In the years since retiring from the Air Force on August 1, 1971, Florine, my wife, and I have lived in Habersham County, Georgia, near our childhood homes. This period is by far the longest and most stable period of our lives since we met at Truett-McConnell College.
I look back on a varied and interesting life that covered a period starting in the Great Depression and World War II up through the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf Wars, the long Cold War with the USSR, and various other flare ups as in the Middle East. I was in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and spent three years on a tour on Luzon Island. This service included years of tension with the USSR, which under Communism became bankrupt and fell apart after what is called the Cold War without active warfare during the successful presidency of Ronald Reagan.
I realize a military career through changing locations, times and conditions alters one’s outlook on life from those who live in the same general area. Service personnel are able through travel to learn more of other people, customs and places during their service.
Returning to civilian life, while I was writing for local newspapers interest grew about the aging World War II veterans. I wrote 50 or so stories without payment which local newspapers printed as a free service. After I began to meet and interview veterans and their family members I realized I was accomplishing a great service. The meetings with veterans and their families became a real joy. Until this time many wives and children of the WW II vets knew little of their experiences in service and war.
I found that most veterans did not talk in detail about their experiences to family members. They were largely silent as they came home from service and reverted to civilian life. They took up trades and jobs or went to school to get more education and better their lives. The personal knowledge of their service life laid dormant in their active lives until aging veterans began to feel a need to be remembered in some way. Some veterans formed local clubs and this act along with aging revived their interest in sharing their military experiences.
I wrote with great pleasure 70 veteran stories for local newspapers and feel it was one of my greatest achievements. In writing their stories I gained a compelling insight into the mind and hearts of America’s veterans, mainly those of the World War II period. My admiration also grew for the loyal wives and families back home who were a vital part of their lives.
The Great Depression and WW II generation was aptly termed the “Greatest Generation.” This term also included the many women who served in the military services and as nurses, also wives and civilians back home who faithfully supported their loved ones in uniform in WW II. Today in a sorely reduced military we need to hear about and support our current troops and their families.
