COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: The Few keep getting Fewer
The other evening Barbara Jean and I were watching The Longest Day...In the film, Richard Burton, plays an RAF fighter pilot. He makes his first appearance in the film having just returned from a cross-channel mission. In a conversation with another pilot, he tells him that a fellow member of the squadron was shot down and "bought it over the Channel" And, the conversation went something like this..."That makes you the last of the group who fought the Battle of Britain." "Yes one thing about being one of the Few, we keep getting fewer." That line resonated with me. I am a member of the Springfield ROTARY. This month I am in charge of getting speakers...and I got to thinking about the few getting fewer and hit on the idea of getting Arthur Gaines SMITH TM1(SS) Silver Star holder, Submarine Combat Pin and WWII Victory medal wearing twinkle eyed rascal, to be our speaker. This may very well be my fellow ROTARIANS first and last opportunity to hear a first hand account from a member of the Greatest Generation who parked a lot of Hirohito's bath tub toys on the Pacific Ocean floor. You know, those of you who belong to organizations and attend breakfasts, luncheons and/or dinners with speakers, should consider showcasing WWII veterans...They are disappearing at a rapid rate and there will come a time when locating them will be tougher than finding DDDD size bra in a scavenger hunt. They are a seldomly thought of and recognized national treasure...They are what true role models should be for young men...not ten foot freaks can toss a ball through a metal ring....or a guy who can throw a hundred mile an hour fastball...or hit some guy with a spiral pass seventy yards down field. No the real heroes are the men who understood civic obligation, volunteered and spent sometimes hours counting dropped depth charges watching battle lantern light turn yellow....Men who heard the close aboard blast of dropped bombs....heard the pinging of Jap sonar and the turn of Nip tincan screws pass overhead. These men are the examples, the male youth of today should try to emulate....and daydream about duplicating their exploits. My fellow ROTARIANS might not know it...or even realize it as they get in their cars to return home or to work, but for a brief moment in time they will have been in the presence of a gentleman who is one of a band of warriors who kept them from growing up eating fishheads and rice with a pair of sticks and groveling to a spectcle wearing sonuvabitch who looked like Charlie McCarthy. Wish I could have gotten Warshot....but he would have given a couple of the old ladies cardiac arrest. Seriously, we need to honor these gallant bastards as long as God let's them hang around for us to do so. I'm doing my damndest to locate the lady who had a brother who rode the boats...I got his name and necessary info, to include a photo of him taken in Brisbane Australia in the early days of WWII...and I got him registered in the national naval registry and if I can locate her,I plan to invite her to ROTARY next Thursday and give it to her. That workis on two levels, she will meet Art and she can be introduced to my ROTARIANS. The Few are getting fewer...We need to find them and shake their hands and say "Thank you for what you did to stamp out the effects of two of the most evil bastards that ever got assembled from Satan's tinkertoy box." DEX |
The Few keep getting Fewer
