My grandfather died today
...in his sleep. Medically, anyway. He was long past the point where he forgot who I was.
Howard Pitt enlisted in the Army during World War II and was assigned to the Army Air Corps. After training, he flew missions in Europe near the tail end of the war, mostly assigned to destroying infrastructure--train tracks, munitions depots, etc. When the war was over, he returned home and married the girl he had met while on leave (Kathryn Evans) and took advantage of the G.I. Bill to go to college and study engineering. After graduating, he worked as a surveyor for an oil company, spending some time in Scotland along the way. He and Kathryn had two children, Randall and David. Despite served in Europe, he refused to buy anything made in Japan until the day he died. When he retired, he divided his time between Long Beach, CA, where he had raised his two children, and Florence, OR. His wife preceeded him in death by a year. He died in Seattle, WA, July 28, 2007.
And that's almost all I know. By the time I was old enough to be interested in his stories, he was no longer capable of telling them. I'm sure my father knows more than I do, and some day I'll ask, but hearing them secondhand won't be the same as hearing them from the man who went through it.
Rest in peace, grandfather.
Howard Pitt enlisted in the Army during World War II and was assigned to the Army Air Corps. After training, he flew missions in Europe near the tail end of the war, mostly assigned to destroying infrastructure--train tracks, munitions depots, etc. When the war was over, he returned home and married the girl he had met while on leave (Kathryn Evans) and took advantage of the G.I. Bill to go to college and study engineering. After graduating, he worked as a surveyor for an oil company, spending some time in Scotland along the way. He and Kathryn had two children, Randall and David. Despite served in Europe, he refused to buy anything made in Japan until the day he died. When he retired, he divided his time between Long Beach, CA, where he had raised his two children, and Florence, OR. His wife preceeded him in death by a year. He died in Seattle, WA, July 28, 2007.
And that's almost all I know. By the time I was old enough to be interested in his stories, he was no longer capable of telling them. I'm sure my father knows more than I do, and some day I'll ask, but hearing them secondhand won't be the same as hearing them from the man who went through it.
Rest in peace, grandfather.