Another hero from WWII passes on

[trekgeezer]

Hopefully James Hoyt is now at peace with horrible memories he lived with for so many years.  It's good that someone is making a record of these guy's memories so no one forgets the sacrifices they made and the things they had to live with because of their service in the war.  What the world owes the veterans of World War II is incalculable.

I didn't know Mr. Hoyt, but I can imagine what he was like.  I've had many friends that were veterans of the big war. Some didn't like to mention the war and those few that told me stories about their experiences, seemed to remember it like it was yesterday. I can't imagine how it would feel to be 19 and have to face such a horrible thing as Buchenwald and then have to  live with it for over 60 years.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/buchenwald.liberator/index.html

[Psycho Circus]

R.I.P.

[indianasmith]

The Greatest Generation is leaving us pretty quickly now, and we shall not look on their like again.  Bill Clinton summed it up quite well: "Their hair may be whiter now, and some of the spring is gone from their step, but never forget - when these men were young, they saved the world."

One of my best friends is Harry Thompson.  Harry is 94 and very active  (he actually went skydiving in 2006 at the age of 92).  He is a former POW, captured on the first day of the Battle of the Bulge.  I helped him write a book about his prison ordeal, entitled PATTON'S ILL-FATED RAID.  I highly recommend it.

[AndyC]

I don't imagine somebody could ever be the same again after seeing one of those Nazi camps. I had the privilege, a few months back, of attending a live presentation by a woman who was liberated from Bergen-Belsen, after first spending time in Auschwitz, where most of her family was gassed. Her description of Bergen-Belsen at the end of the war was almost inconceivably horrific, as were many of the things she talked about. Hard to believe anyone could have stayed sane through all that.

I can just imagine walking into a camp full of starving people, laying amongst piles of corpses, covered in lice and filth. The burnt remains and the mass graves. How could you not be changed by that? To see not just the horrifying images, but to see first-hand the depths of human cruelty. I can honestly say I'm in awe of anyone who witnessed that, whether as a soldier or especially as an inmate. Hoyt made more of a sacrifice than most people realize, just by being there.

[Andrew]

We often perform funeral honors for Marine veterans, and are averaging 2 a week - though sometimes we have done 6 or even 7.  These days, most of the funerals are for Korean War Veterans, though that was not the case ten years ago, when it was almost all WWII veterans.

About 2 weeks ago I presented a flag to the widow of a WWII veteran.  It is always an honor to do so, and, as a generation, they did something quite amazing.

[Menard]

Perhaps an interesting footnote to this that ties it in with the entertainment industry.

One of the inmates at Buchenwald was Robert Clary, best known to the American public, ironically, as LeBeau, in the TV series Hogan's Heroes. Actually, many of the cast members, including Banner and Klemperer, were directly affected by the nazis.

Clary was one of 13 members of his immediate family imprisoned by the nazis; he was the only to survive.

[Allhallowsday]

We often perform funeral honors for Marine veterans, and are averaging 2 a week - though sometimes we have done 6 or even 7.  These days, most of the funerals are for Korean War Veterans, though that was not the case ten years ago, when it was almost all WWII veterans.

About 2 weeks ago I presented a flag to the widow of a WWII veteran.  It is always an honor to do so, and, as a generation, they did something quite amazing.

My mom has one of those flags; my Dad served in Europe and sometimes talked about things he witnessed that were disquieting.  Certainly yet the "greatest generation."  Thank you to all the veterans. 

[Patient7]

It's a real shame, I can't even comprehend what any veteran has sacrificed just to protect our freedoms.  A big thank you to anyone who has, is, or will fight in any war.