For my favorite vet

[DFW]

Managed to get off the USS Torrey Canyon before it sunk in the English Channel, torpedoed by a German U-Boot in 1944. Had radio duty (took French in college) in Patton's camp in France the night Patton was killed in a motorcycle accident. Brief time in Germany, and then got a cushy billeting while waiting to be shipped home after the war was over.

His CO came into his unit's tent and asked if anyone liked to sail. No one said anything, but my did ask why? The CO said well, down near Geneva in Switzerland, there was this rich family with a villa on the shore of Lake Geneva with a big sailboat...."I LIKE TO SAIL!!" my did piped up, and got one of the choicest accommodations of any GI waiting for his boat home.

Here, some 50 years later, with my mom at a July 4th party at the house I grew up in:

[Blue Dawn]

1. Such a handsome man and beautiful woman!

And they look so happy. What a great photo!

Thank you for sharing this, DFW. I feel deep respect and gratitude for your favorite vet's service.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Wonderful story

And wonderful picture!

Thank you for sharing with us, DFW

[hlthe2b]

3. Very nice looking couple.

Sometimes couples just look "right" together. They definitely DO.

Honoring service, including the spouses that remained behind.

[DFW]

8. They were introduced on a blind date, of all things.

As my mom told it, at the time (1948), it customary to go out for dinner or whatever, and then go out to a night club. Both my mom and my dad both hated night clubs, but as it was very gauche to NOT go to a night club, neither of them said anything until my dad finally got up the courage to ask if it was OK if they didn't go to a night club? He was 80% of the way home with that one. Lucky him!

I guess it's hereditary. I met my wife when we were introduced by a mutual friend in a folk music cabaret in West Berlin. Apparently the big pick-up line (of which I had no idea) was to say, "I play guitar." My wife-to be had actually seen me perform a few times, and knew perfectly well that I could play, but I didn't know that, of course. I was just so blown away by her open friendly attitude and physical beauty that I just abandoned all efforts to find good lines, and just struck up a conversation. Besides being totally exotic to her (she had never met an American who spoke German), the lack of pickup lines, as well as not mentioning my musical interest, turned out to be just what she was looking for. Lucky me!

[ShazzieB]

11. You had me at "Let's not go to a nightclub." 😁

Great stories!

Sometimes the things we think we need to do to impress people are not at all the best choices to get the results we want. I literally fell in love with my husband while his roommate was in the process of trying to hit on me. It's really funny how things turn out sometimes!

[lapfog_1]

4. not motorcycle... car accident killed Patton

"Twelve days before his death, on December 9, 1945, Patton was sitting in the back of his limousine when his driver, PFC Horace Woodring, sped too fast over a railroad crossing in Manheim, Germany, and plowed into the passenger-side of a left-turning Army truck headed into a depot."


https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/general-george-s-patton-jr-death

[DFW]

6. You're quite right

I was confusing Patton with countless others who really did die in motorcycle accidents. Thanks for the correction!

[efhmc]

5. Silly me. Forgot what day it was and was thinking that someone was praising his/her veterinarian.

So skipped the post a few times and then my curiosity got the better of me and I looked. So glad I did. A great story and a very lovely couple.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Great story, and gorgeous photo, my dear DFW!

Your dad had a great bit of luck, getting that choice accommodation!

[DFW]

9. He did indeed, and I got to find out exactly how lucky he was.

In 1970, After graduating from high school, I decided to take a solo trip through Europe. He wrote to this family, with whom he had stayed in contact over the years, and said I was coming. They wrote back that I was more than welcome to spend a few nights with them if I were passing by Geneva. I made sure I did, and got quite a surprise. I knew nothing about them except where they lived (sorta) and that my dad knew them.

When I got to Geneva, I asked how to get to their village. Fortunately Geneva is French-speaking, as I knew no German yet. I was pointed to a bus station and told which bus to take, and take it to the end of the line. I did, and then got out the street address and asked how to get there. The people in the village looked at me like I was WAY out of place, and asked me if I was sure I had the right address? I said yes, I was sure, said the family's name, and they said, yes, that's them alright. Had they become famous axe murderers in the meantime? Why was I causing this reaction? But I said, what the hell, it was getting late, and, as far as I knew, I was expected. Finally, I got to a long wall, which had been described to me, and after maybe a quarter mile of that, there was a big iron gate with a bell and an intercom, and a house in the distance down toward the lake. I buzzed. "Oui?" I said who I was, and the voice got real friendly, and said ah, "en fin (finally!)." The gate buzzed, and I went in.

The trek to the "house" was another 200 meters or so, and the "house" turned out to be a large, spacious, incredibly well-appointed (and yet tastefully understated) villa. I was treated as if I were some relative who passed by every month. The next morning, I saw out in back of the house, there was an immense wheat field sloping down to the lake, where there was still that large sailboat. They said they used it to sail across the lake to their château and vineyard near Lausanne on the other shore. Right, these were no ordinary people, even if they acted like it. Later on, I went back into Geneva to explore the city a little, and I noticed that EVERY construction site in town had THEIR name on it. DEFINITELY no ordinary people. But totally friendly, and treated me as one of their own.

All because my dad, at his GI camp somewhere in France in 1945, had the presence of mind to say, "I like to sail!"

[NBachers]

14. That rare time in Military life when someone put their head up, volunteered, and got lucky.

In my current job, I worked several years with a beloved old rascal who'd been in the Seabees post-war. He'd been a competitive boxer in the Navy, and had many bouts and a respectable record. Imagine a ring laid out on a Navy ship, and sailors hanging from every surface while boxers fought for the honor of their ship. Post-service, he went on to college and got a degree in Labor Relations. Though he was a hard-core Republican, he was an avowed populist. I often engaged in "stealth propaganda" by finding shared values and planting seeds of liberal notions.

Among his sayings and stories, one of the more frequent was: "Stand in the third row, keep your head down, and never volunteer for anything."

[FakeNoose]

10. Happy Memorial Day DFW and thanks for the great story

[Treefrog]

16. Memorial Day is really not a day you say "happy" as a prefix.

It’s a day to honor the fallen. A lot of people get it mixed up with Veterans Day.

[DFW]

17. That's true enough

But we choose to remember those who could have fallen along with those who actually did, since there would otherwise be no one left to tell the tale. But technically, you are correct—Memorial Day is for those who didn‘t make it back. My wife‘s dad, since he was on the losing side, never got recognition for what he went through. Hitler‘s Luftwaffe boss, Hermann Göring, in a candid interview from his Nürnberg jail cell, commented candidly that people had to be lied to to get them to start a war. „Why should some slob on a farm go to war when the best he can hope for is to come back in one piece?“ My father in law was that „slob on a farm,“ literally. He was drafted at age 17, sent to Stalingrad at age 18, and though he came back, he did not come back in one piece.

[erronis]

12. My did was in Geneva in 1947 when I was born back in the US

I have the telegram from way back when. He (and family) ended up stationed there from 1962-70 also. Lovely city, canton, country. Can't afford to visit tho anymore.

[DFW]

18. Geneva is definitely not the low rent district

Between the UN and the rich Russians and Arabs buying up property there at „price is no object“ numbers, it is close to unaffordable. I have an office there, run by a local who has been with me for close to 40 years. He inherited his modest house from his parents. If he hadn‘t, there‘s no way he could afford to live in town.

[gademocrat7]

13. Great photo of your parents.

Wonderful remembrance of your dad.

[Hekate]

15. You share lovely memories, DFW

[DFW]

19. Just snippets of a life, my friend

We all have some, I‘m sure.