Comments on: COMMENTARY: Remembering the ‘Greatest Generation’

By: Tony Sacco

Tony Sacco — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 20:35:02 +0000

Yes Mr. Zahn, can’t wait for Part 2!

By: Andy Zahn

Andy Zahn — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 17:15:04 +0000

Tony Sacco’s comment is beautiful! It brings tears. I hope he writes a lot more of his story. I knew veterans of the Spanish American War and I remember when the last one of those HEROES passed away. My father joined the NJ National Guard as they were being mobilized and was in the 113th Engineers in WW I. They had reunions and one by one they died off until there were no more. He had a gold pocket watch which I can’t find engraved “To Lt. Zahn from the men of the 113th Engineers.” The man across the street from me belonged to the Veterans of WW I, and Dad joined. One by one they all passed on and now they are gone. All in my family who served in WW II including my dad are gone and there are not many from that war left. My bunch from the Korean “Conflict” are on their way out also. To me the greatest tragedy is that the best of our breed has been killed off in all these wars and we have really been at war almost constantly since 1941 and what we have in Washington are basically the poorest of the breed with BIG mouths. For those who want more I will write a Part 2.

By: Tony Sacco

Tony Sacco — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 15:10:29 +0000

“Remembering the Greatest Generation” is a great commentary by Andy Zahn, and I would like to read more about my generation.
I came home from church on December 7th and Stepmother was crying. I asked why; she said her brother was in the Marines and he was in Hawaii and maybe getting killed because the Japanese bombed the island. I was 16, and all my older friends were in uniform. I went downtown to Brooklyn to join the Marines. Denied — I was too young. In 1943 I turned 17, found my real mother, and the Marine recruit after completely filing out the application wanted proof of guardianship. By law she was not to contact me until 21 so she backed off. Stepmother wanted to get rid of me so she went to sign me in but this time only the Navy recruit was there. We asked about the Marine guy and he said he would take care of it. Three weeks later the Navy told me to go to Grand Central Station in NYC. I found out I was in the Navy. Two weeks into basic I get a letter from my stepbrother telling me the Marines from Washington came to pick me up, but were told he is in the Navy now. I went to the commandant to request my transfer and he told me no. I was left behind because of dental work while my buddies from boot camp loaded a troop ship for a landing in a Pacific island. After the war I met one of my buddies and he said half of our boot camp buddies were killed by Jap fighter planes while disembarking from the ship. I was assigned to the USS Hornet as radar because I was one of 200 that went to high school. In the Depression all were out of work; the war started and everyone was working. It took a war to get people to find a job. One other haven for those to avoid combat was the Coast Guard. It was then called the Jewish Navy because they were afraid if they were captured by the Germans they would be treated differently.

A lot to tell at a later time. One other thing — we were over 18 million in uniform; today we are less then a million and dying at a rate of 1,200 a day. Our average age of that war in uniform is 92 years old. Today I am 87.