COMES A SOLDIER’S WHISPER has now reached TEN THOUSAND LIKES! We want to extend our many thanks of gratitude for your visits and support in honoring our veterans of the past and present. We enjoy posting daily stories to remember and honor our past which gives us strength and empowers us to move forward making a better world and future for our children. “Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.” ~ Abraham Lincoln From veterans…..
Today would have been my parents 68th wedding anniversary. Dad was honorably discharged on November 20, 1945 and arrived back in his hometown of Petersburg, Indiana in December to attend to his grandmother who was caring for his four younger siblings. There is a wonderful and heartfelt story that unfolds upon his return… He was such a loving and respectful son, brother and grandson, a family man. Dad would make sure that all was in order with his family before…..
This is how the featured V-Mail dated February 1, 1945 reads at the very end, as my 101st Airborne father would write from a hospital recovering from his wounds received during the Battle of the Bulge. Few things mattered more to the soldiers serving abroad than getting letters from home. Dad was no different. The mail was indispensable. It motivated them and kept them going. Some might say that the war couldn’t have been won without the mail. In 1942,…..
Guy C. Whidden, II is featured today, a 101st Airborne paratrooper who is 94 years old this year who actually completed a “re-jump” in 1994 at the age of 74! He is pictured on the front cover of his book to the far left. Mr. Whidden published his wartime letters which were carefully saved by his mother, Myrtel Ruttle Whidden. Like my father’s book, Comes A Soldier’s Whisper, Guy’s book, Between The Lines is not a history of war, but…..
History is who we are and why we are the way we are. History is not just the past. History is in the making in the present. History helps us become informed, active citizens of the world (and of our home countries). It is a “collective memory.” It shows us who we are as a group: our past, our values, and our hopes. Knowing this collective memory is a key to becoming an informed citizen. And being an informed citizen…..
Over the course of WWII, the U.S. government would spend more than $321 million-well over $3trillion in today’s terms, twice as much as it ha spent in the previous 150 years. Greatly increased income taxes provided much of the needed revenue. When the war began, fewer than 4 million Americans paid federal income taxes; by its end, more than 40 million did. But the government also borrowed some $185 billion through the sale of war bonds. Banks, insurance companies, and…..
In gratitude to the American Airborne & Allies No longer a hiding place… During 1943 and into 1944, there were usually as many as seven people illegally living in the ten Boom home in Holland with Jews and members of the Dutch underground. Additional refugees would stay with the ten Booms for a few hours or a few days until another “safe house” could be located for them. Corrie became a ringleader within the network of the Haarlem, Holland underground……
There are so many lovely books to add to your reading list. When you put them altogether, you have a glimpse into what the greatest generation was like. After reading through The Hidden Legacy and Reconciliation to name just a few, I realized that I was not alone on my journey to understand my father and myself. The Hidden Legacy of World War II ~ Carol Schultz Vento (visit her page www.facebook.com/pages/Daughters-of-D-Day/471455020396) Reconciliation, A Son’s Story ~ Kevin Steve Sparks…..
“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things” – Cicero “Found about 300 letters from my dad to his family during WW2. He wrote like a poet describing his life as a soldier. Brought me to tears. Miss him everyday.” – Matthew B Medearis The above is a comment posted on our March 12th post about how important a soldier’s letters and thoughts are, communications sent back home to his family and friends. For those of you who are…..
Dad, a paratrooper in 101st Airborne 502nd PIR mentioned that he once saw two men riding in a jeep decapitated by wire that had been stretched out on a road by the Germans. The Jerries , as Dad referred to the Germans in his letters, were known to string tough piano wires neck-high across the roads that Allied Jeeps traveled on. The steel tension wire provided a nasty way to lop off the heads of Jeep drivers and passengers. Often…..
