On this Memorial Day, I think of my father who

was a Purple Heart decorated combat veteran of four-plus years in the Pacific Theater. No physical specimen to say the least, he enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor because as he used to say, "You knew what you had to do for the Country and you were going to go anyway, so there was no point in waiting a week or two to get called."

He rarely mentioned his service years; sometimes when the weather was hot his malarial symptoms would return and he'd ruminate a bit. He had suffered from what we now call PTSD when he returned, but he overcame it to a fair, but not good, extent and led a fractured existence for the rest of his life.

Today I think about him because I saw those pictures of Palin riding with the vets and thought of an incident many many years ago: before the Bicentennial, then-Mayor of Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo, wanted to put the fear of God into the left-wing and so he stated publically that if we were to host a World's Fair exhibition here in Philadelphia, that he would request a massive deployment of regular U.S. Army troops with sidearms. My father uncharacteristically commented upon this as a military man and said to me: "What an idiot. Here's a man who never served his country making tough talk about the Army when he doesn't even realize that there is no Colt sidearm issue for regular army infantry. It's just rifles with or without fixed bayonets. The only regular soldiers who routinely have sidearms besides officers are those who ride in vehicles , or MP's." And then he added, "Colts used to jam all the time and were unreliable - you'd think they'd have a better gun but it's not gonna do much against a machine gun or rifle in the hands of someone whose job it is to kill you."

I was impressed that he had all these opinions which he almost always just kept to himself. I wish he were around today: I have a million questions I never thought to ask him. I can only imagine what he would say about Palin's "ride" yesterday - it would have been most critical but with that great humor he had for situations like this one. He thought these extreme Republicans were "horse's asses". I miss you, Dad.

You should have heard him after Kent State - "Who the hell issued those weekend warriors live ammo?"

he was at the front of the D-Day landing among other things. he didn't tell me that, my MIL did. And she knew only because of his letters.
Once he got home, the war was never spoken of again. The medals were thrown into a drawer and never removed.
Only twice did I ever hear anything about is service: R&R in Iceland in the summer (midnight baseball) and on the 50th anniversary of D-Day his cousin, a nurse, wanted my FIL to return to Normandy for all the ceremonies. That really set him off. He never ever wanted to see Normandy again, or for that matter hear of it.

I did try to ask some questions, but got the hint big time that he just would not talk of it.

I see his flag and medal case every day.He was an infantry man in the European theater. Landed in Normandy on D+3 or 4, marched across France, Belgium and was there when Patton met the Soviets.

Like your father Dad did not speak about combat action, the same for his father who was wounded in WW I. They told stories about escapades and adventures but not about combat. He too suffered from PTSD which finally let up after he was 75. He had 5 years of relative peace before he died.

Both Dad and Grandpa were life long liberals and true patriots-they did not wrap themselves in the flag-no they put their lives on the line to protect the constitution and the people whose rights it spells out.

I believe in an after life and I imagine that our Dads are having a good time drinking the best beer and all their wounds are healed.

This is a day to keep our loved ones alive as we remember the story of their lives. My heart goes out to those who were taken in war and have no son or daughter to remember them.

gone since 2006 and I miss him. I miss his generation. OP, I salute your pa.