tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4146148016062694502.post3064063017897468957..comments2024-01-05T12:03:52.460-05:00Comments on No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money: At The Eleventh Hour On The Eleventh DayJohn Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03151468462458613615noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4146148016062694502.post-57910675468807853832014-11-12T08:39:33.419-05:002014-11-12T08:39:33.419-05:00Windy - contact me off line at jpr9954 AT gmail DO...Windy - contact me off line at jpr9954 AT gmail DOT com. It could be our dads served in the same places at the same times. My Dad was in the Corps of Engineers in the Caribbean Command. Somewhere I have his Caribbean Command patch which featured the Santa Maria on a blue background.John Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03151468462458613615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4146148016062694502.post-61368809330221292312014-11-12T03:16:12.369-05:002014-11-12T03:16:12.369-05:00My Great-Grandfather was in the Union Cavalry in t...My Great-Grandfather was in the Union Cavalry in the Civil War, and was wounded, which in those days gave you a pension. My Mother’s father was in the Austrian Army and fought the Italians in WW1. ALL my uncles (both sides) served in WW2 except the one who was too old and married, and the two youngest who served in the Korean War. My Dad’s uncle was career USN in the 30’s. We have pictures of this dapper man in Hong Kong, Yokohama, Honolulu, and (I think) Sidney, and pictures he took while passing under the Golden Gate Bridge while it was under construction. He was in Naples when his cruiser was hit by the Fritz-X missile, almost sank, and had to be towed to the US for repairs.<br />My Father missed going to the South Pacific in July 1942 because (after volunteering for the Navy and being rejected for color-blindness was accepted into the Construction Battalions) he caught pneumonia and then appendicitis (or the other way around, I can’t remember) in Gulfport Mississippi in July. When he recovered, they sent him to Trinidad where he built barracks for the people building the Waller Army airfield there for the Air Transport Command that ferried airplanes across the South Atlantic. Some female relative of his, I forget her name, and even her relationship to my Dad, thought that he had somehow unfairly “lucked out” and not served enough, as her father, son, or brother did, who apparently was closer to the shooting.<br />And while I’m not sure, I think virtually every adult I came into contact with growing up had some military service. As they pass on I am always surprised at this part of their lives that never came up in conversation but which helped them become the men they were.<br />Of my generation, I have one cousin who enlisted in the Navy and flunked out. I went the college route, but no service. No others in my family. I can’t help but think of a line from the 1939 Four Feathers, “First time there isn’t a Wilson in the military, and look at the mess we’re in. I’m too old and the boy’s too young.” I really hope things don’t get so bad the draft has to be brought back. I would really prefer my nephew to not have to serve.Windy Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01951254236693386401noreply@blogger.com