Flags Of Our Fathers

Today I went to see the new Clint Eastwood Movie, "Flags of our Fathers" How could the baby boomers "Cowboy of all Cowboys" not make a great War Movie? I knew what to expect and knew it would be intense and it was. It made me think about all the brave soldiers, sailors, marines and other Service members were all willing to fight the fight they were given. To make the whole event more meaningful, after the movie I went to the cemetery and visited the grave of my father. It was a dark and drizzly day and that just added to the somber thoughts in the cemetery. It was deserted and I had only the light breeze to accompany me to the grave.
In the movie, the Doc (Sailor, corpsman assigned to the Marine Unit) died at the end of the movie and apologized to his adult son for not being a better father.
I guess that caused me to think about my relationship with Dad. He was not the best Dad when I was growing up but at the end we really had some nice chats and I would like to think we bonded. At least as good as we could. I'm not sure I gave him much room in those early years. It does take two to tango. I do know that when I took the General over to the VA, as I was promoted to Colonel, Dad cried. I think they were tears of pride but hey, who knows?
I am not sure the movie will hit home with all the young people of today because of the fact that a lot of them are tired of hearing about war. The guys that fought in the 1940's are now in their 80's or like Dad no longer with us.
As a Vet of the Vietnam war, I know that combat doesn't make a whole lot of sense to the people engaged in the battle. Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian, said he wasn't a hero, he was only trying to stay alive. Duh! What the hell did he think the rest of us were doing? I did my best to help the enemy die for their cause and not get killed doing stupid things. Ok, there was this one time I was really stupid and lived in spite of the recoilless rifleman trying to blow me off the top of a fire base as I shot at him with a 155mm Howitzer. It just pissed me off and and I wanted to shoot to keep him from killing all of us.
I salute all my comrades that have served and hope they all have done what most of us have done and gone on to live a long boring life. MUD