Staff Sergeant William J. Guarnere

[+Dave 2,322]

Died yesterday.........RIP

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guarnere

[macelena 1,070]

Hail Gonorrhea!! RIP SSG

Edited March 9, 2014 by macelena

[Nesher 628]

S!

[+streakeagle 871]

<S>

I sincerely believe they truly were the greatest generation.

[Viggen 644]

I had the chance to meet him at World War II Weekend at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in 2005.

 

RIP

[Stratos 3,191]

S!

[von Baur 54]

Streakeagle:

I wouldn't disagree with your statement, but I'd bet that he would. My guess is that any WWII vet (or Korean, for that matter) would look at the dangers of Viet Nam, Afghanistan and Iraq and thank their lucky stars that when they put their lives on the line it was in a conflict that had generally stable and identifiable front lines and areas of safety not far from them. I also think that they couldn't comprehend how today's fighting men can maintain their edge when they know that death could come from seemingly harmless things like a basket of fruit, a parked car or a civilian walking down the road at literally any moment, day or night, from the time they enter the theater until the time they leave it. They didn't have a "tour of duty", no. Their enlistment was "the duration plus six months". But realistically a man who hit the beach on D-Day and survived to the end of the war, with no R&R, still only served 10 months on the front line. A tour in Viet Nam was a year, as it was in Iraq II and until recently in Afghanistan. I take nothing away from the WWII vets (my father was one of them). But don't set them on such a pedestal that you sell short the current generation.

 

 

Viggen:

You should count yourself a lucky man (as I'm sure you do, given you remember it nine years later).

 

 

And finally (lest any of you feel the first part of this was too severe):

I'm a paratrooper. I went through Basic Airborne Training in October of 1973. I came out of that thoroughly indoctrinated in the "Airborne" mindset and full of bluster and bravado. Later I went to Jumpmaster School which, combined with the hundred or so militarty jumps I've made, qualifies me to wear Master Parachutist wings. And I did so, proudly, throughout my military career. Even into civilian life I was proud of those wings, and still am. When faced with challenges I always think to myself that if I could do that then I can do anything.

 

Then in 2001 I watched "Band of Brothers." I identified with the men as they went through their training in the first episode. I even feel that Sobel was somewhat shortshrifted by his portrayal. And while I wouldn't follow him into a convenience store it was his drive that forged these individuals into a solid unit that could stand the worst that the Nazis and the weather could throw at them from June 5th through the Bulge and into Germany. But mostly, especially after the bullets started flying, I felt ashamed. Ashamed that I had put myself on the pedestal that those men bought with their blood and built with their bones. They earned the airborne its reputation by living through what I can't even imagine. And as proud of my "master-blasters" as I am, his skeeter wings are worth more by many orders of magnitude. So for this, to him and those who went before and will go after him, I say:

 

SALUTE

 

and thank you

 

and rest easy, soldier.

 

 

**editted for spelling**

Edited March 10, 2014 by von Baur

[FalconC45 162]

 

Falcon

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

RIP soldier...

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

RIP

 

I firmly believe, that young men today, WOULD do the same... I think we tarnish them too easily, because we're old farts!