THE ELDERLY WERE ONCE YOUNG

 For years, I have been fascinated by the aging process in men, particularly in soldiers.  With all of the recent (deserved) publicity about the 70th anniversary of the invasion at Normandy, I found myself staring at the pictures of some of the men who survived and are now in their 90’s.  Next to their recent photos,  are always shown the pictures of these same men when they were in their late teens and early 20’s, fighting for our country so valiantly.  They were so young!  And oh so brave!

  When I went to Israel, 15 years ago, our tour buses were privileged to be able to stop and have lunch with the Israeli soldiers and I’ll never forget what I thought at the time- “They’re so young!”  I had never had that opportunity to sit next to a room full of our own U.S. soldiers, so it never clicked that they, too, were, and are, also so young!

   I am extremely fortunate to still have my 95 year old dad around to ask questions about the war and his experiences.  He didn’t share them for years, but being the “inquisitor” that I am (his name for me!),  I finally got alot of them, all written down, for the family to pore over.   He shared how he landed on Normandy, 6 days after the initial invasion, and so many paratroopers were still hanging in the trees.  He was also one of the troops that liberated Dachau.  He was never able to go into much detail about that experience, understandably so.

  The Dateline show I recently watched with Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw, where several soldiers went back to Normandy with their families, was so emotional for them AND for me, the viewer.  They all recounted their experiences with choked up voices and tearful eyes, remembering their buddies who didn’t make it out alive.  They remembered each and every detail of that experience, as if it was yesterday.  They came back home and established lives with wonderful families, all the while, never forgetting that so many of their fellow soldiers were not given the same opportunities to do so.  So bittersweet.

   My point in writing this piece is to make anyone who reads this, aware and grateful that these elderly men you see, with walkers or in wheelchairs, were once young and vibrant soldiers who fought so that we could enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.  Don’t walk quickly past them.  Don’t avoid their eyes.  Look directly at them, smile, say hi and hopefully, deep inside, you will remember that what you see before you is really a young man, who was excited to go fight for his country, so that we could be free.