VETERANS’ DAY, 2007
Posted by Lenny Palmer at 11/13/2007 12:48 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
VETERANS’ DAY, 2007
Lenny Palmer
11/11/07
This Veteran’s Day dawned gray and dismal. I awoke early in the A. M., as is the habit of men of my advancing years, brewed a pot of coffee, read a bit from a biography of Dwight Eisenhower, and then settled back to an All-American breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast, which I prepared in near silence as my beautiful Mexican-American wife slept nearby in the comfort of our bed. Ours is a small apartment and I, as the early riser, do my best to keep the noise level down so as not to disturb her sleep.
Something disturbs me, however, and I can’t shake the thought from my mind: that we have somehow forgotten the tremendous sacrifices made by millions of Americans who have donned the country’s uniform and put their lives on the line. This sentiment came to me late in life, at my father’s funeral. When they laid my father to rest, my sisters had contracted for a full military funeral, as Dad had served with the Eighth Infantry Division in some of the most savage combat in the European Theater in World War Two, including the largely forgotten Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, in which there were 33,000 Americans casualties. Men shot themselves in the hands and feet to avoid the frozen death of the Hurtgen, and many broke and ran under tremendous artillery barrages. Yet we don’t remember because the Battle of the Bulge, which raged at the same time American forces were being chewed to pieces in the Hurtgen, received all the attention. The Bulge was a glorious victory, Hurtgen was a massive SNAFU, which is why we remember the former, and forget the latter.
Like a lot of young men of my generation, I had conflicts with my father; he had grown increasingly conservative as he aged, I was the young firebrand who believed America was an unjust country and not deserving of the idealistic principles on which it was founded. It made for rough home life for my mother, who had five other children to look after, and shouldn’t have been put through the high-decibel verbal conflicts between her oldest son and her husband.
I left their home for good before my twentieth birthday, and never returned, and I believe the two of them were glad I was gone, as the home returned to some sense of calm and normalcy after my departure. Of prime military age during the Viet Nam conflict, I managed to miss military service, but I did participate in more than one march against the war, many of which were popping up all over the country in the late nineteen-sixties. Looking back now I realize I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing, or why; I only believed I was right, and the hell with those who disagreed with me.
I carried those beliefs for many years, protecting my heart against what I considered to be infantile patriotic sentiments. It was the “my way or the highway” approach that so many of my generation have clung to, even as they realize the damage they have done to themselves, their families, and their country. It has brought us the insane laws that translate a hug or peck on the cheek as sexual harassment, a comment on inner-city violence and fatherless families as racism, the words “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance as religious tyranny. Baby Boomers, who have diligently worked to protect everyone against everything, should have been working to protect our parents, our children and grandchildren, against us.
Yet it took me nearly 60 years to realize this simple fact: that there is something greater than ungrounded abstract idealism; a simple belief in God, duty and country that lies at the heart of this great nation, and that cannot be confounded by tangled webs or self-destructive schools of thought that teach otherwise. I learned this simple fact at my father’s grave, when a crisply-dressed young Marine handed my seated 80 year old mother a crisply-folded American flag and uttered the words, “From a grateful nation.” I wept for the first time in my life since the death of my brother 40 years before.
Requiescat in Pace, Dad. Your oldest boy has finally grown up. be?
PS: Wikipedia has an excellent description of the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, if you’re interested in reading more about this horrendous battle.
Want to comment directly to Lenny? E-mail Lenny at lenny@acitizensvoice.com
Lenny Palmer can be heard on WLIP 1050AM, Mon-Fri: 8-11am
and WKRS 1220AM, Mon-Fri: 3-6pm
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The "A Citizen's Voice" website has FREE online chat and forums, podcasts and more!
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This blog is published by and reflects the personal views of Lenny Palmer and other guest contributors. It does not represent the views of WKRS 1220AM NEXT Media, WLIP 1050AM NEXT Media, or WRLR 98.3FM RONDARADIO and is not sponsored or endorsed by these organizations, its clients or partners. The purpose of this site is to assist in dissemination and discussion of information about local, national and world issues from Lenny Palmer's perspective. The information contained in this site is provided only as general information for educational and entertainment purposes, and topics may or may not be updated subsequent to their initial posting. By using this site you understand and agree to this disclaimer.
Lenny Palmer
11/11/07
This Veteran’s Day dawned gray and dismal. I awoke early in the A. M., as is the habit of men of my advancing years, brewed a pot of coffee, read a bit from a biography of Dwight Eisenhower, and then settled back to an All-American breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast, which I prepared in near silence as my beautiful Mexican-American wife slept nearby in the comfort of our bed. Ours is a small apartment and I, as the early riser, do my best to keep the noise level down so as not to disturb her sleep.
