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I did a search, and other than the previous Memorial Day threads of years past, I did not see one for this year.
I am well aware that Memorial Day is a commemoration for those that lost their lives in service to this country. But my Uncle Frank survived WWII, only to commit suicide 5 years ago at nearly 92 years of age as a result of complications from serving in that war. So, I consider it right and fitting that I honor him as a veteran that served his country ably and admirably, even though he survived Normandy, Market Garden, Bastogne, and saw VE Day at Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), and was not KIA.
Uncle Frank was an 18-year-old paratrooper in Easy CO, 2nd BT, 506 PIR, 101 AB on D-Day. He turned 19 before the end of that same month. He was still just 19 when the war ended with him and his Band of Brothers at the Eagle's Nest, where he and his buddies took Hitler's personal air transport (shown below) for it's last flight. The story he told of that plane's final flight was quite humorous, as was their determination of the (lack of) bulletproof-ness of the glass in Hitler's limousine, which they also found and had fun with at the Eagle's Nest...
ca. Autumn 1944 to Spring, 1945...
...and June 2009 at Normandy, France. He's the fella with the jaunty cap standing next to Tom Hanks.
He seemed to have a thing about wearing his cover at rakish angles...
Coupla fun facts about Uncle Frank...
For those that have seen the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers or who have read Stephen Ambrose's book about Easy Company, you might remember that Darrell "Shifty" Powers was a sniper. Shifty's spotter was my Uncle Frank. Frank had expert eyes and grew up putting meat on the table in northern Minnesota, and was quite the sniper in his own right. He refused to be a part of the miniseries, and does not appear anywhere in it, but...
If you've seen the miniseries and remember the 8th episode (The Last Patrol) and wondered how the rope that the prisoner snatch teams used to cross the river got across the river in the first place (which I wondered as soon as I first saw that episode and before I had read Frank's oral history of the war), it was my Uncle Frank that swam that river in February 1945 with a rope tied around his waist. He was greased up with axle grease for insulation against the frigid water, he swam to the far side, tied the rope to a tree, and swam back. By the time the company was ready to use the rope later that night for the snatch operation, he still had not recovered from hypothermia and so was not a part of the snatch operations.
I am well aware that Memorial Day is a commemoration for those that lost their lives in service to this country. But my Uncle Frank survived WWII, only to commit suicide 5 years ago at nearly 92 years of age as a result of complications from serving in that war. So, I consider it right and fitting that I honor him as a veteran that served his country ably and admirably, even though he survived Normandy, Market Garden, Bastogne, and saw VE Day at Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), and was not KIA.
Uncle Frank was an 18-year-old paratrooper in Easy CO, 2nd BT, 506 PIR, 101 AB on D-Day. He turned 19 before the end of that same month. He was still just 19 when the war ended with him and his Band of Brothers at the Eagle's Nest, where he and his buddies took Hitler's personal air transport (shown below) for it's last flight. The story he told of that plane's final flight was quite humorous, as was their determination of the (lack of) bulletproof-ness of the glass in Hitler's limousine, which they also found and had fun with at the Eagle's Nest...
ca. Autumn 1944 to Spring, 1945...
...and June 2009 at Normandy, France. He's the fella with the jaunty cap standing next to Tom Hanks.
He seemed to have a thing about wearing his cover at rakish angles...
Coupla fun facts about Uncle Frank...
For those that have seen the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers or who have read Stephen Ambrose's book about Easy Company, you might remember that Darrell "Shifty" Powers was a sniper. Shifty's spotter was my Uncle Frank. Frank had expert eyes and grew up putting meat on the table in northern Minnesota, and was quite the sniper in his own right. He refused to be a part of the miniseries, and does not appear anywhere in it, but...
If you've seen the miniseries and remember the 8th episode (The Last Patrol) and wondered how the rope that the prisoner snatch teams used to cross the river got across the river in the first place (which I wondered as soon as I first saw that episode and before I had read Frank's oral history of the war), it was my Uncle Frank that swam that river in February 1945 with a rope tied around his waist. He was greased up with axle grease for insulation against the frigid water, he swam to the far side, tied the rope to a tree, and swam back. By the time the company was ready to use the rope later that night for the snatch operation, he still had not recovered from hypothermia and so was not a part of the snatch operations.
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