Why don't we celebrate V.E. Day anymore?

I have heard the statistic that everyday 1,500 veterans of WWII die. The recently celebrated 'Greatest Generation' is fast becoming just ink on history book pages and fading images in old photographs. That is a shame.

I am sure that my grandchildren will ask me if I knew anyone who fought in WWII and will tell them about my Great uncle and my step grandfather who fought in the Pacific. I never knew my great uncle, his submarine was sunk in the Pacific, and my step grand father Manuel did not like to talk about the war.

My father was born in 1915 and could not serve in the armed forces because he ruptured his eardrum as a young man and no service would take him. He spent a good deal of the war at Mare Island Naval Base building PT Boats. He would get sad when he talked about that time because of the friends and ball players he knew that never made it back home.

I did the math one day and if a young man of 18 fought in the Civil War in 1865, he would have been 78 years old when my father was 10. It would have been fascinating to hear from someone who talked to an actual soldier from the Civil War. That is what I think of when I take my son with me to my friend's ranch and talk with his grandfather. Barney is in his 80s and was in the Navy before Pearl Harbor and stayed in through Korea. I enjoy talking with him about his life.

If you have WWII veterans in your family, talk to them and listen to their stories, even if you have heard them before. Even if they are cranky and bitter, they will be gone soon and those memories can never be replaced.