Uncles of a Bygone War

They became known as “The Greatest Generation”, those men and women who served this nation during the Second World War. Those of us born between 1939 and 1945 were called the “War Babies”, and 1942 put me smack dab in the middle of the bunch. I don’t remember much about that bygone war itself, except for the rationing coupons for sugar and our Victory Garden in the backyard. I do recall two of my uncles were in that war, one in the Pacific Theater and one who was involved in the D-Day invasion of Europe.

Uncle Marshall Bennett, one of my mother’s eight siblings, served in WWII and in the Korean conflict as well. He was in the infantry in the China, Burma, India Campaigns whose missions were to train the Chinese National Army in its resistance to the Japanese occupation and to keep the roads open for the Allied Forces. He received the Bronze Star for his actions in this part of WWII. In 1952, he was called back in the Army to join the UN command under General Douglas MacArthur in the Korean conflict fighting the Chinese Communist Army which had taken over China from the Chinese Nationalist Government he had helped train a few years earlier.

Uncle Baby Brother [so named because he was the last of the four siblings] served in WWII, where he was part of Operation Overlord, also known as the D-Day invasion. He was one of the airborne Rangers who would parachute behind the enemy lines before the beach assaults began. Once on the ground, he was in a house that was shelled that night. One shell landed with such a force that it threw him out of the house where he suffered a broken back. He was shipped to hospital in England where he spent most of the war in a traction. He liked to say that he went to war 5′ 6″ tall and came out 5′ 8″. Later, Uncle Baby Brother would become the honorary chaplain of Rudder’s Rangers centered in Texas.

I vividly remember that Thanksgiving at Mamaw’s when the front door mysteriously opened during the turkey-with-all-the-trimmings dinner. In walked Uncle Baby Brother in his U.S. Army uniform, creating a holy commotion of tears and laughter throughout the house. No one knew he was coming home that day; coming home with his war wounds and gifts; coming home to see his parents, brothers, sister and nephews. I remember the small package parachute that I threw into the air and watched it descend with an amazing grace to the earth, maybe in a similar fashion to his descent that dark June night in 1944. The gift he brought to Mamaw and Daddy Dave was a matching set of sculpted brass shell casings which sat on the living room mantle for the rest of their lives. The real gift, however, was the unintended guest of honor who was so glad to be home in the best sense of that word, and the ruckus he created that day would rattle the dishes in the china cabinet clear down to this Memorial Day.

NOTE: During this Memorial Day weekend that takes place shortly after the 75th Anniversary of VE Day ending the Second World War in Europe, it seemed appropriate to recall those recent soldiers from my own family experiences who served their country in this heroic endeavor. Might be a fitting memorial for you to find those folk in your own family trees and uncover their military histories before they become part of your own bygone history.