PhotoHunter Theme # 186 Veterans/Military

This is my father's grave.

He was a veteran of World War II. But he did not die in the war. He survived and lived to the age of 88. I would like to honor his memory for this PhotoHunt theme #186, "Veterans/Military". Daddy was a quartermaster in the US army and spent time in Belgium, France, and Southern England. He became an officer because he had a college degree from Columbia University, in New York, USA.

He almost never ever spoke of his time in the army in Europe. He was drafted, and being of Swedish descent, he took it as a good omen that he was shipped out on a formerly Swedish ship that the US government used, rented, bought or borrowed, to transport troops to Europe. He came home five years later, when the war ended with the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan. But if that had not been done, he would have been sent to the Pacific. And my brother and I may not ever have been born.

My paternal grandmother said that he was a young healthy boy when he went away, and returned old and weathered and unwell. He told me once that when the war was over, he was so grateful and happy to be able to come home - alive. There were so many who did not get to do that.

Happy Veterans' Day

Anna

PhotoHunt