Yes, there is, but I wanted to make this non-personal. My dad would (and does) scoff at the word "hero", as his generation truly believes they were just doing their jobs when they freed the world of German & Japanese oppression & tyranny. In short, he served in the European theatre...D-Day, etc...as an 82nd Airborne commando, and then with OSS towards the end of the war. Among other accomplishments, he was in the first group of allied commandos that discovered & liberated 3 major concentration camps (including Buchenwald, which I have visited, and Bergen-Belsen). He also helped seize & hold Hitler's famous Eagle's Nest mountaintop retreat near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Bavarian Alps. He remained in Germany until late 1946 or early 1947 (I forget the exact date) and then returned & went to college on the GI Bill. He broght back 2 enormous German Shepherds from Eagle's Nest with him--Hitler's personal guard dogs there. One died on the ship back to the US. He bred the other one...kept one of the pups...bred him...kept one of those pups...and that dog was around until I was 4 or 5 years old. 175+ pounds, HUGE head, sweet but ferocious. Now, my dad, who will be 80 next year, speaks periodically about the Holocaust as one of the few remaining live gentile liberators. To me, all that is heroic...but out of respect for him, I sort of reject that label.
LOL! Pretty funny post, Chaa. The connection is, frankly, none of your business. I think of Frogman as my brother, and that is all you need to know. Hero worship? Hardly. I wanna be like him? Hardly. I neither want to nor can I be like Frogman. And vice versa. But neither of the above preclude me from admiring the bravery, integrity, courage, and character of Frogman & men like him for laying it all on the line, 24/7/365, so that we can sit here on FChat & debate, while sipping lattes. My story? What have I done? PM me and I will tell you. Cheers!
Didnt mean to offend you,maybe i hit a nerve, im sorry. And i agree that your connection with frogman is none of my business, but being that you often mention and show pics of frogman or his team, you cant blame anyone asking the question that i asked can you? But also ,know this contary to belief its not just the USA that has guys laying it on the line 24/7/365 for freedoms , i myself layed it on the line in the British Royal Marines for 9 years before i layed it on the line in my current feild, and some of my mates are still doing it right now, and as has maybe many other ex and current service men that maybee log on to this site from other countrys,every one who has served has got a story. I mean in the UK the Marines are always having frendly banter with the Parras and vica versa its only banter, no ones better than any other trooper when you are on the feild. Didnt mean anything by it i am sure you have got your stories, i was just wondering.
It's all good...see my PM back to you. It's all good. And yes, the US could have no better friend or ally than Great Britain. The Black Watch is the honor of England.
I haven't done anything heroic... my dad is a retired doctor and if I could do half the things he did I'd be happy. My dad's best friend, almost like an uncle to me, fought in WWII with the merchant marines and then in the Korean war.
Dave, your dad sounds cool; very respectable... It also explains why you're so gung-ho... i may not agree with war or the reasons our country goes to it, but i can't help but have respect for folks with the courage to go out there and do it...
I have a friend who does a lot for the unfortunate children in TX. He is my hero. Long live the traintracks , if you are reading this, and keep up the good work.
Dave, next time you talk to your Dad will you give him a salute from all of us for a job well done. Dale
Every grunt in Iraq doing the same **** as Frogman in worse conditions for a tenth of the pay are my heroes. I can sincerely say that and mean no disrespect to any of the hundreds of contractors over there.
