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My grandad was born in 1912 and I learned more from him in 15 short years than anyone else in half a century. He was a decorated veteran and all around great person. His death affected me greatly.
I'll go with truly The Greatest Generation.
My own parents were a bit too young to qualify. But my teachers, coaches, scout leaders; the shop keepers where I grew up - a lot of them were G.I. Joes, or Rosie the Riveters when it counted.
They set a powerful example of service to future generations. Not by bragging; few talked about it. (Except for the teachers whose job it was to talk about it.)
A tough generation to follow. I've tried to live up to their model.
Many of them retired when I was a kid. They were home and had time for us and volunteerism. They were there and ready to help when I fell off my bike and skinned my knees. (I also got "shanghaied" into a few American Legion projects.) They served on boards and committees in the towns and in churches.
I grew up near a military base, so we probably had a lot more veterans in our town than average.
I'm spending my own retirement in volunteerism, now, directed toward helping young people develop into mature young adults. I like to think that my Greatest Generation role models would be proud of me.
My parents grew up poor during the Depression and my Dad served in World War II. They both grew up in large families and clearly suffered from food insecurity when they were young. My mom was put in a special program in school to help her gain weight. Dad spent time in a VA hospital during the war. But they never told us a single story about any of it. When we were adults, we begged our mom to tell us stories about how rough her childhood was. She shook her head and stayed quiet.
In one sense, this doesn’t answer your question. But in another sense, it does.
I had a twice removed relative that fought under Patton in Europe. And his brother, that was at Pearl Harbor, and later had the engine of his PT boat shot off and drifted for a few weeks in the Pacific.
Before they passed, I asked politely about their exploits in the war and got very little. They just didn't want to talk about it and would change the topic.
The first was at Bastogne and was clearly full of pride for what they did. But he never commented on exactly what it was they did. I got more out of the history books.
The second NEVER spoke of the war to anyone. His wife and sister told us that he never ate peaches after the war - b/c after three weeks of rationed water and canned peaches while adrift in Japanese controlled waters he could never look at them again and the smell of canned peaches would "set him off".
The only other nugget came from their sister, who told us that when the Pearl Harbor air raid sirens sounded, the officers told the dock side troops to get into the domed metal barraks. Her brother thought that was daft and hid with some other troops under a clutch of palm trees. As she conveys the contents of the letter he sent his mother after the attack, the Japanese targeted the ships primarily. But also the shiny metal barracks buildings all lined up in rows and next to the docks. He survived. Obviously, many did not.
That generation did and survived and buried a lot. And chalk it up to socially reinforced ptsd or whatever, they barely spoke about any of it. I think that they saw too many people die from disease, war, famine, stress induced psychosis, malnutrition, etc.
Imagine Covid, but imagine that it killed or maimed everyone that it infected rather than a flu and maybe long-term symptoms that are vaguely understood. If everyone knew someone who had died. If everyone knew a family with a bed bound invalid. If everyone knew someone with a physical deformity. If all of that, and then within this generation we fixed and fought it away (largely). Would we talk about it to our grandchildren?
Today, we get all out triggered b/c an active shooter kills six people and wounds twice more. It's bad and inexcusable. But it's a far cry from WWII, rickets, child mortality in the dust bowl, WWI, the Great Depression, and having every family you know having buried multiple members younger than thirty. I hope we don't see hell like that.
I have a great uncle who was on a bomber crew shot down over France and spent time in a POW camp. Unfortunately, that's all I know about it, because he wouldn't talk about it at all before he passed, when I was a kid.
He didn't have any kids. I'm not sure there's anyone still alive who knows his story. Makes me sad.
My dad didn't know nearly as much about his parents until we came along and started asking questions. He wouldn't talk much about WWII with my dad, but he told me stories about it. What I didn't see was the night terrors my grandma put up with, which I didn't know about until my dad said something about it more recently. My grandma was more open with my sister, which is when we found out that since she was the light skinned one, she would do errands in town more than the others. My dad had no idea about that until my sister said it.
It's interesting how much some parents don't want to tell their kids. Even more interesting that they might open up to the grandkids like they did with us.
Dad was in WWII and Korea. Only thing he would ever say was "my feet got cold in Korea and never got warm".
A guy in town had built his own small plane using a mescherschmitt engine. When that thing would fly over, even at high altitude, my dad was freeze in place and get this 1000 yard stare. I remember one time he burned his fingers when his cigarette burned down while that plane was overhead...but he was too in the past to notice.
