The Greatest Generation

I'm assuming by the term the Greatest Generation refers to those who were young adults who served the country is some capacity (armed services, etc) during WWII.   My grandparents were too old to serve by then though one of my uncles did serve around that time.  I think he was in the air force but it may have been after the war - I'd have to check with my mother.   She might remember (in her 80's now) and she might not.

My Mom was too young having been born in '38 during the Depression.   But she did tell of having to do without during the war years.  She was the 11th of 13 children and told stories of having to go barefoot during the summer to save her shoes for when she went to school.   Stories of rationing - no sugar or floor available due to rationing.   Grandpa was limited to 10 gallons of gasoline per week - I think he worked for GM at the time - that may have been after the war.  They grew Victory Gardens to keep themselves fed.   Drank goats milk.   They were lucky to get anything at Christmas.   They lived near a small village buried in the hills of central PA.  So small if you blinked you missed it.

Consequently, Mom learned to save money every which way she could so her children and grand children would never have to do without like she did.   Consequently, my sister and I never truly experienced what she and her siblings went through.   But we weren't handed everything on a platter either.   She made sure to provide us with the basics and occasionally something extra.  Some things we had to figure out on our own (some times with guidance).   My oldest daughter spoils her kids - they have no clue what its like to having virtually nothing.  My wife and I tried to raise our 4 children such that we provided the basics and a little more at times, but if you don't raise them to be independent, how will they learn to handle tough times?

That said, that truly was the Greatest Generation - they helped win a war they didn't start and those that survived went on to help this nation become the great nation it is today.

No argument here that it was the greatest generation. The greatest generation is more deserving than to succumb to a virus of all things.  

I lost an extended member of my family this weekend to Covid-19.   He was 91 years old and a veteran.   He was my brother in law's father and the father of my college roommate.  He had a big part in my wife and I meeting in college.   My kids loved him and always came back from their Maine summer trip talking about "Capt Jack" and the things they did together.  "Capt Jack" told my kids stories, took them fishing, and taught them new swear words.   We're going to miss "Capt Jack" a lot next summer.     He was a great guy and great American.

Everybody stay safe!

I'm a boomer -- pretty ancient for a '15 and '17 parent. My parents were from the Greatest Generation.  I grew up surrounded by men who had fought in WWII, but never heard them talk about it. They were more into working hard and having fun, from what I saw. True story: a group of young couples in our town started a rotating Friday party they called "The Martini  Club", and they kept it up for a couple of decades. A second group who were not included in the first started their own "Sour Grapes Club," which lasted even longer.

My mom lived through the Depression but she was more likely to talk about being a teenaged Frank Sinatra groupie back in the day in New Jersey.  My father was a B-17 pilot in Europe and also a flight instructor. He died when I was young.  My step-father served on a destroyer in the Pacific and survived one of the major battles and two kamikaze hits. He would talk about that and about life on the ship if you asked. The most interesting WWII story I know is about a man my mom was engaged to during the war.  I have a photo of him; he was movie-star handsome.  He was shot down over Germany fairly late in the war, survived that, and was in a POW camp for several months.  He was involved in a successful escape attempt, and also survived that, and made it to the Allied front in France.  The Army AF sent him to a base in Texas, where he was struck and killed by lighting while he was playing golf.  Just his time, I guess. My mother continued to wear his engagement ring even while married to her first and then second husband. She only took it off when she gave it to me to give to my wife.

My father and his twin graduated from high school in 1942. Talk about bad timing for having your college sports aspirations crushed. 

When my father returned he headed off to a Big Ten to play football. He said after fighting a war football didn’t appeal to him the same way. He got injured and transferred to a (now) NESCAC as a family legacy (6th generation). He returned to playing baseball.

The Class of 1950 had a reunion at commencement every year as opposed to every five years like other classes. The banner said, Class of 1950, Bowdoin’s biggest and best.

As a little kid I never thought through why it was the biggest class and the arrogance of why they thought they were the best. Why were they so connected they wanted to see each other every year? 

When I got older it hit me three years of returning WWII vets were in the class of 1950. My father was 26 when he graduated from college.

My grandfather had returned from WWI to start college in his twenties. He also played college baseball.

My father’s twin was also an athlete. He was a NASCAR driver. As he moved up the ranks he felt he was risking his life too much. Or, as he put it he got scared. He became a NASCAR official.

