Teenagers and the stories we tell them...
I have eleven, sorry, twelve (one more showed up) teenagers in my basement. Not locked up or anything...just watching a movie/birthday partying/eating pizza. Ten of the twelve will be spending the night. And then needing breakfast. Silly me...
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This afternoon The Eldest interviewed a friend of a family member who served in the Vietnam war. I listened in to transcribe the conversation. (This is for The Eldest's American Studies class.) Very interesting to say the least. And heart-wrenching. During his time in Vietnam he was only 18 and 19 (enlisted at 17) and served in the Navy at Da Nang. We all had to stop at one point to let the gentleman compose himself. He had just admitted that 60,000 of his generation had died for nothing. It was a very sad moment.
He was such a good story-teller---on a lighter note he related how one of his first jobs was to do guard duty. He was handed only a 'parade' rifle---a WWII issue, painted white, with no ammunition. When he asked how he should do guard duty without a working firearm he was shown a hollowed out space on the top of the huge stack of pallets they were guarding. Turns out the pallets held cases upon cases of Falstaff beer and the guards had been drinking from the pallets and making a little 'cave' to hide out in. He also added that the Falstaff had formaldehyde added to it as a preservative and tasted terrible.
The Eldest was very moved by the man's stories---it's one thing to learn about the Vietnam war by reading a book or listening to a teacher or even watching films---it's a whole other experience to hear it first hand from someone who was there.
Blessings to all those who serve.
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This afternoon The Eldest interviewed a friend of a family member who served in the Vietnam war. I listened in to transcribe the conversation. (This is for The Eldest's American Studies class.) Very interesting to say the least. And heart-wrenching. During his time in Vietnam he was only 18 and 19 (enlisted at 17) and served in the Navy at Da Nang. We all had to stop at one point to let the gentleman compose himself. He had just admitted that 60,000 of his generation had died for nothing. It was a very sad moment.
He was such a good story-teller---on a lighter note he related how one of his first jobs was to do guard duty. He was handed only a 'parade' rifle---a WWII issue, painted white, with no ammunition. When he asked how he should do guard duty without a working firearm he was shown a hollowed out space on the top of the huge stack of pallets they were guarding. Turns out the pallets held cases upon cases of Falstaff beer and the guards had been drinking from the pallets and making a little 'cave' to hide out in. He also added that the Falstaff had formaldehyde added to it as a preservative and tasted terrible.
The Eldest was very moved by the man's stories---it's one thing to learn about the Vietnam war by reading a book or listening to a teacher or even watching films---it's a whole other experience to hear it first hand from someone who was there.
Blessings to all those who serve.