Gunner wrote:
Passed on to me, by of all people..the Noid.

http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/PASSINGOFGENERATION.HTML


Gunner

Rule #35
"That which does not kill you,
has made a huge tactical error"

Its not just the Americans who are losing the generation .

Ive had the pleasure of spending many a long evening with a vet who was
there when Romel was stopped .

A nice old guy who was nothing to look at , we meltd the lead out of
some car batteries to make weights for his rotary hoe to give it more
traction . He died a few weeks after ... his garden all dug up and
planted though . Left it just right for his kids ...

I knew some guys who fought for Hitler , every Fuhers Kibutstag ( spell
) they'd get out a beaten up old swastika theyd salvaged from the
battlefield and sit around drinking tooheys out of stiens telling about
the things theyd seen and done . The good times and the bad .Draging out
their relics , the belts and buckles , bayonetes , medals , even an iorn
cross .

A bunch of weather beaten oldmen who were surviving in the desert mining
opal , I never worked with more honest men .

Ill bet even the old serb who continualy stirs **** with them is still
going , I remember him once saying "they may be cockroaches , but they
are Ok for mates "


I knew and old guy who was an engineer in the pacific islands fighting
the Japanese , he died late last year , but we would often spend time
discussing the thngs he remembered , and the things he had done , why he
did them and what happened to all their efforts now .

Not a one of them would trust the govt , or willingly do it again ,
they'd just seen and done to much . Maybe the ****ty way they were
treated made them rethink leaving their families and fighting for a govt
that **** on them all the way . ( Aussies got a kinda raw deal compared
to the US forces )

Even the british guy I met who has seven roundish kinda scars on his leg
, a bit bigger than a 10 cent piece, from a german machine gun at
dunkirk when he was 14 , he was sitting on a bench at a caravan park
watching the sun set , we got to talking first about the sunset , then
the van park , after a while he just told me about his history ... when
we parted , we shook hands and exchanged names ... I have a very german
name , and all he did was pause and grin , then he said "everyhting
thats happened , and the only guy who has the time to listen or care ,
is a flaming kraut..."
We still look each other up , but I dont know how many more years he has
left in him .I dont think its many .

Each one of them joined the fight because they realy believed they'd
make a difference . Each one is a calibre of man that Ive not seen
before , and never met in a younger bloke .

I respect them for standing by their beliefs , even if they changed
their ideas now and are as scared of what the govt has in store for us
in the future as anyone .

Im not seeing them come through an emergency ward , and most of the ones
I know are kind of upset that there is still fightig going on ,
especialy afetr fighting the japanese for so long and so hard ,now they
being bussed tothe RSL in japanese busses .

They are a breed apart , and they are passing on .