The Greatest Generation Never Forgotten

I still remember the scent of his aftershave as his scruff scratched my soft skin when I hugged him goodbye. My Grandpa Tony fought in World War II, and that’s all I know about his military involvement. I didn’t know what he did, where he was or what the war was even over. I didn’t know because I was only in the first grade when my hero died.

I say “hero” because now that I’m much older and have a better understanding of this great patriotic war—a war full of personal sacrifice for the cause of freedom—I realize what a fascinating man my grandfather really was.

My Grandpa Tony created the mold of what I thought a man should be. A man provided and cared for his family, a man cooked delicious Sunday Italian dinners, a man had a yearning to learn something new every day.

He also taught me a thing or two about what true love is.

The distance between the two forced my grandparents to write letters to each other. Grandpa Tony started each letter with “My Darling Dorothy” written carefully in the neatest script. You could tell that writing these letters was like trying to craft poetry for the two of them.

Even though I was too young to know much about my grandfather, I quickly realized he was a man I wanted to emulate as I learned more about him as I grew up. There’s a reason they call his generation the greatest; they are the reasons we enjoy most of the freedoms we have today.

From working with North Country Honor Flight, a nonprofit that sends World War II and Korean War veterans to see their memorial in Washington D.C., I see how important remembering and honoring the sacrifices these men made is while being a part of a generation that often forgets about these heroes.

I wish my grandfather could have stuck around later than he did so that I could have seen him go on “one last mission” to see his war memorial. But he is honored each and every day by his grandson who strives to be as great of a man as he was.

Help the remaining few hundred North Country World War II veterans experience Honor Flight by making a donation here.