WW II vets.

Andy - Good for you for making the trip to support the troops.

If anyone is interested, PBS has a great special about the troop greeters up at the airport in Bangor, ME. The special is more about the greeters – specifically three of them – than it is the about the troops, but there are some great moments seeing the troops come off the planes.
Here is the synopsis from the PBS website:
POV - The Way We Get By
On call 24 hours a day for the past five years, a group of senior citizens has made history by greeting nearly 800,000 American troops at a tiny airport in Bangor, Maine. The Way We Get By is an intimate look at three of these greeters as they confront the universal losses that come with aging and rediscover their reason for living. Bill Knight, Jerry Mundy and Joan Gaudet find the strength to overcome their personal battles and transform their lives through service. This inspirational and surprising story shatters the stereotypes of today's senior citizens as the greeters redefine the meaning of community.

Jerry Mundy (Who wears a 'Not so mean, not so lean, but still a Marine' sweatshirt.) is pretty funny and seems like a nice guy. They offer free cell phones for the troops to make calls on. Jerry tells them, “Talk all you want. Call somebody and make them happy, ugly or horny!” Jerry then talks about getting a kick out seeing a big mean old S.O.B. Sergeant get off the plane, Jerry hands him a cell phone and the Sergeant dials it up and says, “Hi Mom.”

I wanted to post a link to the trailer for the show, but when I clicked on it to make sure it works it wants to play the entire show. I'll post the link anyway. If you’re interested, it is about an hour and 20 minutes.

PBS - POV - The Way We Get By

Also worth checking out is Ken Burns' PBS series 'The War'. Ken Burns has done some great specials for PBS on baseball, the National Parks, the Civil War, etc... Ken did another great job with this film about WWII. He interviews vets and their family members about what it was like on the frontline and the homefront. Of course, there are all kinds of film footage and pictures from the war. The entire series is 840 minutes, but well worth the time to watch it.

Here is an extended preview of that series...
Ken Burns' The War

Sorry this post is so long... I hope these series interest you guys.
Kyle

My grandfather was in the Navy WWI and WWII. 1917- 1949, I believe. Was in the submarines most of his service. Somehow, he never saw any significant action. I'm not sure he would have called it lucky. He just went where he was told and did what he was asked to do. My mom was born in Pearl Harbor in late 39. Grandfather was transferred before the bombings in 41. Nevertheless he was always very proud of his service and spent another 28 years or so working in the Naval shipyards. BKH

Andy,
Enjoy it! My special love and apperciation to the vets we lose every year. Hope you have a great time.

My grandfather is a WWII veteran as well. I've only heard of him talk about the war once, he said he was in the canal.....and that was it.

I picked him up from the honor flight and was very touched by the site. Once I finally found my grandfather among all the veterans he said "let's get outa here, I'm sick of being around all those old guys"......He just turned 89!

This is him talking to Iowa's Governor, Chet Culver, at one of the monuments in DC . They shook hands and Gramps said "You're a little out of your jurisdiction, aren't ya?" He's still as sharp as they come!

Waterdog wrote: Very, very patrotic and gave me a renewed hope that this is a GREAT Country.

It is a great country, we just to get rid of the MORON'S running it!

I heard we lose 1000 WWII vets every day around the world , could that sound right? I am 51 when i was young the war had been over for 14 15 yrs I grew up hearing stories of atrocities bravery and hell on earth never a brag from anyone only pride and patriotism . i like to think of them all as john wayne

100 WWII vets are flying back from D.C. where they visited the WWII mamorial. I'm going to meet them at the airport @ 7:00 pm AND The Marine Corps Band will be there. - I'm on my way, I CAN'T WAIT!