Originally published: . Volume 8, No. 8. Source pages: 3.
Letters to the Editor
[Editor’s Note: We received this letter in June from Dr. James referring to our June rerun of the award- winning Psychology Times’ feature article, “Our WWII Fathers,” by Drs. Magee, Andrews, and Nelson. We inadvertently forgot to run the letter in our July issue. We apologize for the delay.]
Dear Dr Nelson,
I wanted to take a moment to write and thank you for the heart felt stories about our WWII military Fathers.
As a Psychologist who served 26 years on active duty in the Army, this story brought back fond memories of the great men and women I have served with for nearly 3 decades. The stories touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes as I thought about our greatest generation and how much we owe the soldiers of the WWII generation . . . many of them never came home, died for freedom around the world and defeated the tyranny of the Hitler regime. Sadly most Americans just don't know the sacrifices soldiers go through for little financial rewards. Our fathers served because they believed in democracy, freedom and in service to this great nation.
I myself was awarded a Bronze Star in Iraq so in a small way I know personally what these great men who were awarded Bronze Stars, Silver Stars and Purple Hearts went through to receive such awards and the selfless sacrifices they endured for us all.
Dr Nelson, even though I had 10 deployments in my career, the modern day soldier's life is far easier than the life of a soldier in WWII. When our fathers and grand fathers left for the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, they were gone for 3 to 4 years. There were no cell phones, no wifi, no Skype or VTC, no laptops, no DVDs, no Game boys or Play Stations, no McDonalds or Burger King restaurants but only Army MREs to eat. These soldiers had no showers or warm beds to sleep in so they usually slept on the ground in the freezing cold & snow all across Europe and no coming home on leave until the war was over. In spite of all of this, any time I meet a WWII veteran and I ask him, "would you do it over again if you had the chance to do it all over again?" A bright smile always lights up their face, a pause. then a "hell yes I would" follows every time. These men of WWII were true heroes and fought to help save humanity.
Thank you again for sharing these wonderful memories.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.