A Wonderful Call From A Stranger
My wife and I have been looking for an old friend that we lost track of years ago. The last time we saw her (about 10 years ago) she was standing in the mall in Saint Joseph, Missouri looking for her Grand Mother who has (or had) Alzheimers Disease. Today I was looking in our local phone book and found a name that was the same as her ex-husbands. When I tried the number I got an answering machine. I left a message explaining what I was doing and said there was no reason for him to call if I'd called the wrong person, and said I was sorry I'd taken their time.The Gentleman called back to tell me he was not the right one but he felt he should call.
We talked for quite some time. It turned out that he was a World War Two Veteran, eighty nine years old. I told him that I had lost an Uncle in the war and that I had recently done a search looking for some of his old ship mates. My Uncle served on the U.S.S. South Dakota, the first United States Battleship to fire on main land Japan. The old Gentleman was really excited about hearing that I had found and been in contact with two of my Uncles ship mates. They both remember him and the day he was killed in action very well. One of my contacts sent me copies of pictures showing the damage that was done to the ship and one of the plane that dropped the five hundred pound bomb that took my Uncles life. I made the contacts by visiting a site that was set up as a tribute to the crew of the U.S.S. South Dakota, I hope you will check it out to honor them. If your interested in seeing a photo of my Uncle go to Photos Page 3, Richard Goforth is on the sixth row down, second from the left.
At the end of today's phone call I did tell my caller that I wanted to thank him for serving his country. It's sad to think that we are now losing our World War Two Veterans so fast. It's like we are losing a piece of history every time one passes on. After I'd been off the phone for a while I thought of an E-mail I got the other day. It contained a link to a beautiful song, another tribute to our veterans.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic
We talked for quite some time. It turned out that he was a World War Two Veteran, eighty nine years old. I told him that I had lost an Uncle in the war and that I had recently done a search looking for some of his old ship mates. My Uncle served on the U.S.S. South Dakota, the first United States Battleship to fire on main land Japan. The old Gentleman was really excited about hearing that I had found and been in contact with two of my Uncles ship mates. They both remember him and the day he was killed in action very well. One of my contacts sent me copies of pictures showing the damage that was done to the ship and one of the plane that dropped the five hundred pound bomb that took my Uncles life. I made the contacts by visiting a site that was set up as a tribute to the crew of the U.S.S. South Dakota, I hope you will check it out to honor them. If your interested in seeing a photo of my Uncle go to Photos Page 3, Richard Goforth is on the sixth row down, second from the left.
At the end of today's phone call I did tell my caller that I wanted to thank him for serving his country. It's sad to think that we are now losing our World War Two Veterans so fast. It's like we are losing a piece of history every time one passes on. After I'd been off the phone for a while I thought of an E-mail I got the other day. It contained a link to a beautiful song, another tribute to our veterans.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic
posted by David Schantz | 7:54 PM
1 Comments:
Veterans today are too lucky because they can still reach 80+... Now... people are too lucky if they reach 60. As of now...October 6, 2017, there are total of 816 veterans that still alive.
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