President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

That sounds very much like my father. He'd tell stories about training soldiers, camp life, stuff like that. Very seldom did he say much about combat, and he was on the sharp end. As to "Hogan's Heroes", his opinion was short and pithy. "That show's a bunch of crap. The Germans were a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them."

He led an Army infantry company fighting in the hedgerow country in Normandy in the weeks after D-Day, playing tag with German paratroopers. Silver Star, Bronze Star, Croix de Guerre, Purple Heart. They were trying to take a little town when he caught two machine gun bullets in the leg. He refused evacuation for half a day, directing the attack from his stretcher until they took the town. He was in Walter Reed hospital for almost two years afterward.

Pop was a helluva man.

 

You're right.

 

When Dad's unit was stationed in England during the run up to D-Day, they were stationed in an area with limited resources. They had a pretty poor officer's mess, and as a result they were served peas and carrots virtually every day, that and Brussels sprouts seemed to be the only things available in abundance. He'd eat peas, and he'd eat carrots, but put them together and he wouldn't touch them.

Funny story. When I was maybe 22 and my little brother 20 or so, we sat down to family dinner with Mom and Dad. He said the blessing, then he looked down at his plate and up at the two of us. "Boys, we raised you up to eat whatever your mother cooked, at least a little bit. There are a lot of things that you eat now without a thought that you refused to touch at one time. I have always made it a point to be a good example, and so I did the same thing. Well, you boys are men grown now, and I've done my part. I hate these damn Brussels sprouts, and I'm not gonna eat the damned things any longer."

I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. You kinda had to be there, to see the baleful look he gave his plate as he said it and hear his tone of voice, but my lord it was funny.

 

Sounds like an old guy I knew who was in Korea and apparently was fed Spam every day. For the rest of life, I’m reasonably sure he would have starved to death before eating Spam.

 

My uncle was in Italy headed up to the front. The story went that a kidred officer pulled him out of line, saying he wasn't going to let a fellow Jew get killed up there. My uncle was reassigned to Graves Registration for the remainder of the war. Look it up. He never talked about it with anyone, and no one in the family ever asked. As a teenager I had a good relationship with him but he's been gone f0r years. I wish I'd asked.

 

I'm not exaggerating. There were days that they got peas and carrots for breakfast. Pop wasn't a guy that bitched, but forty years later he was willing to vent about that officer's mess.

He was in the ROTC when he was in high school. He saw which way the wind was blowing and enlisted in the Army as a 2nd Lt. in 1938, so he was Regular Army, not a draftee or reserve commission. That made a difference in his expectations, as conditions in the mess in the States, while not luxurious, could be very comfortable. Besides, anyone from the rawest draftee to Eisenhower would bitch about peas and carrots for breakfast.

 

When at sea, we were fed rice constantly because it was easy to carry large quantities aboard ship. I tried pointing out that instant mashed potatoes were just as easy but had no luck.
For us, fresh water was a luxury. I’ve brushed my teeth with Crest and Diet Coke many times.

 

Thank you for this story. It made my day.

 

PARIS -- The French government canceled all public New Year's Eve celebrations. Police have blocked off all of the famous landmarks including the Arc de Triomphe, shown here. That hasn't stopped people from congregating outside of the barriers. New Year's France 2022 is in 61 minutes.

 

That was forty years + ago, and it still makes me laugh when I think about it. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Days like this are one reason sometimes I just want to hang up and listen.

@Smallpotatoes This year started out terribly. Now you've got stuff to smile about. Tater, once in a while just smell the roses.

 

I did everything possible to make it this bad so please help me