The War by Ken Burns

If you are not watching Ken Burns' new documentary, "The War", you should be.

Rather than writing a new post about it, I'm going to repost a prior post with some expanded parts. My apologies if any of the information is incorrect as a result of the passage of time since the average post.

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Today is the 61st anniversary of D-Day. Soon, we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of V-E (Victory in Europe) Day and V-J (Victory in Japan) Day.

In a time when wars are characterized by ambiguity and misgivings, it's important to remember that this was not the case during the Second World War. Then there truly were "good guys" and "bad guys." It's also worth remembering that while we should mourn each and every life lost in service to our country, the scale of loss during WWII was unlike anything we encounter today. The combined loss of life in Iraq and Afghanistan has yet to top 4,000. During WWII more than 400,000 American lost their lives, an average of 6,639 a month.

Like todays servicemen and women, these men (and women) came from all walks of life, from all areas of our country- and even from other countries, and gave all that they had. They did so willingly, heroically, and humbly.

If you have a relative, a friend, or even just a neighbor who served, say "thank you." These veterans won't be around forever, in fact, WWII veterans are dying at a rate of 1,000 a day. It is likely that they will all be gone before you or I pass away.

One of these veterans was Senior Radioman John Mitchell of Kingsland, AR. He left home after high school to cut timber in Idaho and Utah as a member of the Civil Conservation Corps. Like many young men who came of age during the Great Depression, he chose this path to ease his family's financial burdens.

Later, when war came, this farm boy from southern Arkansas joined the United States Navy- having never seen the ocean before.

During the war he served on the U.S.S. Hambleton and the U.S.S. Newcomb. The Hambleton took part in the invasion of North Africa and hunted U-boats in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The Newcomb took part in every major Pacific operation from the Marshall Islands to the Battle of the Phillippine Sea.

Having seen so much action in their time on the Newcomb, Senior Radioman Mitchell and many of his shipmates were sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba just before their ship headed for Iwo Jima.

Senior Radioman Mitchell was on duty the day the Japanese surrendered and had the honor of announcing this news to the base.

Senior Radioman Mitchell came home in 1945 and lived for another 52 years, the last 28 of those as my grandfather.