PDA

View Full Version : "The Greatest Generation."



thedrifter
07-15-05, 07:46 AM
07/15/2005 <br />
At Bristol Vets Home, a joyful reunion for Marines <br />
By MATTHEW CONYERS <br />
<br />
BRISTOL - They are called &quot;The Greatest Generation.&quot; <br />
They didn't create some silly invention or crafty...

Clyde D Beaty
08-10-05, 09:31 PM
Our Congressman here in San Antonio had a coffee and refreshments, alog with Large TV of the WWII Memorial in DC. That was good of him and the firts time I heard the application of the label "The Greatest Generation" applied to Vets of WWII and Korea. It did not settle real well with me- and I was of both wars in the Corps--and upon thought I felt it was wrongly applied to us! My parents were the Greatest in that they had gotten us clothed, fed, educated, and inspired with Great American Spirit of we can over come and make good out of this hard scrabble of life- and it was damned hard for lots of them! Like my dad a 100% Disabled Vet from WWI with only one half lung left -TB got the 1 and 1/2 lungs gone, dust bowl hit hard at same time economiuc crash hit and my folks back and forthed to California: chopping cotton, working in vinyards, packing and drying houses, fruit groves, date packing- wherever could get work and the Model T would get us to- and none of us: my mom, and us three kids did not get TB- were turned away and burnt out when tried to get in to school in California, so they taught us to read by kerosene lamp-- and momma worked her tail off as daddy couldn't exert any effort without hemmoraghing, so she did work for the two of them--all 3 of us kids got University degrees and higher education, and were fiit for duty with US military..Our Depression generation parents were the Greatest of Generations- and very proud too!

thedrifter
08-26-05, 12:23 PM
Roll call will be last for Marines
George Gannon
Daily Mail staff
Friday August 26, 2005

For one last time Saturday, the 20th Engineers of the United States Marine Corps Reserve will stand at attention for roll call.

These old men were once teenagers who were grabbed out of high school before they finished to go to Korea.

When roll call comes around Saturday night during a ceremony at Coonskin Park, they will stand up, hear their names read, then sit back down.

Their careers as Marines will officially be over. These men haven't been on the battlefield in years and most retired or left the corps decades ago, but they lived the Marine Corps motto: Semper Fi or "always faithful."

When they sit down that final time, just as if reveille had just finished playing, they'll ceremonially pass the torch.

"We're just stepping aside," said Keith Davis, 71, a preacher and retired sergeant with the 20th. "We're letting the youngsters and the Marines of today take over for us."

Davis, a Dunbar native who was drafted in 1949, doesn't mince words when he talks about how much time he and his fellow soldiers have left.

Of the estimated 81 Marines who will be there -- veterans of the Korean War, Vietnam and a host of other covert and high-profile U.S. offensives around the globe -- Davis might be the youngest.

Bill Withrow, who also served in the 20th Engineers, said Saturday's event will be a chance for the guys to get together, tell some old jokes and share stories.

"You're reminiscing about things and kind of admitting the passing of your youth," Withrow said.

Every year, they bury a few more men from the 20th. Every year, the obituaries have a few more names of men who fought at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal during World War II and at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.

They're slowly, but surely, fading away, Davis said.

"The next roll call, sir, is going to be up yonder, to put it in plain English," he said.

Roll call is special. These guys have been gathering, off and on, for the last 55 years and they've never done the roll call. Even when they had their last major gathering, 25 years ago at the Daniel Boone Hotel, they didn't do a roll call.

But that doesn't mean these guys can leave it all behind.

Davis said if anybody ever tried to burn Old Glory in front of a Marine or launch an insult at the corps, the results wouldn't be pretty.

"They'll be picking themselves up off the deck," he said. "That's not a threat. It's a promise."

But Davis, retired business manager at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said these men are more than rough-and-tumble fighters.

These guys were eyewitness to some of the most important events of the 20th Century.

Most have stories just like Davis. As a student at Dunbar High School, he was called to duty in September 1949, cutting short his senior year.

He can remember boarding a train at the depot in South Charleston along with 230 other young men. Gov. Okie Patterson joined them and shook each of their hands.

Withrow said about 100 family members and friends gathered at the depot to wave goodbye.

"I'm not sure if they were waiting to see us off or make sure we left," said the Jackson County resident.

They were then hustled off to Korea and, like Davis, many saw more action than anyone would ever want to see on the frozen fields near the Chosin Reservoir in 1950.

An estimated 2,500 United Nations soldiers were killed during the battle and another 7,500 suffered from frostbite.

Davis said soldiers from the 20th Engineers could give full color accounts of these events.

"If you talk to these guys, you'll be talking to history," he said.

Contact writer George Gannon at 348-4843.

Ellie