Memorial Day Memories

This is my blog address:

http://retire42.blogspot.com/

PoBoy and puppies and kitties are all doing fine. PoBoy woke about midnight on Memorial Day. Since his heart attack, PoBoy finds it difficult to sleep an eight hour shift. His new sleeping habits have been one of "catnapping." For example, just yesterday he "catnapped" through the racing of the "Indy 500." Then he woke for perhaps an hour or two and once again "catnapped" through the "Coke Cola 600." Who won the races he wonders.

Memorial Day as a young man, PoBoy recalls the family within which his two Uncles on his mother's side would relate tidbits of fighting during World War II. For example, one Uncle was a sargent in the Army and he won a medal for holding off an advancing troop of Germans on his company. PoBoy thinks of the feeling he had when he heard that story. The feeling was a mixture of admiration and excitement. Then there was his second Uncle who had been a truck driver in World War II. He told of the many attacks he overcame along the Burma Road. Again the feelings of admiration and excitement. One supreme emotion was left for him as the evening closed -- one of joy, joy that they had returned safe and sound.

PoBoy felt sadness too. His father had been rejected from the service because of a steel plate in his head. Father, was going to school one wintry morning when a car struck him and sped off down the road. He lay in a damp ditch crusted with ice dying from a head wound. Luckily, someone saw him lying there and he was rushed to a nearby hospital. When father told his story a different emotion arose in PoBoy. It was one of anger and bitterness. Yet, Father was no less a hero then PoBoy's Uncles.

When PoBoy was 5 1/2 to 6 years of age, his mother divorced Father because, as PoBoy learned later in life, Father was not smart, according to his Mother. Mother remarried a second time, to a man, PoBoy was forced to acknowledge as Father. To PoBoy that never felt right. PoBoy's second Father was a war hero too with a box of medals to prove it. PoBoy's second Father had also come home with a German knife and sheath; and a German Luger pistol. PoBoy's emotion at that time was one of fear. PoBoy never liked his Second Father. This story ends, so he learned later, with his Second Father being escorted to prison by the FBI. Second Father had borrowed Mother's car which was used in a bank robbery.

Mother and her two children were left stranded in the state of Florida to struggle for an existence. PoBoy's life changed forever on that day. There were no more hero's except in books which PoBoy came to love more then life. PoBoy called his books his world and he tolerated the outer world around him. Hatred grew within PoBoy like a weed, hatred of his mother for destroying PoBoy's youth, hatred of the world for its cruelty to the poor, hatred of life and even God for allowing such a thing to happen. PoBoy grew to hate himself as well.

There is one more person left to do the military thing. PoBoy himself. He was conscripted into the service and having few choices, he was allowed to enlist in a branch of his choice instead of being drafted into the Army. PoBoy chose to serve in the US Navy. PoBoy spent four years of active duty and two years of inactive duty in the Navy. He helped blockade the coast of Cuba during the most crucial moments of the world. He never received a medal for that endeavor although the world came within a couple of hours of total Nuclear War. Because no "shots" were fired in this action, PoBoy was never awarded a medal nor acclaimed to be a War Veteran. Just some more of the cruelty of life. But was PoBoy a hero or a coward -- a dilemma that lasted a full lifetime for PoBoy.

PoBoy would never have the privilege of telling his children the stories told to him by his Uncles. Stories which will never be known of the heroism of their Father or perhaps his cowardice. These inner battles continue to wage within the heart of PoBoy.

Gee! I didn't mean for all those thoughts to come out here. Guess I'm thinking again. Sorry folks. I'll try to do better with the next posting.