Semper FI, Sgt Grit:
I just finished reading your May 28 news. While reading it. I remembered something my father told me ( he has past on).
When WW ll was declared. He was working on the railroad. Everyone was telling him, you have no worries, you exempt from the draft. The second week in January 1942. On arriving home from work there was a letter for him. It started out, Greeting from the President of the United States. He was drafted.
I was about 6 or 7, years old. I asked my father what he did in the war. His reply. I ran a locomotive, nothing else. End of conversation.
When I listed in the Marine Corp, in 1962. He ask me if I remembered when I asked what he did in the war. I say yes. Sitting on the table was box I had never seen before. In it were pictures of him in the war.
There were pictures of Berlin, Frankfort and many more cities though out Europe. That laid in ruin. Then he showed me pictures of human bodies wrapped in a cloth. They were being placed in a mass grave, by men and women, in their Sunday best. Also there were pictures of nude human bodies. That had been thrown in a big pile.
I was dumb founded. My father then told me what he did in the war. After it was over he would bring food, medicals supplies, clothing, clean water into the concentration camps.
After he showed me these picture. Dad said. Boy this is what I did in the war. It is the most important thing I have ever done in my life. Your mother and I hope you never have to see anything like this during your time in the Marines.
I have always been thankful for what my father did during WW ll.
Proud Son, of E. H. Fields, currently serving his time with God..
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