This morning on the drive in to work I heard that this week is Holocaust Remembrance Week. This caused me to reflect on an opportunity that is lost to me.
My uncle-in-law, Roy Gilbert Faulkner, was in World War II in the European Theater. When I was a child it never really crossed my mind what this fact meant. When I was old enough to know what it truly meant, I didn't ask him questions about it because he was older and had had a heart attack. I wasn't sure if he was in good enough health to talk about it. Also I wasn't sure how he felt about remembering his experiences. It was just one of those family facts that you (or anybody else in the family) never really talked about.
Over the years I had picked up a couple of the stories of his experiences while over there. He passed away while my dad was still alive. After his funeral my dad told me that him and Uncle Gilbert had talked about Uncle Gilbert's war experience across the many years that they had been brothers-in-law. When I asked dad to tell me some of the stories that Uncle Gilbert had told him, he told me a couple of them that he remembered. But then dad said that those were the only ones that he was willing to tell me. He went on to say that the other ones that Uncle Gilbert had told him had, "made the hair on the back of my neck stand up."
I realized this morning the opportunity that had been lost to me, his children and the rest of the world by not having him around anymore to get his stories. I would love to know more about what he did and how he felt during his time over there. How proud was he and his family when he joined? About the time that he got picked up and rode in the tank with General Patton? What was it like to wake up and realize that your pet German Shepherd dog had saved your life multiple times in the night while you slept? Am I correct in remembering that your unit liberated a concentration camp? If so what was it like?
All of these questions will never be answered and I mourn for it, because if we do not know what went on, we are doomed to repeat it. So if anyone has a member of their family that was in the war or knew someone that was in the war please get their stories and get them down for posterity. Because the world should always remember what happened!
Hope you enjoyed, glad you stopped by and please come back again ;)
I often wonder if asking relatives to share stories/experiences of the war is like making them relive it--relive all the atrocities and horrors of war. I wonder if some soldiers have had such bad experiences that their souls have been scarred forever. On the other hand, it seems like some soldiers like to tell their experiences. I suppose, if your uncle-in-law had wanted to talk, your family would have brought it up sometimes....
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized this was Holocaust Remembrance Week - but I've been thinking about Holocaust survivors for the past few weeks. What a horrendous time in history.
Thanks for sharing.