We don’t need to qualify race car drivers by a 60 time or a cone drill. But it takes incredible reactions and nerves of steel. Imagine going 190 mph inches behind one car with another inches behind you. 

JCG posted:

My mother continued to wear his engagement ring even while married to her first and then second husband. She only took it off when she gave it to me to give to my wife.

Wow, that's pretty amazing! Your wife will have to keep that story alive!

Greatest are the parents of boomers. They are the offspring of  of the lost generation, who grew up and came of age during WWI.

The silent generation are those born between 1925-1945.

Boomers starts 1946. Gen X starts 1965. Xennials 1975, Gent Y aka millenials birth starts at 1980.

It's really amazing to see how prevalent serving our country was in the past. 

My last name is very rare. In fact, if someone else in this country shares the same name they are related. I didn't grow up around any family other that my immediate family. My father didn't share too many stories so I figure I could count extended relatives on two hands (he had six sisters). My mother and father served in the Navy--that's where they met. My mother's father served in the Army during  WWII. My brother and I both served and we figured we were it. I think we ended up serving (we both retired from the service) because we grew up watching movies and newsreels about the "greatest generation". Once the internet emerged and genealogy became big I learned a bit more about my family. I've had a relative killed in the Vietnam conflict, a relative (medical doctor) who was a prisoner of war in a camp in Japan, another was survivor at Pearl Harbor. I've seen family members' WWII discharge papers, WW1 discharge papers, and Civil War discharge papers. And there may be more I'm not aware of. All this from one guy, his wife and two small children who came over on a boat in 1857.

I deployed and served in both Iraq conflicts and my brother deployed to Afghanistan. My daughter is a currently a linguist in the Navy, my brother's son served in Afghanistan, and my sister's son just enlisted to serve in the Navy. And so it goes.

Our country is much bigger today and the numbers that have served our country in the military have dwindled. That's a very good thing! If the % of Americans who served reached WWII levels, it would be a sign the world is not doing very well.

We can thank our ancestors who made this country what it is and we owe it to them to keep it going.

ABSORBER,

I had the same type of last name before I got married. If I meet someone with same name (maybe spelled a bit differently), we try to figure out if we are related.

fenwaysouth posted:

No argument here that it was the greatest generation. The greatest generation is more deserving than to succumb to a virus of all things.  

I lost an extended member of my family this weekend to Covid-19.   He was 91 years old and a veteran.   He was my brother in law's father and the father of my college roommate.  He had a big part in my wife and I meeting in college.   My kids loved him and always came back from their Maine summer trip talking about "Capt Jack" and the things they did together.  "Capt Jack" told my kids stories, took them fishing, and taught them new swear words.   We're going to miss "Capt Jack" a lot next summer.     He was a great guy and great American.

Everybody stay safe!

I am so sorry for your loss.

TPM posted:

ABSORBER,

I had the same type of last name before I got married. If I meet someone with same name (maybe spelled a bit differently), we try to figure out if we are related.

I've always wondered how I would feel taking someone else's name! Lately I've seen plenty of hyphenated names in the military but after seeing how some of them look on uniforms I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you are a petit person! Pockets on camouflage blouses are only so big and are proportional!!! You reading glasses to see some of them!

Makes me wonder what things would be like if women had always kept their maiden names. Of course then would parents assign one or the other to their children? Ah, makes my head hurt!

ABSORBER posted:

TPM posted:

ABSORBER,

I had the same type of last name before I got married. If I meet someone with same name (maybe spelled a bit differently), we try to figure out if we are related.

I've always wondered how I would feel taking someone else's name! Lately I've seen plenty of hyphenated names in the military but after seeing how some of them look on uniforms I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you are a petit person! Pockets on camouflage blouses are only so big and are proportional!!! You reading glasses to see some of them!

Makes me wonder what things would be like if women had always kept their maiden names. Of course then would parents assign one or the other to their children? Ah, makes my head hurt!

 When my daughter got married she changed her name to four names. Without hyphenating she added her married last name to her given full name. She goes by her married name. 

ABSORBER posted:

My last name is very rare.

So is mine.   Like you if I see my last name there is a good chance it is a relative though I am pretty sure I know most of my relatives.   

