A lighter anecdote about Memorial Day.

[BobTheSubgenius]

I REALLY hope no one is offended by this little story...it's sure not meant to. My father flew Spitfires in WW2 and I have nothing but respect for veterans and their sacrifices.

My late father-in-law, who I never met, but wish I had, raised his family in a tiny town in Western New York. The local cemetery has headstones with US flags chiseled into them to announce that a veteran lies there.

A teacher of one of the younger grades in the local elementary school - Grade 2 or 3, judging from the penmanship - thought of a good teaching moment and just a nice thing to do, so she got each of her students to write a couple of lines to a buried veteran. This is the one that was on my fil's headstone:

"Dear Veteran,

Thank you for your service and for keeping us free.

Keep up the good work!Y

[MLAA]

1. Priceless!

[dameatball]

2. Nothing wrong with that. We are human. I thought the post was uplifting and appropriate.

[BobTheSubgenius]

6. Thank you.

Some people hold days like Memorial Day kind of sacrosanct, and not a subject for levity. I'm more of the Ricky Gervais school - there is nothing that can't be made into humour, as long as no one loses sight of the difference between "subject" and "target."

[Karadeniz]

3. Thank you!❤

[Dennis Donovan]

4. Your Dad flew Spits?

That's an aircraft I've FANTASIZED flying since I was a nub!

Closest I came was a P-40, back in '88. But the owner did the landing (arguably the trickiest part).

Me pop was infantry in WW2 - Battle of the Bulge.

Corporal Charles G. WW2 - Battle of the Bulge (seen here, nearest to the camera, in profile)

[BobTheSubgenius]

5. Your pop saw some serious, perilous action under some terrible conditions. Respect!

Fighter pilots had it relatively easy, for the most part, and in England in the 40's, Spitfire pilots were rock stars.

He used to say that "A Spit flew like a homesick angel." He turned down the offer of a commercial pilot's license when he mustered out, saying "I just finished flying one of the fastest prop planes ever built, and it had machine guns! I have no interest in being a bus driver."

He was shot down once, late in the war, and because of the fluidity of the front line at the time, and the frantic action of trying to stay alive until you got to the ground, he didn't know where he was. Employing the "Walking Air Force" training, he hid in barns and haystacks during the day, and walked at night. Turns out, he had gone a mile and a half in those 3 days, more or less in a big circle.

He was picked up by a British APC crew who started by aiming the main gun at him. He asked why they believed him and let him inside, and they told him. "Only a Canadian would use language like that."

Cheers, mate...

[Dennis Donovan]

7. And to you!

[dameatball]

8. I'm not good at links, but Google Gene Ellenson, Battle of the Bulge. Great story. Respect to Pop!!