HydroSkreamin
StressEliminator
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2014
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I miss taking our dogs out in the boat. I’m not down with claws on the fresh new interior and Seadek.
After two days of boating this weekend, we visited neighbors that are seasonal (we are full time residents in a vacationland) and the cemetery where my grandpa is buried, just outside the town of Plainfield, WI, a stones throw from @Tractorsdontfloat.
Gramps was a WW II vet in the Pacific theatre, ran communications as part of the infantry. He spent a lot of time in the Philippines and island hopping.
My favorite story of his from the war was when he and his partner had run out of cable, ahead of the tanks and rest of his company. They were overlooking an abandoned airfield, with a lone, desolate Jeep out there. They sat in the bushes looking for the enemy to see if it was a trap. After sitting long enough to feel safe, they ventured out onto the airfield and got the Jeep running, and proceeded to tear the place up doing donuts and tearing around.
The tanks got there and circled for the evening. Gramps said the next day there was a helluva battle there. Apparently the enemy was waiting and watching. Can you imagine how crazy they thought my grandpa and his buddy were?
Gramps got 2 Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star. He was a generous, cool dude, and being a steam fitter after returning from the war, could weld anything but the crack of dawn. (I watched and marveled when he’d weld my broken trike). He helped shape me into the man I am today.
Gramps used to take my sister and I out to the very cemetery he’s buried at, and we’d put flowers and flags on friends’ and relatives’ graves. Unfortunately, I don’t remember all the names and locations, but my wife and I visited Gramps grave to pay our respects, and we also visited other graves that the local VFW had marked as US veterans. There are a number of graves of men that fought in the Civil War!
Here’s a pic of Gramps in the Army
Here’s me by Gramps’ headstone. The local VFW normally plays a recorded version of “Taps” at veteran’s funerals. I requested to be allowed to play it on my baritone. They granted me the wish and I fought off the tears at both the funeral home and the grave. My sister told me there’s absolutely no way she could have done it. I felt it was absolutely the best way I could honor him in front of all his peers. I think about it every time I go to his grave, and appreciate the chance I had to do it.
Here’s a gent that served in the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) in the Civil War. Amazing history right in my back yard.
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had a great rest of the day from there on out. Just took some random pictures for ya. The bahner is my old boat btw.
sounds good. I got a buddy that comes up from Illinois almost every weekend. He is a die hard boater
