BS: a memory for father's day...

Subject: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: tarheel
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 04:07 PM

my dad entered the service in 1943.i was just entering the first grade at the time.
he never went overseas to fight,but he was trained and ready to go at an army base in Valdosta,Georgia.
he was lucky enough to be home on furlough when the war ended in 1945.
during his time in service, he often wrote many letters home to my mom and my two sisdters and me.
mom often read those letters to us many times during the period that he was gone.
i vaguely remember any of the contents,but i did remember how it cheered us up to hear from him.
as the years went on and i was growing up, i remember that my dad was a good father to us and took us as a family,on vacations,fishing trips,etc..
by the time i became an adult and settled down to marriage and a family, i remember that
we were never really close.
in fact,it wasn't until his last year on earth in 1978,that our relationship became closer.
after his passing,my mom divided his belongings among my two sisters and me.
among those belongings were all the letters that he had written to me while he was in service.
i never realized that he had written them directly to me and many of the covers or envelopes, had free franking on them.(during world war, two soldiers could write home free by just writing the word "free" in the area where the stamp would be applied on the cover.)
as i opened each of those letters and began to read them, i found out that my dad was closer to me than i ever knew.
the contents expressed his love to me and his dependence on me to be the "man of the house",while he was gone and to take care of my two sisters and to help my mom with the house work!
as i mentioned earlier, dad and i were not really close during my childhood,but he worked hard to provide for us and didn't talk a lot to us kids.
i never heard him say,"i love yoiu son," but those letters said it all to me and it seemed to clear up that void that i had felt in my life!
those letters now represent a piece of postal history and they are a joy to read,even to this day.
but more than anything else,they represent a wonderful feeling inside to know that how much my dad really did love me.
it's been a few years now since i last read those letters,but just yesterday i was cleaning out my closet and stumbled onto a box marked," childhood stuff"!
i felt compelled to dig out those letters and read them once again with pride.
Thank God for a dad that loved me and made me proud to be his son!
chuck
aka,tarheel

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 04:09 PM

Oh, Chuck, that is just beautiful. Thanks so much for telling us about your dad and your letters from him!

luvyakat

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 04:40 PM

Been down the path before. Never again.

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 05:32 PM

Thanks Tarheel. Can I assume those letters will be passed on to your children ? And maybe you'll write some letters of your own ?

One year at Christmas my mother typed up all of the letters that she and my father had exchanged during WW2. She lived in Devils Lake North Dakota and he lived in Duluth Minnisota. They exchanged several letters per week - that's how they courted. She edited them - made three copies for each of us kids and then burned the originals so that we wouldn't see the "personal parts". An heirloom for sure.

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 06:22 PM

My dad was in WWII too, I know he was in Africa, and I think he was in Paris for a while, and my mom told me he was good at making private. He wouldn't talk about the war at all though. He gave up his dream of being a long-haul trucker to stay with his family, and wound up driving a bus. He knew everybody on his route and they knew him and talked about their lives. He did our income taxes in his head, but I don't think he did well in school. I don't think he cared. He just wanted to be happy, and I think he was. I think he spent more of his time with me than most fathers spend with their kids. I can't imagine what it must be like for kids who grow up feeling like their dads care more for work than for them. My dad worked, often overtime, but I never felt like I missed anything.

I was 17 when he died, at the end of a week-long vacation, in the middle of BLT season, when we slurped down the sandwiches made with the best home-grown tomatoes I've ever had. We'd fought a lot when I was a teenager, but that's what teenagers and parents do. I never doubted he loved me, and I'm sure he knew I loved him. I don't have letters, but there are loads of pictures

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Jun 06 - 03:55 PM

My father was in the Pacific -- New Guinea and the Philippines. He enlisted in 1943, or rather volunteered for the draft so that his brother could finish work on a house with my grandfather.

He was discharged in 1945, arriving home in time for my first Christmas.

Then, after fathering two more sons and a daughter, he was killed in 1950.

I have few memories of my father....

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: GUEST,Wesley S
Date: 18 Jun 06 - 03:59 PM

Happy Fathers Day dads !