I am from the baby boomer generation. I am the only daughter between two sons. I was my dad's favorite!  My older brother is an engineer, served as a pilot in Vietnam, my younger brother is a doctor.

My mom's family came from Poland, my dad's folks from Russia.  My dad's sisters were born in Russia, my dad in Springfield, Mass. My mom's family settled in Coldwater, Michigan and she grew up on a farm. Neither she or her 4 siblings were educated. My mom's dad killed himself in the crash of 29 when she was 4. Her mom, not educated and never a citizen,  always worried that she would be deported.  But she outlived all of my other grandparents and she was the love of our lives until she died, after I got married.

My dad was born in 1920, my mom in 1925.  But she still considered herself part of the greatest generation. They met in Chicago, my mom was a USO dancer, my dad was at Tri State College studying for his mechanical engineering degree. Then the war broke out and he enlisted but the Army (only was the Army back then) offered to finish paying for his education as an engineer, if he moved to New Haven to attend Yale in a pre pilot program. Things are a bit sketchy for me after that, but when he finished at Yale, my mom and he got married. My grandmother, who thought my mom wasnt good enough for her son tried to stop it, too late. My mom was 18, 19, very young. They ran away together. Lol.

After dad graduated he was sent to somewhere in GA where he was commissioned to become a pilot.   After that they were sent to Brownsville, TX where they lived for many years during the war.  I have pictures of my folks during the war, it seemed to be a really happy time in their lives before everyone was sent off to war. But my dad remained in Brownsville, rarely left the base, and he never flew a plane on a regular basis, but rather was one of several engineers working on planes for a new type of bomber. 

My mom would leave the base to go shopping in Mexico, she loved it there and the Mexican people but she always felt she was being watched.  She did not know that my dad was working on a highly classified project. After my dad's "project" was done they were sent to Kansas.

On Aug 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. That was my dad's classified project and why my mom was followed everywhere.  They wanted to make sure  that she wasn't a spy!   

My dad went onto become a very successful businessman. We grew up in a very nice home in an affluent neighborhood in NJ. My dad had a model on his desk of the Enola Gay, but he never spoke about it. He became a philanthropist in his later life, I think that it was to make up for how guilty he felt for being involved in a part of history that he had no idea what he was doing.  He was just told they were the engineers working on a new plane.

BTW, has anyone seen, "They Shall Die Young"?

FoxDad posted:

ABSORBER posted:

My last name is very rare.

So is mine.   Like you if I see my last name there is a good chance it is a relative though I am pretty sure I know most of my relatives.   

Well we must all have weird names!

RJM posted:

ABSORBER posted:

TPM posted:

ABSORBER,

I had the same type of last name before I got married. If I meet someone with same name (maybe spelled a bit differently), we try to figure out if we are related.

I've always wondered how I would feel taking someone else's name! Lately I've seen plenty of hyphenated names in the military but after seeing how some of them look on uniforms I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you are a petit person! Pockets on camouflage blouses are only so big and are proportional!!! You reading glasses to see some of them!

Makes me wonder what things would be like if women had always kept their maiden names. Of course then would parents assign one or the other to their children? Ah, makes my head hurt!

 When my daughter got married she changed her name to four names. Without hyphenating she added her married last name to her given full name. She goes by her married name. 

It very common for Spanish women to use their maiden and married name and hyphenated it.

Lots of married professional women use their maiden name. 

TPM posted:

FoxDad posted:

ABSORBER posted:

My last name is very rare.

So is mine.   Like you if I see my last name there is a good chance it is a relative though I am pretty sure I know most of my relatives.   

Well we must all have weird names!

You can add me to this list as well. I’ve never met anyone with my last name that I wasn’t related to. 

TPM posted:

FoxDad posted:

ABSORBER posted:

My last name is very rare.

So is mine.   Like you if I see my last name there is a good chance it is a relative though I am pretty sure I know most of my relatives.   

Well we must all have weird names!

Indeed.  My ethnic background is Lithuania so that gives you an idea on unique my last name can be.   My paternal grandparents emigrated from there around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution.   From what my mother tells me neither one learned much English.   Sadly, they died shortly after I was born.

FoxDad posted:

TPM posted:

FoxDad posted:

ABSORBER posted:

My last name is very rare.

