In Remembrance of the Greatest Generation

As a tribute to all of those who have served...

The United States is nearing the end of an era. The "Greatest Generation" in America is slowly but surely becoming only a memory. This Memorial Day weekend, let us take a moment to pay homage to the members of that generation who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect freedom.

What they did on Omaha and Utah Beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on D-Day is nothing short of incredible. For that reason, I feel compelled to remember and honor them here.

On June 6, 1944, thousands of young men stormed those beaches. They were weighed down by a hundred pounds of gear and the expectations of everyone back at home. And they followed orders, took charge, fought, and never gave up.

The enemy was armed to the teeth and had every advantage. On the Allied side, friends were gone, nerves frayed, hopes dashed, and yet our soldiers kept bringing the fight. There was no quit. Failure was not an option.

This never ceases to amaze me. The courage required by the individuals involved to accept the task at hand and persevere despite unbelievable odds is nothing short of astounding. Trying to get in the heads of people like this is part of why I'm a history buff with a particular passion for military history.

Besides trying to understand what made these people tick, I also enjoy reading about the strategy involved and what the individual leaders were thinking when they devised plans for combat. Some decisions pay off in spectacular victory while others lead to crushing defeats. The one constant throughout is chance. There are always those seemingly minor events that are never anticipated but wind up being the deciding factor in the eventual outcome.

As fascinating as strategy is, though, for me it always comes back to the human element. The brave souls who landed on Omaha and Utah Beaches that fateful morning over 80 years ago, performed astounding feats.

The U.S. Department of War, knowing the first wave would likely be decimated by German pillboxes mounted on the seaside cliffs, loaded up those soldiers with the bulk of the necessary equipment. They knew it would ease the load off the subsequent waves of soldiers, who would pick up the equipment from their dead and wounded comrades to complete the task at hand.

In that initial onslaught, small towns lost entire generations of young men in an instant. It would lead the U.S. military to rethink their strategy and no longer put individuals from the same town in the same units going forward. But despite all the carnage, those who survived the beach landing picked themselves up and pushed forward.

These young men had two choices – die on that beach at the hands of the enemy or overcome the obstacle in front of them. They chose the latter and slowly but surely scaled the cliffs in front of them to neutralize the pillboxes and create a beachhead that would allow the Allied invasion force to land and change history. It is said that these soldiers who were young boys at the outset of the war would go home as grown men.

My interest in World War II has a strong personal connection as well…

Though he didn't storm the beaches on that June day in 1944, my grandfather fought in the war, serving as part of the 94th bomb group, 410th squadron, flying out of Bury St. Edmunds, England. His name was Joseph Allen Garliss, and he was the bombardier on a B-17 called Tuff Teddie. He and his mates flew 34 missions over France and Germany, 13 of those over Berlin.

In the picture of the flight crew below, he is the gentleman/badass standing on the far left.

My grandfather had been a Golden Gloves boxer and played minor league baseball for an affiliate of the Washington Senators for five seasons before the war and two more seasons for the AAA affiliate of Cleveland afterwards.

Throughout my life, my grandfather's reluctance to speak about his experience in WWII has always stayed with me. Reading the stories of the children of those men, this was a common occurrence, particularly among those who saw combat. The more they did, the less they talked about it. These soldiers felt the brave people were those who sacrificed their lives for their cause.

I distinctly remember the one time my grandfather and I discussed the subject. I was quite young and inquisitive, much like my children are now. I was spending time with "Pop-pop" and had decided to go into the closet in his office.

In the back, I found a box stashed away and pulled it out. After taking off the lid, I removed a picture from the war and took it over to him and asked him what it was. He kindly took it from me, said it was nothing, and put it away. While it's not much of what you'd call a discussion, it was the only time I ever heard him utter a word about his experience. Even then I knew it was something different.

Later, after Pop-pop had passed on from this world, my grandmother recounted a story I'll never forget…

As my grandfather was training to head over to Europe, he and my grandmother had fallen deeply in love. Not wanting to be away from her, he went AWOL to go home and see her. This did not go well with his superiors. He was thrown off the plane he was training to fly on and placed on another. My grandfather's truancy likely saved his life – the plane he was kicked off of and its crew would later perish in Europe.

A short while later, Pop-pop was once again homesick. This time, instead of just coming home to see my grandmother, he also married her. But, once again, this did not fly with his commanders. Just like before, he was tossed off of the plane he was assigned to and became part of a new crew. And, once more, the plane and its crew my grandfather was removed from would go on without him to perish in Europe.

After my Pop-pop's second time going AWOL, the brass got serious: if he did not remain with his new plane and crew for the rest of his training, he would find himself staring at desertion charges, a very serious offense. From then on, he walked the straight and narrow and the rest was history. Below is a picture of Tuff Teddie after it crashed in a field on the way back from its final mission.

What blows my mind is both how wild that story is and yet how utterly commonplace it is for the time. Every American family was affected in one way or another and everyone who had a relative who served in that war has a story like the one my grandmother told. Having never served, let alone facing combat in wartime, I can't begin to imagine the incredible courage it took those young men and their families to answer that call and make the sacrifices that would result in those stories.

"Thank you!" can never be said enough. But many of them would tell you they were simply doing their duty for the good of all. As I grow older, my respect grows deeper. I can only be in awe and so thankful for my family's chance to live in peace. We celebrate all who gave up so much that day – and all of the days leading up to V-E day.

Truly they are the "Greatest Generation."

(If this is a subject that interests you as well, one of my favorite authors is Stephen E. Ambrose, who has written numerous books about World War II. His books D-Day: June 6, 1944, The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew B-24s Over Germany 1944-1945, and Band of Brothers are particularly good. You might remember Band of Brothers from the HBO miniseries. If you've never seen it, it's nothing short of spectacular.)

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Economic Calendar:

Earnings: BAH

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U.K. – Retail Sales for April (2 a.m.)

Germany – GDP for Q1 (2 a.m.)

Germany – GfK Consumer Climate Index for June (2 a.m.)

Germany – Ifo Business Climate Index for May (4 a.m.)

ECB’s Lagarde (President) Speaks (4:30 a.m.)

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Fed Releases Balance Sheet Updates on Commercial Banks (4:15 p.m.)