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The Greatest Generation By Leon Fredrick Branson We are being called the greatest generation in history and the generation that saved the world from virtual slavery under dictatorships. Mostly, we grew up poor. Our parents worked hard and were God-fearing. We had prayer at home and in school and we had discipline, both at home and in school. We had rules and if we disobeyed them, we were punished. We were taken to church every Sunday. We had no professional counselors. Our fathers worked long and hard hours and our mothers mostly stayed home and cared for large families. Father provided for a family of 10 on a mechanic’s wage of $25 a week. We didn’t have any luxuries, but we never went hungry. We were taught to work and to appreciate what we had. “Her body simply wore out,” the doctor said when mother died at the age of 62. When our country needed us, many volunteered. Many others answered and responded when called without protest or complaint. Many of us survived experiences that are difficult to talk about still. Many of us never survived those experiences. When we returned home we attended college on the GI Bill of Rights, a privilege that many of us would have thought of only as a dream. We got married, went to work and started our own families. We also worked long and hard and most of us accumulated some wealth to pass on to our children. In doing this, we also lost some things along the way. We lost prayer in school and at public events. We lost discipline at home to some extent, in school and in our government. Are we really the greatest generation, or is it truly the generation that produced us?
Reprinted
by permission of the author from Hooligan
Sailor: The Saga of One Coast Guardsman in World War II By
Leon Fredrick Hazelwood
Publishing, 2005
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