If you cross paths with my 94-year-old grandfather on one of his 10-mile bike rides, you wouldn’t know that he once trekked the mountains of Italy. Or that he carried supplies up those mountains and helped injured soldiers back down – all while under enemy fire.
If you share a bowl of ice cream with my grandpa and his sweet tooth, you wouldn’t know that he had to lay cable through enemy territory every night, using nothing but a compass and a map to navigate. A compass and a map that he couldn’t always read, because, to use a light would make him a moving target.
If you witness my grandpa dance with his great-granddaughter to a Moana song, you wouldn’t realize that he had to have knee replacement surgery after shrapnel ruined his knee.
My grandpa was a teenager when he joined the Army in 1943. He said that the war made him a man. It taught him how to do a job and gave him a purpose after a Depression in which there were no jobs or opportunities to be had.
But really, what the war made my grandpa was a hero.
See, he was a farm boy from Ohio, put at the front lines with little to no training. He was a field lineman who, as he tells it, was just doing his job. And as is my grandpa’s nature, he did his job well, pushing through enemy territory faster and gaining more experience than some of the other more seasoned units. He was a young man with little exposure to life outside of the farm, but he worked hard to lay cable for field telephones. He learned to find and repair cut cables, never knowing if the same German soldier who cut the cable was still waiting for him. In fact, he was skilled enough at his job that he lasted longer than many before getting hit in the knee with shrapnel.
After that, the Army gave him a paper-pusher position, a position he jokes he’d have liked to have had from the beginning. And yet, I never hear him complaining about his work or the danger he was in.
In truth, his quiet heroism leaves a legacy of service in our family, as three of my cousins currently serve our nation: an Army Reserves Specialist; an Air Force National Guard Staff Sergeant; and a West Point grad, Major, Special Forces.
Without Grandpa’s service, I might be living a different story today. Without all the other women and men who have served our country, we all might be living a different story, including our future generation.
Our veterans and active duty military work tirelessly and behind the scenes in a normally thankless job to keep us safe. They are ordinary people made extraordinary because they give everything to serve you. To serve me. To serve our children.
Go find a veteran today – maybe your own favorite veteran – and thank her/him, because they are our unseen heroes.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute, and thank him for his service to our country. Our freedom is something I too often take for granted, and this was such a beautiful reminder of those who have served and are serving.
Thank you! I had so much fun writing it. I take our freedom for granted as well, and it was a good reminder for me too!
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