In 1942, the Battle of Midway began. \u00a0That marked the beginning of\u00a0the end of the Japanese Empire, an empire that rivaled Nazi Germany in its horrors and body count.<\/p>\n
One of my uncles fought in the battle. \u00a0He was on the island of Midway as part of the army air corps. \u00a0This battle loomed large in my childhood imagination. \u00a0As did the war itself. \u00a0The thought that this war, made into so many movies and \u2013 in those days \u2013 still a major topic of conversation, featured members of my own family held me in awe.<\/p>\n
My uncle seldom talked of his experiences. \u00a0Like another uncle who was a medic with Patton\u2019s army in Europe, he kept his experiences to himself. \u00a0Which is often the case. \u00a0It\u2019s said that war stories are most often bragged about by those who never fought in war.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, June is a big day of anniversaries from that war, often overlooked because of the one anniversary that seems to represent not only the best of the entire conflict, but the generation that fought in it.<\/p>\n
Donald McClarey has two excellent<\/a>\u00a0posts<\/a>\u00a0on this time of remembering. \u00a0I don\u2019t idolize that generation. \u00a0Part of our problems today extend to their conclusion that the best thing to do for their kids was\u00a0to make life as comfortable, prosperous, and easy as possible. \u00a0In hindsight, the results weren\u2019t the best.\u00a0 Nonetheless, credit where it is due.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1942, the Battle of Midway began. \u00a0That marked the beginning of\u00a0the end of the Japanese Empire, an empire that rivaled Nazi Germany in its horrors and body count. One of my uncles fought in the battle. \u00a0He was on the island of Midway as part of the army air corps. \u00a0This battle loomed large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[80],"class_list":["post-9763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-history"],"yoast_head":"\n