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 19 Jun 06 - 04:03 AM

You happy ones who knew their fathers even if only for a short time.
My father was drafted and KIA in Russia, two days before his 28th birthday. If he hadn't been on leave in May before, I wouldn't be here. The poor guy only knew that his wife was pregnant, but never the outcome.
I only have some letters to the family, some pictures, and his decorations.
Nevertheless I share one experience with him: During a school reunion I met a still beautiful lady, about 80 years old, who confessed that she got her first kiss from my father. A little bit drunk I gave her a passionate kiss, and when I touched her soft lips the time stopped. A little bit breathless she told me that it was like some decennia ago.
When I told it my wife she smiled kindly and said: "You are pardoned, and don't cry, my dear."

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 19 Jun 06 - 04:45 AM

There will be many of your age who never knew their fathers.
Your story reminds me how fortunate I was that mine survived, and that I have had chance to see my children grow up.
Keith.

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Jun 06 - 07:48 AM

I saw a poster at a Petrol Station that said "don't forget Mum on Father's Day" - how commercial is that?

FWIW my Dad died when I was 9 months old. I never knew any different. But looking back it was hard. Especially since divorce when I sort of became a surrogate Father and even Grandfather on various occasions.

As my cousin said to me "He was everyones Uncle" - and not having kids that is the role I play now.

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Jun 06 - 11:52 AM

My father and I fought a lot over the years and although most of the issues were eventually resolved, some of them just got papered over. That's life.

When he was 93 years old - and in good health - I vacationed in Oregon and we had a family music party at his home. The day I left to return to Alaska we hugged and I was moved to say that even during the difficult years I had always loved him. He said that he always knew.

Four days after I was home I got a phone call saying he had died (his pulse was too slow to sustain his system) and I returned south.

That's when I was told that when my sister in law saw us speaking, she told someone that "they know they'll never meet again."

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Jun 06 - 09:55 PM

My father was in Maryland when I was born. Long story and not one that I buy into. I have a Christmas card sent to me from Maryland for my first Christmas and the card he sent my mother. A bitter-sweet treasure.

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: LilyFestre
Date: 20 Jun 06 - 06:21 PM

Mr. Red,

   My father was not a part of my life, he did not care for me or raise me...my Mom did. I try to do something special for my Mom each and every year on Father's Day as she was both Mom and Dad to me. While I don't know the intention of the advertisement you saw, there are millions of people who were raised by Mom's who had to be both Mom and Dad. I think they deserve the extra attention on BOTH days! :)

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jun 06 - 06:38 PM

How about the millions of people who were raised by Dads on their own as well? I know, lets make the card industry more millions by having a single parents day!

;D (tG)

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: LilyFestre
Date: 20 Jun 06 - 06:42 PM

Dave,

   I think it would be just as important for those folks who have a Dad who serves as both parents to celebrate both Mother's Day and Father's Day....why not? And they DO make cards that say Happy Father's Day to Mom and vice versa.

:) Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jun 06 - 06:47 PM

And they DO make cards that say Happy Father's Day to Mom and vice versa.

I wonder why that doesn't surprise me? I am in the wrong industry.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: a memory for father's day...
From: GUEST,I'd rather not say
Date: 20 Jun 06 - 08:50 PM

My father hit me and criticized me mercilously from the time before I even knew what it all meant. He taught me to loathe myself and to always feel inadequate, incompetent, incapable, and unworthy of the goodies in life. And his treatment of me is no doubt at least a large part of the reason for my depression, if not the whole reason.

I always hoped for the kind of father that I knew other kids had. I would still probably glom onto some father figure if I found someone who I respected who would "have me." It is amazing that I have not become a drug addict or some other kind of social misfit because of the way he treated me.

He has never apologized. He tells me that it is now up to me to get on with my life (despite the fact that the person he made me into has vast difficulties with "getting on with it!"). But I wished him a happy father's day, anyway, because that's the kind of person I am. (I thank my mother for that.) I wish I had some pleasanter father's day thoughts like some of the rest of you.