Jewish Musings, Monday, May 27, 2024 Memorial Day

[peachymom1]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[peachymom1]

Good morning everyone! It’s Memorial Day, and I’m thinking of my parents today – although neither of them gave their lives in service, they were both in the Army (that’s where they met). Most of the pictures I have of Dad are in uniform; he served for 20 years before retiring, and later on, he taught ROTC. I don’t know a whole lot about Dad’s military career, and I wish I knew more about that aspect of his life.

What is your family’s experience with military service? My dad is the only one in our family who made a serious career as a serviceman. Of his five daughters, three stepdaughters and two stepsons, only one of them served in any military capacity, and that was the oldest stepson, and only for four years, as I understand it. So I guess he didn’t inspire any of us to follow in his footsteps, though I certainly would have considered military service as a great way to escape home and go to college, if only I didn’t have terrible vision that disqualifies me.

How about you?

[gazelle18]

I come from a non-military family. (Not anti -military, just one of those families that seemed to come of age in between wars.)
My brother was in the Vietnam draft lottery when he was 18; fortunately for him, he drew a high number, and was not called up. He would not have made a model soldier!
My uncle was an air force pilot, which the entire family thought was incredibly cool.

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Re today's topic: My dad was in the NY National Guard. He was about to get out and marry my mom, when Pearl Harbor happened. Of course, he was one of the first to be in the Army, which he was in until the end of the war. They got married on her birthday in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor, and she basically followed him around the country while he was in the USA. After that, he went overseas. He went on loan to the Navy for awhile (that's where he learned to play acey-deucey, btw), and then went to the Philippines. He was almost killed more than once, but thank God made it back alive. Mom always said he was never the same afterwards, but they had a good marriage for almost 50 years. My sister was born in 1946, and I was born in 1958.

I never thought about joining the military; times were different in the 1970's.

Have a peaceful day, and remember those who are gone. Lee

[louise]

My father fou ght in WWII. He was in the air force. I know he broke his leg - we have pictures of him the hospital and I know my borther was orn while he was away. My brother became a teacher to avoid going to Viet Nam. That's it for our family.

[hollygail]

DF was drafted in 1944. Two weeks after he was inducted, Congress passed a law that said no one over 35 could be drafted. Alas, it was too late for DF (who was already over 35) since his induction date was two weeks earlier... That's one reason DS was born so much earlier than I was. I'm a baby boomer; she was born near the beginning of WWII.

DH#1 "escaped" home by joining the Army. He served during the Vietnam War era but wasn't sent to Vietnam. He helped found and became a member of the Vietnam Era Veterans Against the War. My present DH enlisted in the Air Force rather than flunk out of college (it was his first time out on his own and he partied; he returned to finish college after his discharge). Because he enlisted, he was able to choose where to serve. He did spend time in South East Asia, but didn't see combat. His main medical care is through the Veterans Administration.

I believed myself to be a pacifist until I became a mother and realized that if someone came to my door to harm my baby, I'd do anything at all, including picking up a gun to shoot the person. I was incredulous! I suppose I realized there's a difference when it comes to defending oneself and/or one's family. It was only later that I learned that the Torah teaches that avoiding war is way better than starting one; the first thing you're supposed to do is talk with the "enemy" to see if things can be resolved peacefully. If and only if that fails does Torah condone war.