¶ … interview I conducted with my grandfather.
My Grandfather
The person I admire the most in life has to be my grandfather. He is an extraordinary man, one of those rare breeds that only come along every generation or so. He's an educated man and by that I do not mean he has a string of degrees after his name, but a very well-read person with common sense and a respect for the good in life. He is eighty-two years old this year. This interview was held in his den, surrounded by his books and favorite things.
Granddad, what is you fondest memory?
My fondest memory? Well, that would have to be your grandmother's face smiling through the tears at me when I came home from the war. Wars now aren't like they were back then. Hell, you can't even call them wars now, not really. I was gone over four years, came home not more than four or five times, and once it was over eighteen months in between furloughs. That's a long time to be away from someone you love. It was hard on everyone, though.
Q. What was it like for you in the war?
A. It was hell, that's what it was, pure hell. This generation doesn't...
Now we just go over and bomb some dot on the map and call it a war. World War II was exactly that, the entire world was involved, from one end of the globe to the other. And even though there were no battles fought here, this entire country was restructured for the war. Hell, women couldn't even buy rubber nipples for baby bottles, 'cause the rubber had to be used for the war. But no one complained, hell, that was little sacrifice compared to what most of the world was going through and everyone knew it. Ask your grandmother sometime about what she did during those years when I was away and she had two babies to care for. But as far as the war, well, most of it is too painful to recollect and too long, it could fill a book. Let's just say that I saw my share of blood and guts, as they say. Men maimed every way imaginable. Some lost legs or arms or both, some were blinded, some lost their manhood, and some didn't make it at all. I don't mean to trivialize and evade your questions, but war stories are hard for the teller and hard for the listener. That movie "Private Ryan" though, that's the best movie portrayal I've seen yet, but…