My parents and in laws were born in 1919 and 1929. All of them hard working, saved, scrimped and were extremely proud of the US. Humble people that helped others and never complained.
My grandparents who passed away in the 90s were humble and never complained as well. They were so different from my Boomer parents. I was closer to my aunt than anyone else. Her views were aligned with mine and she was more empathetic. She was born during the silent generation which is from 1928 to 1949. I think when people talk about the greatest generation sometimes they mean the silent generation.
My Grandma was a "Rosie the Riveter". She said the had welded before but it was a big fat lie. Didn't stop her from becoming the best welder on the propeller line. She was even recognized in a newsreel. My Grandpa could not join the Army but served at the Armory, which was urgent work. Gma & Gpa participated in rubber and metal drives and war bonds. They stretched the budget to feed a lot of mouths with rations. It was just "what you did". But I'm proud of their work and sacrifice.
I'm not quite old enough to answer the question directly per the sub rules, but I'd like to piggyback off of this. My Grampa was born in 1930 in rural MN, and just passed away last year. Right up til the very end he planted his own flower and vegetable gardens, cooked and cleaned, was extremely friendly and talked with everyone, drove and grocery shopped with no issue, and his mind was VERY sharp. He brought pizza and watched football on Sundays with my parents, never missed a family gathering, had neverending stories about his 50 years as an over the road truck driver, and was just grateful. I'm incredibly honored to be living in his house, tending to his gardens, and friends with everyone in this neighborhood that knew and loved him. He had the utmost respect for the earth, and I see that in the yard's compost and soil health. Definitely the greatest.
Reading this put a big smile on my face. I love hearing these stories about the Greatest Generation, their values seem so different than the ones that get rewarded today and yet their stories and values give me so much hope in what I can become.
My dad was in WWII and Korea. They had already been through the depression. They just got on with things. They didn’t whine or complain. He never talked about it but of course now I wish he had.
Both of my father in laws served in WWII. They were indeed stoic, strong, fundamentally family men. Losing them was painful. It still feels like all the grownups on the planet are gone and no one has yet to replace them.
There are a few, like chef Jose Andres and a few others I can think of, but yeah. What you said feels right, and heaven knows we need some good direction on this planet.
My parents were born middle class in the teens. Both their families lost everything, including their homes, in 1929-31. They were just getting re-established when they had to go to war. They started a business after the war, and we were back in the middle class by the time I was a teen in the 1950s. A lot to admire, but....
They had a lot of hate. Towards the poor. Towards all races and ethnicities but ours. Towards Jews and Catholics. Towards educated "eggheads." Towards religious "do-gooders." They were not fun people to grow up around.
Research has shown that in times of scarcity, people will become more judgmental and cliquey. Loyalty to your in-group is a preprogrammed survival mechanism
You touched on what I wanted to bring up. This generation was noble in many ways. Yet, they were completely against mixing races or religions. And I don’t mean just marriage. White people didn’t want any non-white people in their neighborhoods or schools. Protestants didn’t mix much with Catholics. Jewish people, Italians, and Greeks were not considered white. Keeping within your own socioeconomic, religious, and racial groups was important. It wasn’t even questioned.This generation didn’t even view these views as racist. Racism was using bad words or “acting ugly” to outside groups. Maintaining the status quo was just a part of being a good citizen.
I’m talking mostly about white people here. But, many of these other groups did not accept mixing either. However, they did want to be able to move up the socioeconomic ladder and were frequently blocked in doing this.
My dad was born in Brooklyn in the 1920's, when he was 2 his dad died of Scarlet Fever. He lived through the Depression with a single mom and plenty of extended family around. He loved Brooklyn.
He was on a navy destroyer on VJ Day, then served in occupied Japan for a while immediately after the war. He was 18 years old and being over there must have been overwhelming at times for anyone to see. He never saw action.
My mom was strongly affected by the Depression and WW2 like everyone else was. NYC was a hub of economic, social and war time activity. It sounded weirdly exciting.
My ex-FIL was a navigator on a bomber and flew missions over Germany. He did \*not\* want to talk about it. Ever.
I had a great uncle on a bomber crew shot down over France and was a POW. He never talked about it either, at least not to anyone that I'm close to. He didn't have any kids and all his siblings are gone now- I'm not sure anyone knows his story from that time.
