Another....

[Flyfish99]

...of the "Greatest Generation" is gone. Ssgt Darrel "Shifty" Powers of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division lost his battle with Cancer on 17 June 2009 at age 86. Any of you who read "Band of Brothers, or saw the HBO mini series will certainly remember him.

RIP Shifty.

[Banks10]

He was also an avid outdoorsman having grown up in rural Virginia.
Great book and great miniseries which hopefully will enable future generations to appreciate men like this long after they are gone.

[Aljack]

I have the DVD set. One of the greatest miniseries I've ever watched. In another decade, that generation will be gone. I'm in awe of what they went through and endured in their lifetime - living in the "Great Depression" (which are present recession doesn't even scratch the surface of what those times were like) and making it through D-Day, the "Bulge"... Another epic book is Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation".

[Banks10]

I didn't like Brokow's book as much because it seemed to highlight well known figures who lived through that time for the most part. Granted they did amazing things to come out of those times, but I think what made Ambrose's books so appealing is that they presented the common soldier engaged in every day battle. So many books about WWII focus on the battles in general or major characters like Patton, Ike, Nimitz or Bradley not the enlisted GIs who won the damn war.

[Flyfish99]

Read it, if you haven't already. The movie was OK, but didn't have the details that the book does. Another account, this time very personal, of the common man at war.

[Aljack]

Another book highlighting character of those individuals is "Tears in the Darkness" by Michael Norman and Elizabeth Norman. - The story of the Bataan Death March and it's aftermath. 1st hand accounts of what these POWs had to endure.

[OTTER]

It is good to know that you youngsters are reading this stuff which for us old guys are still vivid memories.

[Flyfish99]

If it wasn't for you "old guys", we'd likely be reading this stuff in German or Japanese.

Thank you.

[Aljack]

It is good to know that you youngsters are reading this stuff which for us old guys are still vivid memories.

I do fear that the generation(s) behind me will fail to see the significance of "you old guys" generation. My youngest son was a history major and I know it's not lost on him. He gave me the "Tears in the Darkness" book for Father's Day.

[Banks10]

I don't know how you can be an American and not appreciate that generation. To answer the call when their country needed them after living through such hardship during the depression and ship off to Europe, Africa or the Pacific for 4 years is amazing. The selflessness and sheer grit of people during this time (and not just soldiers mind you) is something those who did not live through it should admire.
It's sad to think that perhaps it would be different under the same circumstances today, probably another discussion all together. One thing that is the same today as it was in 1944 are the soldiers - whether it's an 85 year old veteran of WWII or a 22 year old veteran of Iraq/Afghanistan, they all have sacrificed so much for us.

[overmywaders]

We should remember too, that it really was the whole generation that was engaged in that war. While the able-bodied men were in the lines, the women were in the factories, and the children were gathering scrap metal and saving pennies for War Bonds. It was a time of sacrifice that virtually everyone shared in. Even the sons of the wealthy - John F. Kennedy and Geo. H. W. Bush for example - put themselves in harm's way. Sure, you had a few that exploited the war, e.g., Lyndon Johnson, but in the main it was a country united with a purpose. You can't say better than that.

[Yes, I remember that the Japanese Americans were interned and that atrocities occurred - the fire-bombing of Dresden and sixty-seven Japanese cities. We must always remember all that man is capable of, the best and the worst.]