•June 21, 2017•

By Jerry L. Ginther
NP Columnist

Like many my age, you may remember hearing our elders speak of how things were prior to and during WWII. Stories of The Great Depression, WWII and the Korean War that followed were often topics I heard discussed as a youngster. Their memories were fresh and vivid. We were shown pictures of uncles and cousins who served, some of whom we never knew because they died in military service before we were born. Such were my experiences as well as occasionally being fortunate enough to hear an actual account from one who served and survived the ordeal.

Most of those accounts were interesting, but I would learn later in life that I never really understood the gravity of war or the pain of the accounts being shared. They were just stories with no reality for comparison in my primary school years.

As I grew into my preteen years, learned American and World History in school, those stories began to take on meaning that I could understand.

Seeing the accounts, dates and figures in text books established facts that made me aware that the whole world had suffered through what I thought were just stories that affected my family and community. It was then that I began to see those accounts in a more realistic perspective. I began to ask more questions of my grandparents, uncles, older cousins and siblings to refresh me on those stories that had not meant much to me as a child. I wanted to hear those stories and see those pictures again. Suddenly, all of those veterans were heroes that I wanted to know more about.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.