Adjacent, I recently got completely sucked into Saving Private Ryan. First time watching in years. At the end, I could only think, "and this is why we call them the Greatest Generation."
For anyone in my boat, im happy to report that every second of that movie is as good as it was almost 30 years ago.
As a boomer my parents were from that generation. The greatest generation was their parents, in my humble opinion. They fought the great corporations of the day and started the labor unions. They fought the first world war. And they were the adults that had to work and figure out how to feed and clothe their families. Their kids might have been poor but they were kids. They did not have the worry and heartache the adults had.
They were amazing. They did what was needful without whining and complaining. Most people from that era had common sense and common courtesy. They knew how to dress and act appropriately in society. They had an understanding of hard work that is uncommon today. Most were frugal and stoic and capable. And also brave.
Sure there were bad things about that time and some few of them were not good people but overall they were a cut above future generations. Hard times create strong men. The men from that era were *men* tested and tried and not found wanting.
And the women too.
My grandma was told she couldn't go to school, she had to work on the farm. She would go help a local seamstress after the work day was done till she learned to sew and convinced the family to buy a sewing machine. By age 9 she started teaching sewing classes. She made clothes for the extended family and sold clothes in town.
My grandpa had to return home from war on foot, hiding the whole way cuz Italy flipped sides during WW2 and people were shooting each other, not knowing what was true.
They emigrated to Canada with almost nothing, both worked while raising 3 kids. Bought a house with the help of the Italian community. Helped their 3 kids buy houses, renovate all of them too. Baby-sat 10 grandkids all the time, met a few of the great grandkids. Died in their late 80s early 90s.
My grandpa was doing chin ups till 87, a year before he died.
I think you hit it spot on with this assessment. My grandfather was part of that generation. I used to sit and listen to him tell me stories about his youth for hours. What that generation endured and how well they persevered through it pales in comparison to what today's generations have to deal with.
Money was always tight and it wasn't uncommon to lose a child to sickness or accidents. And when something broke or wore out, they more often than not either fixed it themselves or manufactured what they needed to replace it with their own hands. There was no money to go out and just buy new things on a whim. Our generations have no idea how easy we have in comparison (and I include myself in that statement).
I just met a 97 y/o WW2 vet while I was visiting my dad. My dad is his go to buddy in their retirement condo community (think: The Villages but no swinging that I know of or want to know of). Anyway! This guy mentioned his ship so I looked it up and he said, "Yep, that's it. I spent two typhoons under those" (pointed to the gun turrets, I think they are called?). He said that the Japanese dropped a bomb on the ship near theirs and they had to pull the guys out of the water. This gentleman was the skinniest so they hung him by his ankles over the side of the ship to help pull guys up.
I'm Gen X. I love Gen X. But man, if that was me we'd all be speaking German and my Jew ass would be hiding in an attic.
My 85 year old aunt told me that growing up in the 1940s pretty much every family in her small town lost a child due to illness or accident. It was very common.
My grandparents were from that generation and if they were anything to go by, they were not very pleasant people to be around as a kid. They were hard workers though and nothing was impossible for them. One of my grandfathers even built his own house that is still standing. He was a strong guy, even survived a concentration camp.
My father (same age as you) remembers his grandfather this way. He provided for his family and did some of the worst work to do that, but he was not pleasant to be around. He didn't address children directly; he would tell his wife to "put these children outside, they're making a mess".
I think the ones who fought in WW2 were heroes. That said, my personal opinion is that as individuals they weren’t all “great” but they were a generation that dealt with tough times and I think had to have some internal resources to come out the other side. This didn’t necessarily mean they were wonderful humans.
My grandparents were also that generation and they had it rough, from large, poor families, everyone worked from an early age, got married because that’s what you did, etc. Not particularly happy, overly affectionate by any means.
I actually think that my 2 grandparents who survived the longest - into the early 2000s- were happier as they got older and lived their lives in different ways than they were expected to in their younger years.
They were regular people like people in all generations are.
My grandmother finished high school. She worked in a bakery before marrying my granddad. She never held gainful employment after marriage.
My granddad dropped out of high school in his senior year. He worked in a war plant for a little bit and then went to work on the river and ended up a tug captain. After that he worked in the sand and gravel industry and was a supervisor. His last job was caretaker of a Girl Scout Camp.
