re: An amazing letter from a soldier to his parents during WWII

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It’s hard to imagine a 19 year old nowadays writing a letter like that

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It's hard to envision many 35 year olds today writing a letter like that.

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As suggested earlier, the kind of grateful, thoughtful disposition and gritty stoicism that this man possessed simply doesn't exist in 99% of young adults today.

The self absorption, narcissism, materialism, and general softness, among other ills, that characterize modern day Americans have rendered those attributes all but obsolete. We are simply too far gone at this point in our own comfort and wealth, and in our own moral decay, to ever approach something like this ever again.

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So true...

Amazingly enough there is a picture of this fine young man.

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WWII Collector

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Thanks for finding this. I knew you would enjoy this letter.

Edit: I read your first post before you edited. Everything you said was true and spot on.

I didn't say we had zillions of 19 year olds around just a few.
I just think our entire culture has gone soft, bitching about the pettiest of things, and demanding "justices", when frankly no one owes anyone anything.
Just look at our obesity. We have people literally on welfare that are morbidly obese, yet they complain they don't have "opportunity".
Let's go fight a war for our country and I guarantee you will see minds and attitudes change real quickly

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Aachen

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Beautiful cathedral here.

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Edit: I read your first post before you edited. Everything you said was true and spot on.

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I did enjoy it. Thank You... This was a fine thread and I didn't want to thread jack with my personal issues...

But when I read about people like that young man, it really saddens me to my core... The people of today have some kind of attitude that, that young died defending our freedom, so they could be assholes today... And so many people have the mentality that they are entitled to their own special needs and rights based solely on the sacrifices of others without any effort on their own part what so ever..

This is a newspaper story that I found in a pile of junk... I used my phone to type for me.. pardon the errors... I won't edit, but I think everyone gets the jist.

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Bereaved mother ask a pertinent question.

If we are to be Jesus who said go into the world and preach the gospel to Every Nation I wonder if my boy who was killed in Germany on April 19th might be alive today observed and mother who like so many bereaved mother's is asking questions these days questions such as could this terrible War have been prevented and what could we do to build a lasting peace?

He was a good boy, unusually gifted and a potential leader no one knows how viable a citizen he might have become.

When the war was but eight months old he wrote to his mother saying that he had figured it the people of the United States had expected already upon the war for more than they had given to foreign ministry's work in the previous said years. Gladly they bought war bonds. Freely they gave to the Red Cross. Willingly enough they leave it on Ward communities and in canteens. As he observe their expenditure of energy enthusiasm and money this son wrote from a training camp. Mother if our people had supported foreign missions as they are supporting this war maybe fellows like me would not have to go and die for our country.

As She recalls his words this mother may be asking a question not unlike that of a mother and a remarkable Story the question by Dana Barrett published recently in the Saturday evening post,.

New program I ain't complaining said Hester Carter would who had lost her only son but why does our boys have to go and get Kilt to keep God's world in order? That's a question I can't figure out in my mind.

Perhaps the Oklahoma boy who has fallen had the answer. God's world was not in our order because we paid too little attention to the command of the master to preach the gospel to Every Nation we did carry it to All Nations but exact actually we reach to few people we gave but not enough to support as we might have supported the Valiant adventurous labor or Christian Ministries during their best to carry the gospel to Pagan peoples everywhere. Why did we take so little interest in missions?

The answer is simple. We liked imagination. Why, we have not enough imagination to do something about the housing of negroes in our own City. We do nothing about Mulligan's Gardens and other sore spots for children grow up under conditions unfit for Animals. We have provided no s decent Recreation facilities for the children in the Fiddler school. Things we do not see here and touch or so remote from us, almost as remote within her own city limits as those in the far distant lands where our precious men are fighting and giving up their lives.

We talked about Ford Ministries. But why call them foreign? They not the people in other lands need the teachings of Christianity as much as ourselves? Are their spiritual needs different from our own? One of the teeming millions of pagans who will fight this war to the death? Marie's mother asked a pregnant question.

