Just a jeweler on Main St. in Margaretville, NY. 94 years old. Amazing that he can see. More amazing that he can feel.
“How old are you?”
“94”
“Had a friend 95 who just died.”
“Did he work.”
“Yeh, and he drove.”
“I drive.”
“How does it feel to be 94.”
“”Feels a lot better than not feeling anything.”
“They put a picture of my friend in the paper, in his obituary that showed him in his uniform.”
“What did he do in the war.”
“Cryptography. Code breaking. You going to use that picture in yours, I said, referring to a picture of him and two other guys in uniform.”
“Nah. No one needs to see me. They know who I am.”
“Why did you go to war?”
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was a kid. Heard about Pearl Harbor. Signed up to kill Japs. They sent me to kill Nazis. My friends, see my friends in the picture, my best friends, one got killed at Casino. I got hit four or five times. Don’t know how they missed me. Ever hear of the Devil’s Brigade, that was my group? Ever see the movie with William Holden?”
“I saw the one Brad Pitt, the one made by Quentin Tarantino.”
“Didn’t see that one.”
“How long you been a jeweler?”
“Been in the business for 65 years. Got some money after the war. Trained. Been here 30 years.”
“Where did you get all the stuff?”
“I am a constant buyer. I buy so much shit.”
These guys fought what people call the last good war. No such thing as the last good war. How do they sleep at night? We love and respect them, but we never will know what they did or how many ghosts they visit each night. They do their thing, whatever it is. But they never leave the woods where they lost their childhood.
Very informative blog post here. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for taking the time out of your very busy day to write this. I’ll be back to read more in the future as well.