Veteran's Day, my dad and the Patriot's Dream...

National Cemetery in Elmira, NY

 On Veteran's day I always think of my dad Captain Domenic J. Messere who was a veteran.   Dad served in so many different capacities that it is unbelievable to me.  He was an original member of the 27^th Infantry that was a Federal National Guard started in 1940.  He then was assigned to the 108^th regular Army Infantry and Signal Corps in Europe, and then he went on to the 1301 Engineers with Patton and still on to the Pacific being in Japan’s waters when the surrender was signed. 

When he came back to the states he returned to the National Guard again.. this time with the 208^th Tank Battalion serving as second in command of the Armory in Syracuse (This is the one I enjoyed)  eventually ending up in the Reitred Reserve attached to the 10th Mountain Division.

As a child I would go with him to when he visited the different Armories (Oswego-Rome-Oneida) when they had special occasions.  From his office in Syracuse I can remember looking down to the large room below and watching them drill and practice.

My favorite "Army" memory was the time my brother and I riding in a jeep with his Sargent driving ...at a parade in Syracuse where the Guard had set up communications…  We couldn’t believe we were in a jeep!

Dad also took us to Arlington Cemetery and this trip I will never forget.  Visiting the graves of men who had died some in battles he fought in.  Thousands and thousands of white markers in rows lying in the gleaming sun.

We saw the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers an occasion that brought tears and sadness to me.   To this day visiting a National Cemetery does the same thing.

Dad survived…but so many more didn’t.  600,000 died in the Civil War, thousands and thousands since… all in Wars to end all Wars, which of course can never end. 

It is human nature I guess.  People can’t get along with their associates or neighbors let alone with other countries and other cultures.

My dad’s ideas in spending time with us and in taking us traveling I think was not to make us rich… but to make us “Cosmopolitan”…  This word and view has been forgotten, but today it is a reality in our world that is shrinking because of media and fast transportation…Cosmopolitan – a person of the world – diverse – well traveled- cultured…  and understanding in depth the world around us not just our little corner of it.

Here is a video and a clip from a Gordon Lightfoot song I have always wanted to do a video of..maybe I will some day.. 

The songs of the Wars are as old as the hills, 

they cling like the rust on the cold steel that kills

they tell of the boys who went down to the tracks...

in a Patriot manner with the cold steel on their backs..

Listen to the words...it is a trilogy of sorts so follow it to the end..written during the Viet Nam era..it is a treasure telling the truth..straight out..not a protest...

This week, the Government shut down, World War II, Patton, and The Lost Children!

What a week…. government shut downs…people burning themselves…. unarmed mentally ill people being shot in their cars ... instead of having their tires shot  out… boats of refuges trying to escape war capsized...  everyone on edge?????

I have been doing this year’s calendar for Eaton and decided to do it on the events and pertinent dates of World War II, the second war to end all wars… which of course never end.

I actually have finished my list of 7 books to read on the war from Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe, Ambrose’s Eisenhower and the 5 volumes of Churchill’s…  I came away horrified that we still go to war without realizing the cost.  It appears our wars are more civilized now… war is not civilized.

Eisenhower’s book in his own words concentrates on the alliance of the Allied countries,  trying to keep all of the leaders happy, his work to win the war with the fewest losses, and at its ending … forming a world body to prevent war ... or to have countries work together toward that cause.  

Churchill on the other hand deals with it as facts and figures.  This or that ship went down… sunk… with 2,000 men drowned. 

Thousands of men on boats went down unable to be rescued in the cold waters of the North Atlantic… thousands.  In the book “The Grand Alliance” he talks with our general in charge of transporting troops to Europe and says the ship Queen Elizabeth can carry them… to paraphrase - "Our General asks how many troops at a time could she carry safely."  Churchill claimed... "If you get rid of the lifeboat worry (which could only save 8,000) you could carry a Division or 16,000 men…"   "and if it is sunk?"  It was basically the price of “War”.

Churchill seemed to be speaking of soldiers like the little plastic soldiers we post -war kids played with as children behind book forts. The more soldiers you had ... the most power you had.  We failed as children to realize each of them represented a young boy or man going off to war. (Today a woman.)

So to finish the calendar I decided to put in quotes on each page, mostly by soldiers or generals.  Some are famous like Patton’s - “When we get to Berlin I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake!” 

Some are to voice of reason; my favorite is Einstein’s… “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Then I remembered a song by Gordon Lightfoot called “The Lost Children”.  Few people remember it …but this Viet Nam era song says it all.  I include the song and music video with words after it!

Down the hall their voices ring, their feet are on the run
Phantoms on the winter sky, together they do come
Faded lips and eyes of blue they're carried in the wind
Their laughter filled the countryside but they'll not laugh again

All the games are ended now, their voices have been stilled
Their fathers built the tools of war by which they all were killed
Their fathers made the uniforms showing which side they were on
And the young boys wear the middle name for guns to prey upon

You've seen the fires in the night, watched the devil as he smiles
You've heard a mother's mournful cry as she searches for her child
You've seen the lines of refugees, the faces of despair
And wondered at the wise men who never seem to care

Goodbye you lost children, God speed you on your way
Your little beds are empty now, your toys are put away
Your mother sings a lullaby as she gazes at the floor
Your father builds more weapons and marches out once more

Down the hall their voices ring, their feet are on the run
Phantoms on the winter sky, together they do come
Faded lips and eyes of blue they're carried in the wind
Their laughter filled the countryside but they'll not laugh again

Father's Day reminds me of the Peacocks of Eaton

Well yesterday was Father’s Day and I really felt lonely and alone more than usual.  I was actually outside chopping up my 3-ton tree that was removed from my roof this week…Thank You Bartlett Tree…

The fact is, I love to chainsaw and love to split wood. Though using the axe..wedges..plural..and wood maul to bust them was a bit of a challenge considering the size and wet weight of the thing…..

I like to think that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, as dad taught me a lot of what I know and helped me in my many projects even working with me when I was doing contracting in the Syracuse area.

The fact is dad always said if you can read you can do almost anything…and over the years that has proved to be true.  From photography to electricity and farther beyond to house jacking and car repair…we did it all together…and now I do it alone.

Dad served in the Regular Army, National Guard, and Reserve for well over 30 years and was a leader.  My most treasured remembrance of that is my autographed picture of Patton that hangs in my office that Dad was given…by Patton.  In the Army he was truly in everything, Engineers, Tanks, Infantry, Signal Corp….

He also loved to travel which is probably where I get my wanderlust from…can’t stand to be stuck here in old Eaton without getting out and about…

When I came to Eaton in 1984 Dad came down to help install the electricity to the house (house had no’s...no water...no electricity…..many no walls...no floors…you name it and it didn’t have it.)

At that point the old restaurant in Eaton had the only pay phone in town, though the restaurant itself was just a burned out shell. So the night he stayed over in “camping conditions” in the dark, we walked to the phone to call my mother.  Since Dad had been in charge of removing explosives on bridges before  tanks crossed with Patton, you can imagine how calm a guy he was…nerves of steel…until that night!

As the phone connected him to mom in the dark quiet of Eaton we heard a horrific noise...an indescribable bunch of shrieks...he jumped and exclaimed what the h..ll was that! 

I had failed to tell him that the old “Applegate” like mansion on the hill, across the street, had peacocks roaming around…and what a God awful noise they did make!