My Dad very rarely talked about the war. From what I understand he traveled right from the boot of Italy all the way through Europe and ended up in Holland when the war ended. He was the radio operator in an armored car. One of my cousins is a WWII history buff and spent a fair bit of time talking to my Dad about his experiences in the war. I learned from my cousin a couple of years ago that my dad had two of his commanders die in his arms, you see the commander is usually standing up with the upper part of his body or at least his head out of the turret, and so, he is vulnerable. The radio operator sits a little to the side of the opening for the turret. They were shot by snipers and fell down into Dad's lap. Dad would have been 19 or 20 when he joined up in 1940, and he spent the next 5 years of his life fighting in the war. In the picture below Dad is on the left.
Mom and Dad had an opportunity to go to Holland for the big celebration of the liberation of Holland a number of years ago, this next picture is of the two of them standing in front of one of the houses in which they stayed.
I love my Dad a lot and every now and then I am overcome with waves of sadness, wishing to see him... hear him. "Hey Johnnie-boy" he'd call me, with that tone of fatherly love and affection in his voice.
We have a video of Dad, playing with D3, she was under a year old at the time, he was lying on the floor with her sitting up in front of him, and he was singing to her about how he loved her...
Each of my daughters has a picture that Grandpa painted for them...
Dad, you'd be so proud of your granddaughters, they have grown up to be marvelous wonderful women...
I miss you Dad...