So is mine.   Like you if I see my last name there is a good chance it is a relative though I am pretty sure I know most of my relatives.   

Well we must all have weird names!

Indeed.  My ethnic background is Lithuania so that gives you an idea on unique my last name can be.   My paternal grandparents emigrated from there around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution.   From what my mother tells me neither one learned much English.   Sadly, they died shortly after I was born.

My dads family left Russia due to the revolution.

Think Fiddler on the Roof.

TPM posted:

FoxDad posted:

TPM posted:

FoxDad posted:

ABSORBER posted:

My last name is very rare.

So is mine.   Like you if I see my last name there is a good chance it is a relative though I am pretty sure I know most of my relatives.   

Well we must all have weird names!

Indeed.  My ethnic background is Lithuania so that gives you an idea on unique my last name can be.   My paternal grandparents emigrated from there around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution.   From what my mother tells me neither one learned much English.   Sadly, they died shortly after I was born.

My dads family left Russia due to the revolution.

Think Fiddler on the Roof.

 It must be reunion time. My mother’s four grandparents came from Lithuania. It was a region of Russia when they left back in the 19th century. They emigrated  to Richmond ME, once a big Russian-Jewish community. My grandparents met in Richmond. 

A bizarre thing is as a young adult my mother’s father worked for my father’s grandfather. It was before my parents were born. My grandfather left to start his own business. Years later after my parents got married they connected the dots. 

TPM posted:

I am from the baby boomer generation. I am the only daughter between two sons. I was my dad's favorite!  My older brother is an engineer, served as a pilot in Vietnam, my younger brother is a doctor.

BTW, has anyone seen, "They Shall Die Young"?

 

 

Great story, thanks for sharing. I love these real stories. As I said earlier, both my brother and I could not get enough stories like this when we were kids. Or now! 

Here's a story I followed about four years ago. The son of a WWII vet posted an entry every day from his fathers war diary. He managed to do this before his father passed away.

http://70yearsago.com

Isn’t this so much better than insulting each other because of political beliefs?!? 

ABSORBER posted:

TPM posted:

I am from the baby boomer generation. I am the only daughter between two sons. I was my dad's favorite!  My older brother is an engineer, served as a pilot in Vietnam, my younger brother is a doctor.

BTW, has anyone seen, "They Shall Die Young"?

 

 

Great story, thanks for sharing. I love these real stories. As I said earlier, both my brother and I could not get enough stories like this when we were kids. Or now! 

Here's a story I followed about four years ago. The son of a WWII vet posted an entry every day from his fathers war diary. He managed to do this before his father passed away.

http://70yearsago.com

Reading that, one thing that I realize.  Our children do not know the history of our lives like we knew about our folks. My daughter does, but I don't think my son knows a lot about us when we were younger. Then again my son left home at 18 and didn't return until 3 years ago. 

I wanted to add one thing about my dad. He was a huge Yankee fan. Living just outside of the NY area, we got all the home games on our black and white TV on our back porch. It was my favorite time of  summer, baseball with Dad.

In the process of working on a project for a graduate class I recently read my great-grandfather's journal from when he was 13 (1899), and discovered, among other things, that my great-great grandfather enrolled at Dartmouth at age 17, then formed a Cavalry unit with some classmates, was captured at Harpers Ferry and paroled back to the Union and graduated Dartmouth in 1864.

Great-grandfather's 1918 journal obliquely mentions catching the flu shortly before the armistice was signed when he was the XO of an Artillery Brigade (I think that was the right unit classification) in France.

Haven't found any baseball links going back through them so far.  Grandfather apparently played polo as a teen, and was on the US Pentathlon team for the (canceled) '40 Olympics. Maybe I need to look into horses for when grand kids start showing up in another decade or two.

I found a letter to my great grandfather he received in August before the college football season ...

When we get back to campus in another week we have a game the following weekend. Quit or at least cut back on smoking and run a mile every day for the next week.

it seems training was a bit different 130 years ago. He also ran track and played baseball. 

I found the handbook for my father’s senior year at Bowdoin (1950). Bowdoin is now a NESCAC. Tuition, room, board and fees was $1,300 for the year.

What was $1,300 in 1950 worth in today's money? Adjusted for inflation, $1,300 in 1950 is equal to $14,155 in 2020.

The actual cost in 2020 is $70,000.