The Greatest Generation

We have lost another member of the Greatest Generation. This past Friday, Walter S. of Indiana, passed away. He was the Husband's grandfather. He was 84 years old, married to Dorothy("Mother") for 66 years. He was the father of 5 children, and the total number of grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren number close to 50!

He served in the Army Aircorps during WWII and helped to liberate Luzon and the Bismarck Archipelago. He was quick with a smile and laugh, and loved to hunt turtles, fish, and woodworking. We are losing members of this generation at a good clip, and we must never forget their sacrifices for our country. But to hear them talk, it was no sacrifice. You just did what was expected of you at the time. A good tenet for anyone in any time.

I heard many good stories about Papaw Walt after his military burial. My favorite personal memory was when we were together around my in-laws round dining table having a good old country dinner of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, etc. Mother was sitting next to Walt with a chicken leg on her plate. She had taken two bites of the leg when Walt, with a gleam in his eye, reached over and snatched the chicken from her plate and began eating it.

No one else at the table paid any attention to this, but I looked at Mother with a surprised grin on my face and a little chuckle. She said, "I never get to finish a piece of chicken." Everyone else in the family had seen this move for so many years, they had become used to it.

Walt proceeded to skeletonize that innocent chicken leg, and then broke it open and sucked out the marrow. The Greatest Generation that also lived through the Depression were not wasteful!