Re: Memorial Daze

05/30/10 - posted by Shirley Krohn

Thanks to all for your words on this Memorial Day. Couple of things. Finished watching The Pacific last week. A really well produced program. But it set me at a place and time as a child growing up in the Outerlands during WWII. I had both brothers in this war; one in the Navy stationed in the Aleution Islands. The other in the Army Infantry who saw battle in the European Campaign...Liberation of Paris, Battle of the Black Forest...etc etc. When he joined the Army, we lived on 3rd Ave between Irving and Hugo. My mother had two flags in the front window. One with two stars for having family in the military, the other for the ice man.

We moved to 44th & Lincoln in 1945 which is when my brother was discharged from the Army and returned home. He brought with him a large canvas bag filled with "souveniors" from his travels. Items he had found during his battles overseas.

My brother could not/would not talk about his memories of his life in the Army...way too difficult, plus PTStress was unheard of during WWII. Recently, I visited him and he brought out his diary. I brought it home promising to type it up to protect it. I found that he covered his life through boot camp and when he was transported to Europe, plus some stories about training activities overseas. But the diary ends short of covering his time in battle.

Along with his handwritten diary, were letters I had sent to him when I was 6 or 7 years old. He saved all of them, as I saved his over all this time.

So to all the vets out there, from all of the wars, I place my hand over my heart and say thank you for all you have endured...