December Holiday

Home at last. The flight was long, but nothing can beat walking off a plane and into the arms of my oldest nephew who came to the airport to pick me up with his mom. Friday was pretty much a blur as I was pretty tired, but I did manage lunch at one of my favorite Minneapolis eateries, Matt's Bar and Grill. My first food in America, a cheese filled Jucy Lucy hamburger. Yum.

I fell asleep in my chair at 6:30 and finally went to bed at 7:oo.

On Saturday I got to spend a dad with just my dad. We ran a couple of errands and stopped my by aunt's house for a visit and then headed to our neighborhood movie theater to watch a special showing of a movie called Battleground. It is a movie about the Battle of the Bulge during WWII.

After the showing the owner of the theater had planned a Q and A session with vets who had actually been in the Battle of the Bulge. I invited my dad to go to this event with me because he is very interested in WWII as he was a teenager during that time.

Every vet who came to the theater that day got to attend for free. It didn't matter if they were veterans of a war or veterans of the military. They were all honored after the Q and A including my dad.

It was very interesting to listen to the men talk about their experiences. One man said that he went through the war with a picture of his girlfriend and now she was is wife of 62 years! She was sitting right behind us. Another man told about getting Trench foot, when your feet get wet and freeze and then turn black. On more told about the first time he was injured.

One man from the audience, a vet from Viet Nam, who was a retired history teacher asked the men to be sure to record their stories so younger generations would know and remember. Looking at the men on stage, all in their late 80's, I had to agree with him. There aren't many of these guys around anymore and when they are gone, so are the stories.

I was glad to be able to share this time with my dad and talk to him about his memories.