Yesterday I spent the morning at The Bridges, a local assisted living community on Bloomingdale Avenue. I was there to interview the first three of 16 World War Two veterans I’ll be profiling over the next couple of months for a local newspaper (Check in with The Osprey Observer for the full stories as they are published).
I enjoyed meeting Theodore, Dorothea, and Clyde, and I’m sure that what I write will make for interesting news articles. But the absolute best thing about the experience was simply listening to people in their 80’s and 90’s share with me the story of their lives.
1,000 PER DAY: The cold truth is that – here in the USA – we are loosing WW2 veterans at the mind-boggling rate of more than 1,000 per day. And, for those veterans nobody took the time to listen to, their stories are going to the grave with them.
The combination of the lack of interest displayed by family members, The Greatest Generation‘s disinclination to talk about themselves, and a creeping national historical illiteracy has led to an alarming ignorance when it comes to how World War Two shaped the modern world . The facts (if we care to know them) can always be dug up and re-packaged, but it’s the stories that we’re missing.
VIGNETTES: Theodore was a GI in the Philippines, then Korea, and then Vietnam. Clyde trained tank commanders; he was an artist when it came to manhandling the behemoth amphibian vehicles that landed troops and equipment on the beachheads. Dorothea served in New York and Washington as a WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).
The part of Dorothea’s story that caught my attention was the fact that her daughter didn’t know anything about her mom’s wartime service until she was an adult. Apparently her story was suppressed because it was embarrassing to a lot of men (including her husband, an officer in the Navy) that they had needed the help of women in uniform.
What came through most strongly for me was the fact that each veteran I talked with yesterday simply served; they were dutiful and they faithful; they did their jobs because their jobs needed to be done.
SIMPLE VALUE: There’s a hugely important value that’s evident in the stories of these men and women, and the value repeated itself many times throughout their lives. These folk didn’t pick and choose what they spent their time doing based on if they thought they’d enjoy it or not; instead, they did what they did out of a sense of duty and because it needed to be done.
Sometimes I worry that too many of us waste a lot of time, and effort, and resources demanding “fun,” or “happiness,” or “fulfillment,” when what really needs to happen is putting our shoulders to the plow and getting the work done. Because, like the WW2 vets repeatedly told me, “I did it because it needed doing.”
TAKE AWAY: My take away for you from today’s post is this: If you know any veterans, talk with them. Don’t just talk, but listen. Make sure they know their story is important and that it’s not going to pass away when they do.
If you don’t know any veterans (or their families), volunteer to visit at a nursing home or assisted living facility. Remember, the greatest gift you can give to an elderly person (veteran or not) is to be interested in their story, and to listen.
– DEREK
Thank you for the prompt, Derek. Of course, knowing you is living with constant prompts … you just never know what the next one is going to be. The prompt in this case is to be more diligent about where I am. The Retired Officers Corporation started Freedom Plaza, and it was only some years after the opening that non-military types could move in here. The percentage of retired military here is still way above average. And you are right: They all have a story … in fact, many stories. Charles
You are so right, Derek. These WW2 vets do not talk much about it. My father-in-law was in the third wave at Normandy and ended up in what is now the Czech Republic – on foot all the way. That is about all we know about his duty in Europe except for the questionable “songs he learned in the war” that he makes up to win board games and that he still has a little piece of shrapnel in his leg! He was also in Korea and talks just as little about that.
It is also true that these same folk have a need to get things done. My theory is that for the most part our parents’ generation is about the last generation that had to work really hard all their lives. Even as kids they had chores to do that meant food on the table or money for fuel, etc. My dad and father-in-law literally had to put their shoulders to the plow – they were farm boys. My mom cleaned and cooked and gardened alongside her sisters. We boomers and subsequent generations have had it really easy when it comes to just plain hard work. So we whine an awful lot about how tough our lives are.
These stories are important. We really need to listen. Thanks.
[…] NOTE: Today is Part Two of my ongoing series on veterans who live in a local assisted living center. Read the first story @WW2 Veterans, Listen to Their Stories. […]