Some remembrances...

My family has been active in the military over the last century. As I think back about their service, I wish I had been able to ask them more about it. Here are some things I do remember.

My Uncle Clarence was a rear gunner in a plane during WWI. He was shot down and survived the crash, but, unfortunately, crashed in a field that was saturated with poison gas. He only lived until the '20's after the war. He had breathing and vision problems from the gas. I regret that I never knew him.

My Uncle Al, Clarence's brother, drove an ammo truck during WWI. I was stationed near Bitburg Germany and he told me of seeing the flattened city at the end of the war. One other thing I remember is his talking about his convoy being shelled, and he hid under his truck until he remembered what his truck carried. He ran away, but a shell hit the truck and left him mostly deaf.

My dad Mike, Al and Clarence's brother, served between WWI and WWII in the Navy. He never related much about it except that he couldn't swim when he joined. He said he learned to swim when they threw him off the dock in basic training.

My Uncle Bob served in WWII. He was part of Patton's army and didn't do the D-Day landing. He never talked about the war. I have a picture of him in uniform and some postcards he wrote to my Aunt Nellie saying he was fine.

My brother Clarence was in the Korean war. He was a heavy equipment operator and built airfields among other things. The only time he talked about the war he commented on how bomber would return from their missions with the central gun control shot out. This killed the gunner of course. It wasn't a good memory. He also recalled having to raise the bulldozer front blade as protection as his unit retreated from the Chinese. He had gunners on the arms of the blade firing at the Chinese.

I served in the Vietnam era, but never in Vietnam. I was part of the Cold War, doing repair on radar's in a HAWK missile unit. Did that for eight years. Everybody's dead now and how I miss them.