Letters Home: June 4, 1944 - Sunday Morning Blues
August 29, 2008 Update.
This has been my watershed year. I don't really know what a watershed year is, but to me it has meant getting through the rough seas of my mother's early death, and making it to the shore and regaining my land legs. I have never been happier than I am at this moment, but it has been hard won.
When my mother died, I found every letter my grandfather wrote to my grandmother during the war. My mother and I had planned to talk about family history more, but she declined too quickly for us to talk about it more. This was the greatest gift I could have asked for. Now I know where my sense of humor comes from (dry, sarcastic, and playful wrapped into one). Now I know I'm a third generation atheist, because he uses that word in his letters when describing his heathen ways. Now I know - just a little bit more - who I am and where I came from. Col. Philip R. Hawes wore many hats during his short life. He was a librarian before the war, a fact my mother didn't even know about. He enlisted in California, but ended up at West Point, graduating in 1938. He was apparently a talented gymnast, another fact I was unaware of until last year. He was a man of good, and devious, humor. He also commanded 5,000 men at Toretta, Italy after his CO went home in 1944. He was an extraordinary pilot, and saw many of his friends die untimely deaths. He bombed oil refineries all over Nazi Europe. He was a war hero, in a time when it meant something. I have his Silver Star. This letter will give you a little taste of how he saw the world and found humor in all things, including ancient dung, apparently. Oh, and since he was commanding officer, he got to censor all his own letters. But he never gave any details of missions, but his CO before, Col. Glantzburg kept the records, and his son published a book called "Al Ataque" that has all the missions my grandfather piloted outlined in it. He was also deeply in loe with my grandmother Jean.
This has been my watershed year. I don't really know what a watershed year is, but to me it has meant getting through the rough seas of my mother's early death, and making it to the shore and regaining my land legs. I have never been happier than I am at this moment, but it has been hard won.
When my mother died, I found every letter my grandfather wrote to my grandmother during the war. My mother and I had planned to talk about family history more, but she declined too quickly for us to talk about it more. This was the greatest gift I could have asked for. Now I know where my sense of humor comes from (dry, sarcastic, and playful wrapped into one). Now I know I'm a third generation atheist, because he uses that word in his letters when describing his heathen ways. Now I know - just a little bit more - who I am and where I came from. Col. Philip R. Hawes wore many hats during his short life. He was a librarian before the war, a fact my mother didn't even know about. He enlisted in California, but ended up at West Point, graduating in 1938. He was apparently a talented gymnast, another fact I was unaware of until last year. He was a man of good, and devious, humor. He also commanded 5,000 men at Toretta, Italy after his CO went home in 1944. He was an extraordinary pilot, and saw many of his friends die untimely deaths. He bombed oil refineries all over Nazi Europe. He was a war hero, in a time when it meant something. I have his Silver Star. This letter will give you a little taste of how he saw the world and found humor in all things, including ancient dung, apparently. Oh, and since he was commanding officer, he got to censor all his own letters. But he never gave any details of missions, but his CO before, Col. Glantzburg kept the records, and his son published a book called "Al Ataque" that has all the missions my grandfather piloted outlined in it. He was also deeply in loe with my grandmother Jean.
posted by Susanne at 7:14 PM
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