My paratrooper father often remarked in 1998 that I should read Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation.

Although my sisters and brother at various intervals of our childhood would attempt to question Dad about the war, he had great difficulty talking about it. We grew up in a household filled with books, articles and documentaries regarding the war, but could not discuss it with Dad, except for him to say, “whatever you read or see, it was much worse.” But the book was enormous and I never got around to it. Dad passed away in January 1999. When I came across the book, I decided to begin reading it and a flood of memories started coming back. I was 16 and my younger sister 13. There was an incident that caused my father tremendous stress and triggered a wartime memory causing him to blurt out in a rage, “you don’t realize what could happen to a young girl unprotected.” He broke down into uncontrollable tears and walked away. That was the only time we saw him break down. We knew he had much hidden pain, and yet we had no clue…

It is only after reading The Greatest Generation and after the death of my veteran father that I really and truly began to understand him. And in understanding my father, I am beginning to know myself a bit more. I wrote a letter to Tom Brokaw to thank him for honoring the men and women of the greatest generation. Apparently thousands of other children of WWII veterans flooded Mr. Brokaw with letters that read almost identical to mine. That is when Tom Brokaw published our letters in his sequel, THE GREATEST GENERATION SPEAKS. The following is one of three of Dad’s letters published in this book and written during 1944 to his then sweetheart who later became my mother. She was 17 years old in this photo. Dad was 20. This letter was written after his participation in D-Day, Carentan (June 1944), Holland (September 1944) and the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944). Mr. Brokaw was amazed at such maturity for a man of twenty, especially for those times. Not bad for a country boy from Petersburg, Indiana.

Auxerre, France
August 9, 1945
Darling,
I’m so glad you feel the way you do about the racial problems of today. At least we shouldn’t be fighting over that. I want my children to be brought up to feel that they are equal and not to hate people because they are black. Oh I can’t really explain it here on paper, but I’m sure you know what I mean. As you said, Hon, we wouldn’t have the large racial problem we have today if the parents didn’t teach their children about it.
~ Forever yours, David

Comes A Soldier’s Whisper remembering history and our veterans, one day at a time.

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