>Every generation is called on to defend the world, to keep men free,
>and repair the world. That generation stood and did so magnificently.
> I will not call them the greatest like Brokaw, because I think their
>task was the most clear, the evil the most obvious.

My grandfather has always believed this of World War II. He was too young to fight - when it ended in Europe, he had just turned 15 - but he spent almost 20 years in the Army Reserve before resigning in the 60s by way of objecting to the war in Vietnam. I started taking an interest in WWII at a fairly early age - say, junior high school - and in the many conversations we've had about it, one of the things he's said time and time again was, "That war had to be fought. What the Allies did had to be done." He's never felt the same was true of any of the wars the United States has gotten involved in since, and though we've never talked much about his feelings in that regard, I think that saddens him.

My two cousins, his other grandsons, are both Marines, and both are either in or have been in Iraq. He's proud of them, has the "My Grandson Is a U.S. Marine" bumper sticker and all that, but I don't think that pride extends to the war itself, like it obviously does when he talks about the fight against Hitler.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/