He will be 100 years old in a couple of months. His memory is good and his sense of humor is intact. He was a track star in high school and set school records in the 100 yard dash. A Marine Corps Flag flies in the wind outside his window. He is confined to his living room armchair most days because it is too difficult to move about attached to his oxygen tank. The picture window by which he sits most days, is his window to the world. He is a small town guy, living on a small town street, in the middle of America, and even though he is slight in stature, he is anything but small. He is a true American Hero.
As a Marine assigned to the Pacific during World War II he saw and experienced the worst that humanity had to offer in the 20th Century. However, it didn’t temper his sense of humor. He once described his job in the war, was to walk backward. Explaining that one of his responsibilities was to lay down communication line, from a big spool, connecting one position to another. Often times he was out in front and an easy target for snipers. When asked why he got to have all the fun, he explained through that ever present smile, that he could run faster than anyone in the company. His legs bear the scars of the volcanic cinder that cover the islands of Iwo Jima and Peleliu in the Pacific Ocean. His memory is anything but faded, like most combat veterans he can recall the smallest detail, often remembering odd things about the weather on a particular day.
Remembrance is what his life consists of now, returning to his hometown, the job at the factory, raising the kids, the parades honoring him and his high school friends. Saturday nights at the VFW and church on Sunday Morning were part of the protocol and linger in his mind almost every day. He did what everyone his age did when he returned from the War. He got on with life.
There will be a celebration at the Fairgrounds in March to honor his 100th birthday. The kids and grandkids and neighbors will be there. So will the few WW II veterans in the area, that are still capable of travel. His wife will be there, sitting just off to his right, as she does most days now. She still smiles when she hears that story again for perhaps the 100th time. She knows what he went through. She knows that fitting back in to a small town wasn’t as easy as he made it look. She knows that the nightmares never completely went away. She has memories too.
For now, they are looking forward to the Birthday party. When the family comes to get them for the celebration, he will see them coming, from his armchair in the living room, through the big picture window, beneath the Marine Corps flag flying in the breeze.
