Ladies and Gentlemen –
In Honor of Veterans Day and the United States Marine Corps Birthday I have a story for you
This past week the last Squadron Commander of the British Royal Air Force who fought during the Battle of Britain passed away in London England. The pictures in the British newspaper didn’t show the 93 year old gentleman, they showed a number of pictures of a dashing young aviator with a pencil thin mustache with his Royal Air Force hat cocked to the side of his head.
They also had a picture of Former Marine George Smith who passed away at the age of 90
Mr. Smith was the last of the Marine Navaho Indian Code Talkers who broke the Japanese in WW II
The pictures of Mr. Smith showed a lean dirty rugged warrior with the eyes of a Hawk.
The pictures in the newspaper were in black and white and it got me to thinking
My favorite television programs and most of my favorite movies are all in black and white
The Andy Griffith Show
The Longest Day
Sgt York
Casablanca
It’s a Wonderful Life
Mr. Smith goes to Washington
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance
It seems the movie reel to my life is seen through my eyes in Black and White
Because my favorite memories of life are all in black and white
I remember riding my bicycle where I lived once as a little boy to Freidman’s Hardware store and setting on the floor while Mr. Freidman and other WW II veterans would set around a pot belly stove and talk about a variety of different things about the war.
I soaked up those black and white memories of listening to those men, who weren’t any older than I am now, but had the patience and the time for a young wide eyed boy and his questions.
I grew up for a time in a house with with a veteran of World War I…
“The Great War” is what they called it….
I used to talk to him all the time about his time in the muddy fields of France
From those men …
I listened to stories about the trenches of World War I…
I learned about the Battle of the Bulge and Midway
I heard about the Bataan Death March and life in a Japanese Prison Camp
They told me about Guadalcanal
Pearl Harbor
North Africa
The Invasion of Italy
D Day
Most of those boys who fought in World War II are all but gone now….
The Korean War veterans are leaving us now too
Along with too many veterans of the Vietnam War
I remember them all in Black and White
And as I get older…
I look back at my own memories and they too are fading in color to Black and White
This Veteran’s Day and Marine Corps Birthday
I want to thank all the Veterans past and present and certainly my Marines and Sailors that I have had the Honor and Privilege to serve with through peace, war and even contracting.
You have all made my life richer for the experience
Thank you
RTR
THE CFB WIZARD