Three years ago

It's been three years since Mom passed away on July 2nd, 2006. I was thinking about the early years with the family in Fredonia and how we would look forward to spending a few days at Grandma's and Grandpa's. They were the only grandparents I really ever knew. I only met Dad's father once and although I do remember him and the livingroom of his house, the memory is very faint. Mom's parents Sara and Nicholas became for me the definition of grandparents.

The house is still there and it still looks the same -- same paint, same bushes, same barn. Google Streetview captures it during a recent October with gray skies and orange leaves on the neighborhood trees. I can remember after nine hours in the back seat of the black '58 Impala, finally arriving at the driveway and coming to a slow stop in front of the red barn looking for Grandma to open the back door and greet us. The pine tree, the gravel driveway, the clapboard siding, the painted wood steps... all very clear. The house looks smaller now because I was only a little guy at the time. It looked like an old mansion with the open front porch and wide steps.

We'd head straight for the candy drawer in the kitchen - a special place Grandma kept stocked with hard candy and candy bars right at eye level for grandkids my size. Grandma would have been cooking all day before we arrived and the smell of her special pizza, homemade bread and olive oil traveled through the whole house. The pizza was baked in a rectangular pan, cut into squares and always served at room temperature. Aunt Rose and Aunt Louise in their simple conservative colored dresses would be coming down the Persian runner covered stairs from their 2nd floor apartment to greet us. Everyone was smiling and very happy to see each other. We always arrived in the late afternoon so dinner was not too far off. We all ate at the table in the kitchen with the AM radio playing Italian or Polish music just barely perceptible in the background. Grampa would be sitting at the end of the table with his little glass of Cribari red wine. It was a happy place. Thanks Mom.

Today is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Dad was there in a C-47 loaded down with gear and a parachute strapped to his back. When the time came to jump -- standing in the door for that split second, anti-aircraft fire exploding all around, he was hit with his first piece of shrapnel. It tore through his eyebrow just over his left eye but spared his sight. Like most of the 101st Airborne paratroopers, he landed alone in a field surrounded by hedgerows. But he still had his weapon and shortly after landing, met two other paratroopers from a mortar squad. Carrying only the mortar base, they quickly abandoned it and moved to find others. But they did not find other allies for two days nor did they wait for orders from superior officers. They took action on their own.

Shortly after leaving their landing field, they ran into a column of German troop trucks. Hiding behind the hedgerow, they took up positions on either side of the road. In the road was a large depression that had filled with water. Noticing that the drivers would slow down to gauge the depth of the water, they waited for the next truck to come by. When it slowed down, the three paratroopers threw grenades into the cab and fired into the canvas covered bed. None of the Germans survived. This was Dad's first action on D-Day.

He would go on to make his second wartime jump in the Market Garden liberation of Holland, fight and be wounded a second time in the early hours of the Battle of the Bulge, be captured by the Nazis when the 101st field hospital was overrun, spend four months in several POW camps, then be liberated by Patton's 3rd Armored.

Listen to Eisenhower's address to the troops the evening before the invasion.

An NBC report of the Airborne landings.

Reporter Wright Bryan describes his ride on C-47 named "Snooty" during the D-Day invasion with American Paratroopers. Where's "Snooty" today?

Listen to the CBS D-Day Radio Report. Another. A third.

Listen to the NBC D-Day Radio Report.

A World News report recorded over short wave radio.

An NBC report later in the day about how reporters were kept busy before the invasion.

Richard C. Hottelet's broadcast and eye-witness account from the air.

Six hours after the invasion.

Consider that while the world was hearing these reports, Frank Davis was on the ground "taking it to the Germans".

May 4th would have been Mom and Dad's 63nd wedding anniversary. It was always a special date for us. Happy Anniversary.
This photo was taken at Uncle Ray's home in Syracuse.

Google Maps Streetview of the Homestead.
...and the kids across the street.
Even caught Ken working on the lawn.

	March Bank at Winterthur on the last day of March !

Honor Flight Flys

Veterans to the

World War II Memorial

Honor Flight is a program to fly veterans to the WWII Memorial at no cost to the Vets. View the Honor Flight web site and consider making a donation to this worthy cause.

Today is Dad's Birthday, Mom's is Valentines' Day.

Thinking of you both.

Lives -- Too Short

Mom and Dad lived extraordinary lives and were so close to each other in so many ways. Something I've been wondering about since they passed away on calendar dates very near to the other is how close were their lifespans.

Mom was born on Valentines' Day, 1922
Dad was born on February 9th the following year, 1923.

Mom passed away on July 2nd, 2006.
Dad passed away on June 3th, 2007.

Mom lived 30820 days.
Dad lived 30795 days.

After 84 years, Mom lived 25 days longer than Dad.
They were married for 22,310 days.

Neither lived long enough. They deserved many, many more days together.