The picture on the left, one of many in my historical archive, is of Charles Thomas Andrs, my Great Uncle. I'm on the right. He was my Grandfather's brother. He was a Marine in World War II in the Pacific Theater including Guadalcanal. He was stationed in Tsing Tao, China as the war ended readying to invade mainland Japan. To say the least, he didn't like Japanese very much, as was the case for many Veterans in the Pacific Theater. Thankfully, he was did a great job of not passing any discrimination down to me. He lived two houses away from my Grandpa in Minnetonka. His wife died when I was very young and he had no children. My parents would drop me off with him to keep him company. As a child I would spend countless hours working with him. I would chop wood for his wood burning stove in his garage so he could work in his shop in the winter. I would mow his lawn and rake his leaves. He was a diabetic but he didn't take very good care of himself, so when we would take breaks from working we would both have a Diet Pepsi and a chocolate ice cream Popsicle. I didn't always work with Uncle Chuck. He would take me to OCB (Old Country Buffet) and stuff ourselves until we couldn't move. He also came to all my sporting events and cheer me on and would teach me how to hold my head high after a loss. We also went hunting together. Uncle Chuck died in 2004 and I gave the eulogy at his funeral. Uncle Chuck had a tremendous influence on my life, even now. I share the name Thomas with him, and I also share a bond that transcends generations as we are both part of the United States Marine Corps. When I decided to enlist in 2005, there was only one choice. The USMC. Uncle Chuck always told me Marines were the toughest, best looking, and most disciplined and also the most rambunctious. Marines are prime examples of intelligible, strong bodies. Some of the best decisions I've made in my life were by following his example. To say writing this was easy and right on point but I never get it right. The intimacy of our bond will only truly to understood by us. Now, having spent over five years on active duty in the Marine Corps, it's fairly obvious where the hegemonic control in my life comes from.
BTW, that's a picture of me on the bottom in my dress blue uniform, with an NCO Sword, on a camel, in front of the Giza Pyramids.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting, the fact that you and your uncle shared a bond from when you were so young explains why you chose the branch of The Armed Forces you did. The way we connect with people and how what they do comes to define that to us is really interesting. If we have a parent who is a lawyer, then we think than they come to define what it means to be a lawyer to us. I’m guessing this is how you felt about your uncle. When you enlisted you were probably able to connect with your uncle on such a deeper level than you ever could have had you not. Similar to people that attend the same school, but at different times, you share something with them that only you and they understand.
ReplyDeleteThis is very true. My uncle never saw me as a Marine, but I understood him so much better after he passed away. My mom's dad, on the other hand, immediately opened up to me about his WWII experiences once I enlisted. He told me his whole story about being shop down in his B52 Bomber while doing a humanitarian mission, parachuting out and being missing in action for about 6 weeks. One thing I learned quickly about veterans is that they see it as a "club". Who ever is in the "club" will be more open to telling another "club" member about their experiences. My Grandfather's story was recorded and transcribed, and then used as a reference for a book called the "Forgotten 500".
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