When we talk about the “Greatest Generation” everyone immediately knows who we’re referring to, we’re talking about the Americans who lived and served through the years of World War II.
During that time the entire world was teetering on the edge of a ‘real’ fascist takeover, and Americans stepped forward and saved not just America, but the whole planet from the evils of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. Americans fought and died on battlefields all across Europe, and island-hopped in bloody battles throughout the Pacific, ultimately defeating the Axis powers.
Americans on the home front also sacrificed in order to support the war effort. Rationing gasoline and food items, and during organized collection drives gathered up rubber and iron to be used to build tanks, trucks, airplanes and battleships. And many hung a small banner with a gold star in the middle of it to signify that their family made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve and protect freedom for Americans. They all indeed earned the title of the ‘Greatest Generation’.
After the end of World War II Americans returned from the war and set about rebuilding their lives that had been put on hold for several years. They married and started families, returned to their old jobs, or pursued new careers. Many war veterans used the GI Bill to get an education so they could improve their chances of getting better jobs that would enhance their prosperity during the post-war economic boom. Some were content to just go back to driving their taxi cab or on the assembly line. But they all worked hard to try to give their children a better life than the one they had inherited from their parents. They wanted their children to have more opportunities than they had growing up.
My own parents were of the Greatest Generation. My father served during World War II, and was training for the anticipated invasion of Japan when the Japanese surrendered after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Perhaps fortunate for me as it was expected that it might cost one million casualties to defeat Japan on their home soil.
My father returned home and got a job as a truck driver, my mother was a secretary. They raised six kids together, five boys and a girl. One brother died as a teenager and didn’t serve in the military, but my other three brothers and I all served honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States. It was what one might say a family tradition, since military service in my family goes all the way back to the Revolutionary War. But more than just a tradition, it was considered an obligation. A need to give something back to the country that had given so much to us. The need to be part of something much bigger than just oneself.
This brings me to where we are in this country right now. To the immense challenges we face to preserve the freedoms we cherish, and for which so much blood was spilled to protect and defend for nearly two hundred fifty years.
As we children of the Greatest Generation enter our twilight years it might be easier for most of us to just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our own decades of hard work. But there is no time to rest. As our parents did before us by sacrificing and fighting to protect and defend the United States of America, it’s our turn now. When I entered the Army during the Vietnam War I took an oath to protect and defend America against all enemies foreign and domestic.
Though I spent only three years in the military and left after my enlistment was completed, the oath that I took has no expiration date. It didn’t end when I received my Honorable Discharge. It’s as much in force today as it was decades ago when I first raised my right hand and repeated it.
There will be no rest for us, the children of the Greatest Generation. There can’t be, the threats our nation faces are as serious as the threats we faced from Nazi German and the Empire of Japan. Even more so. We face cancer within our own country. Decades of indoctrination and lies instilled in the minds of our own children and our grandchildren have placed our nation in its greatest peril than ever before.
In 2015 I said something that I have often repeated regularly ever since. It was a warning to people about what I potentially saw on America’s horizon if we didn’t recognize the threat that was barely concealed, and then do something about it. What I said was “No communist regime has ever willingly just given up power”. It’s as true now as it was when I first said it back in 2015. The “fundamental transformation” of America has been underway for decades, but it kicked into overdrive in 2009, hence my warning in 2015, the year before the Obama regime left office.
If we want to ensure that our own children are able to enjoy the freedoms we and previous generations fought to protect then we are going to have to step up once again. No resting for us during our twilight years. The stakes are much too high, and the enemy much too close.
We, the children of the Greatest Generation will have to once again help save America, just as our parents did before us.