A Tribute to The Greatest Generation

[JonnyP]

Attached is my display in honor of a few members of the Greatest Generation.

At the top are the two folded flags presented to our family at the funerals of my grandfathers, both veterans of WW II.

Pop was slated to storm the beaches of Normandy in the first wave, but his unit was reassigned at the last minute. The expert marksmanship badge and Good Conduct Medal with his name engraved on the back are his.

Pa-Paw was a paratrooper and fought in the Battle of the Bulge as a mortar man. He was shot in the hand on the second day of the battle. The wound was severe and compounded, and some of the bones in his hand were shot away. By the time I knew him decades later, I saw the huge knot on the back of his hand, and he was never again able to straighten his middle finger. He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) in 1946, but I don’t think he ever actually had one in his possession, so the one here is a vintage replacement. The Jump Wings, combat ID bracelet, and Purple Heart with his name engraved on the back are his.

Even as a child, I was in awe of Pa-Paw. As an adult at Christmas just before I entered the US Air Force, I showed him my college diploma in engineering and my lieutenant’s bars. He was politely unimpressed. About a month later when I was still in my first week of active duty, my colonel called me into his office and asked what I wanted to accomplish in the Air Force. I told him I wanted to go to Jump School. He laughed in my face and asked, “Why the hell would I need to send an Air Force officer, and an engineer at that, to Jump School?” I told him about Pa-Paw. The laughing stopped, and he signed my orders. At the very next Christmas, I showed my paratrooper grandfather my own Jump Wings. He said, “Now you’ve done something.”

The 45 ACP 1911 is brand new and was a Christmas gift from my wife. It’s not vintage, but was made “just like the ones issued to American soldiers in WW II.” It’s from the CMP. I had the slide engraved. On one side it says, “To Support and Defend,” and on the other it says, “The Constitution of the United States.” I also had the grips custom made with an Army pin on one side and an Air Force pin on the other.

The 9mm Luger is an original 1942 ‘Black Widow” (an American moniker) which was made about the same time as both my grandfathers entered the war and were assigned to the European Theater to fight the Nazis. It’s sitting on an original Nazi armband worn by a member of the SS. The black badge with it is an original Nazi Wound Badge awarded for up to two wounds (the badge is silver for three or four wounds and gold for five wounds or more). It’s the Nazi equivalent to an American Purple Heart. The original SS button was likely used to adorn something like a wooden box or banner of some sort.

By now, many of you are probably wondering, “Why the Nambu?” It is an original Type 14 in 8mm from 1936. It’s in honor of my grandmother, Maw-Maw. She was married to Pa-Paw, the paratrooper. She was a Rosie-the Riveter and worked in many factories before, during, and after the war. She also worked on some of the Apollo spacecraft. With it is a new, Japanese-made headband similar to the ones worn by many Japanese during the war, not just Kamikaze pilots. As a matter of personal preference, they had many different slogans written on them, but I’m told this one is best translated as “certain victory.” With it is an original “Sen’Sho” wound badge awarded for wounds received in combat (another very similar badge is the “Lo’Sho” or “Ko’Sho” for non-combat wounds or illnesses). The original chrysanthemum pin was common in Japanese culture of the time and was meant to represent the Emperor. The kanji character on this one means “long life.”

In 1943, the US Navy intercepted the itinerary of Yamamoto, the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The President’s orders were simple: “Get Yamamoto.” A squadron of P-38’s was assigned the task, and they got him. When they found his downed aircraft, he was still strapped in his seat with two wounds from 50-caliber bullets.

Maw-Maw mounted the “fifties” on those planes.

A few thoughts regarding the Luger. It has come to my attention that some collectors choose not to collect Nazi weapons. Perhaps they feel that to do so implies some sort of support for Nazi ideology. After all, we’re talking about a weapon made by the most evil regime in history. While I support the right to such a choice, I would like to offer a different perspective.

I feel a number of things when I hold this weapon, but the first would have to be, “F**k you, Hitler.”

For centuries, up until after the American Civil War, it was customary for the commander of a defeated army to surrender his sword to the commander of the winning side. It was a symbolic gesture meant to indicate that the losing army was disarmed and no longer a threat. In many cases, the commander of the winning side simply returned the sword as a matter of military courtesy.

But surrendering a weapon is something Hitler would never have done. Quite the contrary. After seeing what happened to Mussolini (he was executed and publicly hung upside down) and knowing the war was lost, Hitler ordered his body to be burned after he committed suicide but for everyone else to fight to the last. The last video footage of him shows him meeting with a group of Hitler Youth and ordering them to engage in the Nazi vision of “Total War,” a concept developed by Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels. Furthermore, he ordered everything destroyed leaving no support for any surviving Germans. It is said he was of the opinion that if his so-called “Master Race” could not defeat the Allies, they did not deserve to exist.

So yeah, I’m cool with owning a Nazi weapon – in pure defiance of Adolf Hitler.

But I also feel a sense of victory and appreciation when I hold this weapon. Were it not for the efforts and sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, the world would be a much different place today.

There is a TV show called The Man in the High Castle. It’s set in 1962. It’s about a world where the Axis defeated the Allies in World War II. All Jews in Europe have been eradicated. The Nazis hit Washington DC with an A-bomb in late 1945, and the US Government was forced to capitulate in 1947. The USA no longer exists. Hitler is still Fuhrer. Anyone born with a congenital defect of any kind is euthanized to maintain the purity of Hitler’s Master Race. All that remains of the country most commonly known as “America” is a narrow Neutral Zone about 200 miles wide running north and south along the Rocky Mountains where everyone is poor. To the east is the Greater Nazi Reich (GNR). The headquarters of the SS is in New York City. To the west are the Japanese Pacific States. Only Aryan Nazis in the east and Japanese in the west are allowed to have guns. There is an American “resistance,” but they aren’t much of a match for the GNR or Japanese. While there are some fantasy aspects to the show, the concept as presented is quite believable.

I’m convinced very few people today realize how close we came to such a possibility.

So I’d like to end with a heartfelt thank you to Pop, Pa-Paw, Maw-Maw, and all other members of the Greatest Generation. You guys were indeed the greatest.

Jonathon S. Payne, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.)

[gunnertwo]

Good story on your families history.

G2

[Ron Wood]

Well written Jonny.

Ron Wood, Major, U.S. Army (Ret.)

[Ben M.]

If you get a chance, read the Book by Philip K. Dick...much better than the TV series.


(Same author who wrote the book on which the Blade Runner movie(s) is based upon.)