If we had a baby Jesus who said go into the world and preach the gospel to every nation I wonder if my boy who was killed in Germany on April 19th might be alive today observed a mother who like so many bereaved mothers is asking questions these days Questions such as could this terrible war have been prevented and what could we do to be able to lasting peace? New paragraph He was a good boy, and usually gifted and a potential leader No one knows how valuable a citizen he might have become. New paragraph When the war was but eight months old he wrote his mother saying that he had figured it the people of the United States had expected already upon the war far more than they had given to foreign ministries working the previous 10 years. Gladly they bought war bonds. Freely they gave to the Red Cross. Willingly enough they labored on war communities and incantines. As he observed their expenditure and energy enthusiasm and money the sun wrote from a training camp. Mother if our people had supported for admissions as they are supporting this war maybe fellas like me would not have to go and die for our country. New paragraph as she recalls his words this mother may be asking a question not unlike that of a mother and a remarkable story the question by Dana Barrett published recently in the Saturday evening post,. New paragraph new program I ain't complaining said Hester Carter Wood who had lost her only son but why does her boys have to go and get killed to keep God's world in order? That's the question I can't figure out in my mind. No paragraph Perhaps the Oklahoma boy who has fallen had the answer. God's world was not in our order because we paid two little attention to the command of the master to preach the gospel to every nation We did carry it to all nations but exactly we reached two few people We gave but not enough to support as we might have supported the valiant adventurous labor of Christian Ministries during their best to carry the gospel to pagan peoples everywhere. Why did we take so little interest in missions? New paragraph The answer is simple. We like to imagination. Why, we have not enough imagination to do something about the housing of Negros and our own city. We do nothing about Mulligan's Gardens and other source for children grow up under conditions unfit for animals. We have provided no decent recreation facilities for the children in the shoulder school. Things we do not see here in touch or so remote from us, almost as remote within our own city limits as those in the four district lands where our precious men are fighting and giving up their lives. New paragraph We talk about Ford Ministries. But why call them foreign? They're not the people and other lands need to teachings of Christianity as much as ourselves? Are there spiritual needs different from our own? What of the teaming millions of pagans who will fight this war to the death? Can the mother of a noble son who has given his life for us find one of Comfort in the fact that this terrible war is opening the highest minds and hearts of many realizing has never formed that they must make a greater effort to keep God's world in order. Churches are planning programs to preach the gospel as never before. The methodists are raising a long-term fun of a hundred million dollars, the Presbyterians 25 million dollars. Southern Baptists will give this year approximately 5 million dollars ask episcopalians will invest another five millions in 1945. If we should give more freely and build a fast World Christian Fellowship that in itself would help lay the foundation for a lasting peace

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It's amazing the number of lawyers and judges here that are Gonzaga alums. While I am not as I grew up in New York, as the Dad of a Gonzaga alum I am like one of the family.

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My brother-in-law is an alum also. It’s amazing the number of alums in government though. Definitely part of the swamp culture.

He’s good friends with Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland (whom I don’t care for). Their neighbor is former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry. I’ve met him at a party and he’s actually a nice guy. I met Justice Kavabaw at a friend’s party last fall. Pretty incredible all of the people they know.

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Yes, Martin O'Malley. former Maryland governor, is an Gonzaga alum. Ken Cuccinelli, who ran for governor in Virginia, is also a Gonzaga alum.

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Yep. My BIL was at that Gonzaga get-together last year when O’Malley made a complete arse of himself and threatened Cuccinelli and made a huge scene.

Yeah, I talked to Kavanaugh about the area high schools that most of the guys there went to.

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I didn't think we crossed the Rhine into Germany until early '45.

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Battle of the Bulge was in the area around Aachen and Bastogne right on the border. Remember your Band of Brothers? It was fricking cold, so it was Winter and they could hear the Germans singing Christmas carols.

That had to be 1944 because D-Day was in 1944 and by Christmas 1945 the war was over.

We didn't invade Germany until 1945 proper, but during the Battle of the Bulge, which was a German offensive, we definitely held territory in Germany.

If that seems somehow off, remember that we were directly involved in the ground war in Europe for only 336 days (D-Day, 6-6-1944 to VE Day, 5-8-1945). We tend to think of it as years of slogging through the continent because we'd been involved in naval battles and intense and bloody fighting in the Pacific for 912 days (since 12-7-1941) before D-Day even occurred. By the time the Japanese finally surrendered on VJ Day (9-2-1945), we'd been in combat in the Pacific for 1,365 days. Our brains conflate the two and kind of want to assume that we fought both campaigns contemporaneously. They absolutely were not, though.

The European Theater operations pale in comparison to the length and the horrors of our involvement in the Pacific Theater. I have no idea why the European Theater seems bigger or grander in the American psyche other than maybe we cannot allow ourselves to really fathom the true horror of what was done to us in the Pacific and what we had to do to others to win the Pacific Theater.