November 2, 2022 at 6:10 p.m.
Band of Brothers: Part II
By From: Susan Thayer-Fye-
Several veterans, including my Dad, have said things like “You go into combat a very naïve young person. And then you see and experience things you know nothing about. But after that, you can’t go back to your old normal.”
Your life has experienced a seismic shift to a new normal, and you can’t “unsee” what you know. But somehow, if you survive the war (and so many didn’t), you have to go back to the old “normal” with folks that want to understand what you have been through but can’t. They don’t live in that world, and likely never will.
The difficulty with coming back from combat and trying to bridge that gap between combat and your hometown has to be a massive daily struggle that only combat veterans can truly understand. But, somehow, the Veterans came home and did just that, whether they fought in a popular war or an extremely unpopular one.
The greatest generation came to symbolize personal responsibility, humility, strong work ethic, frugality, loyalty, and commitment. Giving back to your community that raised you was everything. Those characteristics were passed down to the generations that followed and are, in my humble opinion, evident today in our surprising little town of Hope.
I feel confident that other influences have also made Hope the amazing town that it is today, but these characteristics are clearly evident to me. The agricultural community that surrounds Hope, the church families of Hope, the historic events in Hope, and the people who are who they are because of all these influences, make our little town an absolutely amazing place to live, work, and play.
I was born and raised in Hope, and I am eternally grateful. I just might be a little prejudiced. The community spirit of helping each other is both a cushion against a demanding world, and also a cocoon for young folks growing up.
So, this Veterans' Day, I will look at all Veterans with even more respect, humility, and gratitude than I did before my D-day trip this summer. Those folks made my amazing life possible. My Dad was a navigator on a B-17 in WW11, and he told me many, many times that he shouldn’t have made it home and I shouldn’t be here. But he did and here am I. “Go do good things”. “Don’t mess it up”. I won’t, Pop. #NEVERFORGET.
