Comments: Canned Peaches
My wifes dad was at Guadalcanal with the Army. He fought in some other battles in the Pacific, but he has steadfastly refused to talk about his experiences. Once at a family gathering, he did open up for a few minutes and talked about how hungry they were on Guadalcanal. Apparently the supply system was a disaster and the Navy abandoned tons of supplies on the beach. He and some buddies snuck onto the beach and grabbed some what they thought was food from a supply area. Everything was in cans and the labels had come off so nobody knew what was inside. They wound up with one can of peaches and several cans of rifle bore cleaner. The history of the whole war is amazing, and compared to the losses in more recent wars, the lives lost were staggering. At Iwo Jima the Marines suffered 3,000 casualties a day, for days on end.
Posted by Cerberus at June 14, 2004 11:25 PM
Let's see. My mother had two sisters. My father had a brother and a sister. In WWII, My mother's sisters both married during the war and had children while the fathers were both overseas. Both of the fathers died before they saw their children. My father's sister didn't marry her sweetheart. He was MIA-Presumed Dead. My dad, who was in the Navy in small ships (destroyer escorts) didn't talk about his experiences until 1984--his service was in the South Pacific, but I think it was the DDay anniversary that got him talking.
I am not sure that I subscribe to the "Greatest Generation" myth, but a great many men and women did make enormous sacrifices in those years.
Posted by liz at June 17, 2004 05:06 PM