My grandfather, Edward McNamara from Lexington Massachusetts served with the 101st Regiment (Medical company), 26th Yankee Division in the first world war. He seldom talked about it, and when he did it was a terrible memory which haunted him. It was only later that I found out he was mentioned in the division's orders and was highly decorated for heroism under fire. He never mentioned this to me, I found out later through my own research. But I will always remember his smile when he told me how at 11:00 A.M. on 11th November the guns stopped and he and his friends knew they would live, knew they had survived. He went on to raise a family and contribute to society. During the next war he built ships for the Navy at the Charlestown Navy yard.
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| Edward McNamara helmet. |
And as this date is now called Veterans Day I say thank you to my father in law, Aldrich Stevens who served in the 3rd Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) in the Second World War. He saw service with them at North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Seriously wounded he did not make the Anzio landing and thus missed the action at Cisterna (although he may have listened to the last radio calls while at headquarters). Like my grandfather he too was haunted by the memories of what he saw, experienced and especialy those he lost. But again he went on with life. Due to the GI bill he got a education, raised a family and contributed to society.
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I remember their sacrifices and hope both men have found peace.
Here's to the heroes!
ReplyDeleteHeartfelt and fitting recognition of both your forebears, Mark. My maternal grandfather served in WWI; my father was too young for WWII but served in Germany in the 1950's during his National Service. My wife's father served in the 21 Btn of the NZ Division in Italy during WWII and her maternal grandfather and his brother served in WWI in the Mounted Rifles in the Middle East. I have blogged the details on previous Armistice Days so did not reprise them again this year.
ReplyDeleteMy dad served in the Canadian forces in WWII as a radar specialist but rarely spoke of it other than to talk of the pleasant aspects of service - meeting my mother, for example. After he died I found a short memoir he had written about his service and read a detailed and sobering recollection of extracting the dead and wounded from the rubble after a bombing raid in Liverpool. He too took up the education options on demobilisation and became a food scientist.
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