Soldier wasn't Steve McQueen but was a hero to this grandson BY TOM SHATEL

[Omaha Steve]

Tom Shatel is my favorite sports writer bar none.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10343712

Published Monday May 26, 2008
Soldier wasn't Steve McQueen but was a hero to this grandson
BY TOM SHATEL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

I've interviewed a lot of people in my career, but this one was hauntingly different.

Last week, I interviewed my father about how my grandfather died.

I never met Arthur Campbell Shatel. He died long before I was born. The only thing I knew about him was that he fought in World War II. I assumed he died there, on a French battlefield.

Of course, I assumed he died a brave hero, one of the first off the boats swimming toward Omaha Beach, or fighting the Desert Fox, or one of the thousand valiant men in the historic Battle of the Bulge.

I have long been intrigued by World War II. I've tried to be a student. I grew up at a time when Hollywood romanticized WW II. Long before "Saving Private Ryan" told the brutal truth, I was a fan of "Hogan's Heroes." I saw "The Great Escape," "The Longest Day," "The Dirty Dozen" and, of course, "Stalag 17." In high school, I couldn't read enough about the war.

Part of that obsession, if you will, was the longing to know about my grandfather, the World War II soldier.

Did he suffer in a German Prisoner of War camp? Was he William Holden or Steve McQueen or John Wayne? Is his name on a monument in France? Washington, D.C.? I've always wanted to know.

FULL story at link.

[TomInTib]

1. And that's what it's about, folks.

Ordinary men going off to do what no one should ever be faced with.

And coming home maybe not-so-ordinary, anymore.