Something disturbs me, however, and I can’t shake the thought from my mind: that we have somehow forgotten the tremendous sacrifices made by millions of Americans who have donned the country’s uniform and put their lives on the line. This sentiment came to me late in life, at my father’s funeral. When they laid my father to rest, my sisters had contracted for a full military funeral, as Dad had served with the Eighth Infantry Division in some of the most savage combat in the European Theater in World War Two, including the largely forgotten Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, in which there were 33,000 Americans casualties. Men shot themselves in the hands and feet to avoid the frozen death of the Hurtgen, and many broke and ran under tremendous artillery barrages. Yet we don’t remember because the Battle of the Bulge, which raged at the same time American forces were being chewed to pieces in the Hurtgen, received all the attention. The Bulge was a glorious victory, Hurtgen was a massive SNAFU, which is why we remember the former, and forget the latter.
Like a lot of young men of my generation, I had conflicts with my father; he had grown increasingly conservative as he aged, I was the young firebrand who believed America was an unjust country and not deserving of the idealistic principles on which it was founded. It made for rough home life for my mother, who had five other children to look after, and shouldn’t have been put through the high-decibel verbal conflicts between her oldest son and her husband.
I left their home for good before my twentieth birthday, and never returned, and I believe the two of them were glad I was gone, as the home returned to some sense of calm and normalcy after my departure. Of prime military age during the Viet Nam conflict, I managed to miss military service, but I did participate in more than one march against the war, many of which were popping up all over the country in the late nineteen-sixties. Looking back now I realize I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing, or why; I only believed I was right, and the hell with those who disagreed with me.
I carried those beliefs for many years, protecting my heart against what I considered to be infantile patriotic sentiments. It was the “my way or the highway” approach that so many of my generation have clung to, even as they realize the damage they have done to themselves, their families, and their country. It has brought us the insane laws that translate a hug or peck on the cheek as sexual harassment, a comment on inner-city violence and fatherless families as racism, the words “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance as religious tyranny. Baby Boomers, who have diligently worked to protect everyone against everything, should have been working to protect our parents, our children and grandchildren, against us.
Yet it took me nearly 60 years to realize this simple fact: that there is something greater than ungrounded abstract idealism; a simple belief in God, duty and country that lies at the heart of this great nation, and that cannot be confounded by tangled webs or self-destructive schools of thought that teach otherwise. I learned this simple fact at my father’s grave, when a crisply-dressed young Marine handed my seated 80 year old mother a crisply-folded American flag and uttered the words, “From a grateful nation.” I wept for the first time in my life since the death of my brother 40 years before.
Requiescat in Pace, Dad. Your oldest boy has finally grown up. be?
PS: Wikipedia has an excellent description of the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, if you’re interested in reading more about this horrendous battle.
Want to comment directly to Lenny? E-mail Lenny at lenny@acitizensvoice.com
Lenny Palmer can be heard on WLIP 1050AM, Mon-Fri: 8-11am
and WKRS 1220AM, Mon-Fri: 3-6pm
Did you know?
The "A Citizen's Voice" website has FREE online chat and forums, podcasts and more!
Advertisement
This blog is published by and reflects the personal views of Lenny Palmer and other guest contributors. It does not represent the views of WKRS 1220AM NEXT Media, WLIP 1050AM NEXT Media, or WRLR 98.3FM RONDARADIO and is not sponsored or endorsed by these organizations, its clients or partners. The purpose of this site is to assist in dissemination and discussion of information about local, national and world issues from Lenny Palmer's perspective. The information contained in this site is provided only as general information for educational and entertainment purposes, and topics may or may not be updated subsequent to their initial posting. By using this site you understand and agree to this disclaimer.
Great post Lenny. It sucks that my brother and cousin are now officers in the Army and aren't far from being deployed into battle. They both had very good paying jobs, and lots of freedom and they chose to give it up for their idea of what our country is... and for many many people that care more about Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton's latest boyfriend or stint in rehab rather then the sacrifice and lost lives that our service men and woman (and their families) have suffered.
I still belive in America.
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Lenny- Due largely to you, I watched the entire The War saga on PBS. I was so fascinated by the show that I checked the book out of the library.
I enjoyed that so much I plan to buy it when I have some disposable income.
Citizens were far more naive back then, which is perhaps why they were so much more patriotic.
