By Raoul

February 10, 2012 5:15 PM | Link to this

My grandfather served in the Army ‘Over There’. He was an only child and felt if anyone should enlist it should be guys like him. He was on the front lines and ended up carrying messenger pigeons, which made him quite a target. He thought his commanding General was a drunken idiot. He told us the Frenchies were always the first to hunker down in the trenches. By the time the American doughboys got there the elan the French had at the beginning of the war was all gone. No wonder. They and the British lost a whole generation of men. I remembered him singing a lot of ditties in French. Years later, as WWII loomed, he advised my Dad to enlist in the Navy to avoid the horrors of trench warfare. Dad ended up on Okinawa on D-Day plus 3. So much for Grandpa’s advice. WWI was a horrendous event which could and should have been avoided. What a huge waste of humanity. Yet, we owe a lot to those brave men and women who endured it all and did their duty.

By vick

February 9, 2012 7:58 AM | Link to this

SR, I believe that is true. I think the last living male WWI vet died last year in Australia or New Zealand? I would have to check on that. I seem to recall that the last American WWI vet was from West Virginia. And he passed on in the last couple of years. I’m just remembering that and not checking to verify the accuracy of my recollections. But that is what I seem to recall. Perhaps another reader can track down those details for us?

By Slightly Right

February 9, 2012 7:25 AM | Link to this

Vick, Didn’t we lose the last known American WWI veteran in the past year or two? Did you happen to do an article on his passing?

By Richard Piseon

February 9, 2012 7:12 AM | Link to this

Vick My apolgies. I am very sensitive to our service people and all they have given. While my view of Obama still stands I should have been more thorough before making comment.

By vick

February 9, 2012 6:52 AM | Link to this

Richard, if you had taken a moment to actually read the obituary for Florence Green in the link I have provided then you might be better informed as to her experiences serving in WWI. Then you would know that she served in the Royal Air Force. That was for Great Britain, not the United States. The RAF in WWI had no connection whatsover with President Obama. The RAF’s connection to the Catholic Church is also of little significance in regard to this tribute to those who served in WWI. This has nothing to do with politics, Richard. It is about respecting that generation.

By Richard Piseon

February 9, 2012 6:37 AM | Link to this

The service Florence Green gave to our country is priceless. I wonder what she thought of the OBama Admin. treading upon our religious rights relating to the Catholic Church? This Obama Regime must be defeated or we will lose many more freedoms our military folk struggled for.

By prose

February 8, 2012 8:07 PM | Link to this

Your remembrance touched me greatly, Vick. When I was young we listened to American Heritage albums, with recordings of diddy’s days long past singing,”what’s the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile, Pack up your toubles in your old kit bag and smile boys smile”. What a ‘great generation’these doughboys were. Bless their hearts, and you,remembering how truly special they will remain in ours.

By Slightly Right

February 8, 2012 6:40 PM | Link to this

I wish I would have paid more attention to the stories told by my grand parents. Heck my one grandfather was born in 1882. What a wealth of knowledge lost to a kid that wasn’t interested at the time. I do remember first hand tales of the 1913 flood and prohibition times in Hamilton. In retrospect, I can now think of a hundred questions I would have liked to have asked.