Babalu Blog: Willing to have Been Memorialized on Memorial Day

May 26, 2008

Willing to have Been Memorialized on Memorial Day

For love of country they accepted death... ~James A. Garfield

Certain days in my house growing up merited a great deal of importance. There was never a Veteran's Day, Flag Day or Memorial Day when there was not a giant American flag and several smaller ones carefully placed on the front lawn in front of my parents' house. If a flag was torn or damaged, it was immediately replaced. "Those flags represent everything you have thanks to someone else." My dad still says that to this day when we talk about war or the military. The speech has not changed since I was a child, and when I talk to him today, I guarantee he'll work this into the conversation.

My dad is a veteran, having enlisted in the army in 1952. He was sent to Germany as a member of the occupational forces and there he served as Military Police. I guess you can say respect for the military is in my blood, because my father spoke with pride of his time in the army, spoke wistfully of his cousin who perished in World War II as a pilot returning after a bombing mission and crashing, and proudly of my grandfather, a WWII vet.

My grandfather, who did not die in WWII, by all accounts, should have. He earned two purple hearts, one of which was awarded to him for putting himself in front of enemy fire so that his friend would not take the bullet. A paratrooper who participated in the storming of Normandy and then voluntarily jumped in the Battle of the Bulge, my grandfather always said he would die for his country, even though the country of his birth was Italy, the country that made him into a man was the United States.

He returned after the war with battle scars and stories it took him years to finally talk about and the knife he took off of a dead Nazi as a souvenir, which my uncle still has. We had a quiet respect for him growing up- a war hero who had lost dozens of his friends and had somehow counted himself among the lucky ones, although he could never figure out why he had escaped death when he had come so close.

So on Memorial Day every year I place my flags on the lawn and I add a page to my father's military scrapbook, grateful that I don't have to count him among the names on a wall and that his scrapbook is not a memorial album, and proud of my grandfather who willingly put himself in front of death and somehow cheated it. He died in 1986 of natural causes but I always knew that had he died jumping, or had he been killed by a Nazi bullet, he would have died proud to have served the country that, as he always said, made him into a man.

Thank you for indulging me.

William Averona and Claudia4Libertad, 1969, New Jersey.

Cross-posted on Claudia4Libertad

Posted by Claudia4Libertad at May 26, 2008 10:54 AM

Comments

Families like yours are the reason America is the great country we are. If I'm ever in the Philly area, I'd be proud to shake your Dad's hand...

Posted by: George L. Moneo at May 26, 2008 11:24 AM

George:
Thank you. If you get to the Philly area, he'll make you a cheesesteak, too.

Posted by: Claudia4Libertad at May 26, 2008 11:31 AM

That may be worth a trip... :-)

Posted by: George L. Moneo at May 26, 2008 11:33 AM

Well, let's just say in our family, only REAL cheese is used, no cheeze wiz. (Sorry, Henry.)

Posted by: Claudia4Libertad at May 26, 2008 11:45 AM

Claudia, the debt is ours.

Posted by: rsnlk at May 26, 2008 12:08 PM

Claudia,
What a proud legacy!
If I went to Philly to shake your dad's hand, would I get a cheesesteak too? =D

Besos,
Marta

Posted by: Marta at May 26, 2008 12:40 PM

Marta-

You certainly would! It's a masterpiece, I tell you. In fact, all this talk about them, I'm going to make some tonight, in my dad's honor. :)

Posted by: Claudia4Libertad at May 26, 2008 12:46 PM

Claudia,
We could never possibly repay the sacrifice made by those protecting our country. I would also be proud to shake his hand.
I have family that fought in Vietnam and the Gulf war, god bless em..

Posted by: Max at May 26, 2008 01:03 PM

Thank you claudia for sharing your family's history with us. You must be very proud. Please wish your father a happy Memorial Day on my behalf.

Posted by: Firefly at May 26, 2008 03:56 PM

Claudia, you're family exemplifies the true meaning of patriotism. When explaining the meaning of the flag, I'm going to plagiarize your Dad from now on, "Those flags represent everything you have thanks to someone else."

Posted by: jluix at May 26, 2008 04:07 PM

Excuse me, teacher. I meant "your", not "you're". :-)

Posted by: jluix at May 26, 2008 04:10 PM

Jorge:

I know he wouldn't mind if you used his words. :) And don't sweat the typo- I don't teach English! LOL

Posted by: Claudia4Libertad at May 26, 2008 04:13 PM

Thanks for sharing this, Claudia. Your post has special meaning to me because my Dad, like yours, wasn't born in the U.S., yet proudly served this country in the Armed Forces.

Posted by: Robert at May 26, 2008 06:14 PM

Claudia,
Thank your dad on my behalf as well. Oh, and I'll be in line for a cheesesteak too.

Posted by: AmandaD at May 26, 2008 10:29 PM

Dittos.

And if Cheese Wiz is good enough for Pat's steaks it's good enough for me.

Posted by: Henry Louis Gomez at May 26, 2008 11:36 PM

Henry:

Come on back to Philly so I can learn you proper.

Posted by: Claudia4Libertad at May 27, 2008 10:42 PM