I believe in the first amendment, but I don't believe we should know 24/7 what our troops are doing. What we know the enemy knows. They watch CNN too.
My husband served 21 years in the Navy, my son is in the Air Force, and we currently have a pseudo-adopted son on leave before he goes to Special Forces Training, then to the war.
At any rate, thanks for the tip of the hat to the military.
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Lenny, I type badly so I'll be quick. Your blog is so right to the point, and puts the nail on the head for so many of us, I can't believe that anyone over 40 doesn't agree with you. The only thing I can say is GOD BLESS all of the men and women who have served in uniform before us...and thank GOD to you all who are serving now, and protecting us . We owe all of you a debt that we can never repay. Bob Becker From Pleasant Prairie (and say my name, as I am proud to support my fellow citizens, who are out there fighting for my family and me). and believe or not.......GOD PROTECT THEM IN THIER DUTY!
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This is a beautifully written and very moving plea for forgiveness, Lenny. Just because you avoided donning that uniform during the Vietman War, you're certainly not lacking in courage. Actually, it took a great deal of courage to do just that; you were standing up for what you believed in at the time. That you had the wrong idea is clear to many of us now, but at the time it was easy to get swept up and carried along with those who defined themselves in abstract concepts. Looking back now, it reminds me of how easily Hitler got all those young men to substitute guns for shovels. Romanticism at its most insidious best.... You admit that you've grown up and realized just how wrong you were then, so have many of the rest of us. You weren't so far off the track after all; you just took a detour. I'm sure there never was time that your father wasn't proud of you, even though in his world there wasn't a place for the person you had temporarily become. As you know, that's what parenthood is all about....unconditional love even though you may not fully understand that child you love so much. Sandra
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Lenny,
The Veterans of WW2 do indeed deserve our utmost respect. Their sacrifices should NEVER be minimized, dismissed or forgotten. The Hurtgen was, as many battles fought, a tragedy. I will not recap a history lesson of the horrors of war. I would like to say your father as most veterans of WW2 had no idea whatsoever of how terrible that wars outcome would be when they signed up or were drafted.
I was once told that a woman would never have children again, if she remembered how much pain it caused.
Time does this to us all. Revisionist historians fall into this trap with rhetoric gained from years of insight. Vietnam was a waiste in '68 and today should not be sentimentalized as patriotic ferver. I have interviewed many ww2 veterans. While in combat,"patriotism" never entered their mind. Primary survival was foremost. Context of '68 should remain in '68. The opinions/beliefs you had, were there for a reason. Your father perhaps took this as a minimalization of his sacrifices in the Hurtgen. (After all, I'm sure he was very proud of his service). Late 30's America had nothing in common with late 60's America.
Lets flash forward to present. We trade with communist repressive China. Were we not fighting aginst this in '51 and '68?
I guess my point is, your blog should have ended with the fact you and your dads opinions were both right! His for reasons and yours for your reasons.
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I could not have said this better.
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Lenny;
In the words of "The Great & Terrible Oz"
"A baby has brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get." (Frank L. Baum)
Experience is the bearer of knowledge. Knowledge allows us to see and honor the sacrifices made on our behalf by those who have come before and those who righteously follow in their footsteps.
May the Gods of our hearts bless and protect those who unselfishly put on the uniform and place themselves in harms way for the greater good and the ideals of an often ungrateful nation.
Julie from Beach Park
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Lenny you epitomize the cruddy, foul, and loser "baby boom" generation with you ignorant stupid shows that completely lack any intellecual foundation except that of a moron who grew up with long hippy hair and wasted his life doing stupid things! Why don't you stay in Wisconsin where you fit right in perfectly with all the other losers that live there!
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Hmm, I guess your not a friend of Lenny's.
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Dear Loser:
You write with the same cruel & out-of-touch personality as a Bears fan. Oh, that figures, you probably are. Though I too am a Baby Boomer, it is the time of birth that makes me so. At age 18 I recognized what those unpatriotic long-haired Hippy kids were doing to MY country. I have always believed if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time & have been warned not to be there, you could get killed. I have never felt ANY remorse for any hippy or ungrateful American who has been killed or injured for protesting any war. Including Kent State. Lenny was exactly right on in his story. And you are a LOSER and NOT an American.Just go to any foreign country we are protecting, and come back & kiss the ground and our military for what we Americans have.
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Right on man! Imagine protesting 'nam. We should have let it drag on for at least five more years. Either you nead to get checked out for alzhiemers,.. or agent orange fried your brain.
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