I really regret that I did not have more "Marine Talk" with my Daddy about his experiences in World War II. I could have made opportunities during my teen years and in my twenties and thirties; I didn't.
But in my preteen years when he was my scoutmaster as well as my Dad, when we were rising before dawn some days to get to Noontootly or Holly or Cartecay Creek to try and catch some trout, or into the woods to stalk deer, we talked more. I specifically remember one talk that seemed important to him. It was in his little office off the garage in the our parsonage in Ellijay. We may have been working on that Sunday's worship bulletin.
He talked not about what he did as a Marine in 1944 and 45, but about why he did it. He spoke pretty frankly about the horrors of fascism and how important it was to defeat it. So though I don't know nearly as much as I wish I did about his experiences in the Pacific (beyond his amateur photography of Ulithi), I do know that he knew WHY he left his beautiful wife and two beloved little daughters to be very uncomfortable and lonesome and risk his life for two years halfway around the world.
I have beloved kin who likely vehemently disagree, but I truly believe to my bones that, had Daddy lived to this time, he would be as bewildered and disappointed as I am that so many Americans would tolerate the hatred and fascism of the MAGA extremists and their leader.
I wonder if Daddy read the War Department article pictured above and quoted from in this column by Heather Cox Richardson.
