current youth lost out on the unifying of "In God We Trust",
"Liberty and Justice for All" ,
and one language one nation realities. What is truly sad is once the few successfully removed these essentials from our schools; families, churches, & communities did not step up to fill the void.
Do you visit the online publication American Thinker?
Earlier this week there was an article by Daniel Fitzgerald ,
" Dependency and the Destruction of American Virtues". He talks of spiritual bankruptcy preceding economic bankruptcy and I fear he might be right. But it made me wonder if a serious effort could be made to address the spiritual bankruptcy issue of our nations youth?
What is starting to happen is this. Many of the young folks who have fine educations, no jobs and huge school loan debts are looking at the realities of their futures. The bank of Mom and Dad has been forced to close it's doors and those that do have paychecks are stunned by how little of their earnings make it to their direct deposit accounts. The reality bite is painful enough to get their attention. The lucky ones have parents or grandparents who can indeed explain to them "how this happened". They look to seniors like your Dad or Papa Troll for understanding. The " Greatest Generation" learned tough early lessons which motivated them to be the most they could be every day. Because tomorrow your sailor buddy might knife you or you might get crippled by polio or a teen from the other side of the planet might drop a bomb on you.
They learned what could be accomplished in pursuit of a common goal based on a common belief system. They also saw no need to support the able bodied but lazy.
Like others I have thought about the stay or go question. I am staying because I cannot withstand the life of living in arctic or equatorial conditions.
That being said, if I could find an organization of those of Troll's generation which are actively trying to educate the Yo's and the Wo's, I would make contributions.
Auntie,
thank you for the stark truth of things you post. What will become of this nation in 30 more years?
*choke*
Reckon maybe we'll get raptured afore the final coffin nail?
I am so very grateful to my late father-in-law and his mates! They made sure Duller didn't have to go to war. How incredibly sad that it took just one ME generation to obliterate the national memory. *sigh*
We, too, have wondered amongst ourownselves, 'where can we go?' I don't even fly, so another planet is pretty much not an option.
I've never read a LOTR book, nor seen a LOTR movie, but someone sent me to this clip and my timbers was shivered. 'Stand, men of the West!'
My Dad left Iowa at the age of 17 to join the army. That was 1943. If the bomb hadn't ended the war, he was going to be the first ones in to attack Japan. After he died, we found a box of pictures/etc from his time in the army. He rarely spoke about it, but I know it meant a great deal to him because of the way he had preserved his memories.
Happy Birthday to your Father today!
As for our future? I wonder if the next generation can pull their heads out of their cell phones and video games to understand the importance of freedom. In some ways, I agree with Chickory. I'd leave. Probably to Canada.
Aunty, one does not need to be born on that era, nor here to understand and appreciate sacrifice. It is OUR responsibility to teach, share and keep fighting to preserve these memories, which most people hope and others foolishly believe will not happen again. Just because we live under the camo nets of the freeloading and distorted media, it doesn't mean that is not happening right now. Aunty, it is happening right now. I want to honor those who sacrificed everything for us to be here, by staying unsedated and aggressively free to choose over my life. (Some don't know what that really means)
My father-in-law was on the Enterprise. And my father landed at Normandy. Wish we had them here to honor.
yeah,
my daddy walked barefoot down a mississippi dirt road and signed up for WWII when he was 17. it must have been hard on my grandma. she already had two sons in that war. all of them are dead now. the WWII uncle who was just 1 1/2 years older then my daddy died just last year. he lost an eye saving other soldiers during D Day. He never talked much about that war except that they called my father "the kid" (yes, they met up 3 days after d day) because he was so young. as if 18 1/2 is so much older, eh?
i hope you had a wonderfully special day with pappy cracker. i know this is late, but give him a big ole hug from me.
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