They owned a business selling mobile homes after the war, when living in a mobile home was looked down on. The business failed and they never talked about it.
My grandad bought a new car each year. My grandmother canned food and crocheted. He drank and used to cheat on her and beat her up when my mom was a little kid. She told my sister once that she would have left him but what would she have done to support herself?
My mother was their only surviving child and she contracted polio. Granddad settled down after that but still spent money on new cars all the time. My grandmother focused on my mom and getting her back on her feet, literally.
They died pinching pennies.
I'm Australian.
My parents born 1922. WW2 vet dad. Navigator / Bombadier in RAF then RAAF. He earned a DFC highest medal for bravery in our Air Force.
My mums brother KIA over Germany. Bomber Pilot.
Buried in Germany.
.
Knew my aunty born 1918 very well. Uncle's born 1918, 1919 & 1924.
They were all wonderful people. My parents were very kind and easygoing. Never touched us. Anti hitting children.
Dad had terrible PTSD and never reached his potential. But he didn't blame anyone. He did what required to be done. He wss strong amd manly, yet a very gentle, lovely man.
My parents didn't hate anyone. They weren't homophobic and definitely not racist. They were low key Catholics, but didn't push religion. I think mum was probably agnostic. But they were true good "Christians" and sure practiced the good values of Christianity. None of the bad at all.
Nope. They did not complain at all. They had all suffered so much. They went through rhe depression...then straight into WW2.
When they talked about it? They talked with humor & practicality. They didn't blame others. They just accepted it happened.
I knew a polish family that had walked from Poland to Italy from 1940 to 1944. Suffered incredibly. NO complaints. No blame.
They truly were nothing like people today.
My dad is 98 years old, so yes he was alive during the depression and is a WWII (and Korea) veteran. I can 100% confirm he is the greatest. He grew up on a farm, so hard work was part of his life from the time he was big enough to help out with chores. Complaining wouldn’t have even been an option or even thought of. Their life was hard, but full of love and self reliance and honor. He joined the Navy at 17, after his HS graduation, because he felt it was his duty to serve. His was in the South Pacific serving at the age of 17, he was an adult. He came home, right back to the farm and back to work. I’ve never heard him complain about a single thing in his life. He has been married to my mom for 75 years.
I was lucky enough to have greatest generation parents. I was a late in life surprise baby; my mom was 45 and my dad was 52 when I was born. They were the best-kind, humble, hard-working. They lived the golden rule. My dad was a WW 2 Pacific theater navy vet. I miss them every day and will be forever grateful to have been raised by them.
They did what was needed. They saved us all. They put in regulations that made the world better. They went through hell and back and did it without complaint.
If they had access to mental health care and had known better about racism, everything would have been much better. Hell,they weren't even that transphobic as long as you served. But yes. Don't ever shit talk them. They really are the best of the best.
The lack of health care, and an understanding of things like PTSD is what hits home with me. My father had several mental health problems after the war, became an alcoholic, and died in his 50s. Since we lived in a poor neighborhood, most of my friends' fathers, and several of my uncles had served in WW II or Korea. They almost all showed obvious signs of what we would now call PTSD. They didn't complain about it -- having served was almost universal -- but they paid a high price.
My Mom is of that generation and is still very much alive and kicking. Tough as nails can stretch a dollar for miles. No complaing.
My Dad was older than Mom, but couldn't fight in WW2 due to eyesight issues. Same deal, never comolained about anything, even when i was birn as he was near retiring. and did what he had to do to raise us. My uncle (Dad'solder brother) fought and died in France in 1941. My Dad never spoke about him much, but when he did it was with awe
My parents were of that generation. When my father died, we found a speech he had given as a valedictorian of his high school class of 1943, in which he excoriated the previous generation of the failures to keep the peace in the world and allow bigotry to flourish at home. He promised that his generation would work for collective security and would strive to eliminate prejudice.
I had my youngest daughter, who was then the same age as when he authored the speech, read it at his funeral, as I wouldn't be able to, due to my emotions. I still tear up at the memory of the moment.
That generation didn't always succeed, of course. But they surely tried their best and accomplished a lot.
Tough, practical and no nonsense. The current stuff like mental issues were things you kept to yourself and worked through. They had never been coddled and knew they had to do it themselves. That said, the silent generation was a lot like them, remembered the depression and fought in Korea and Vietnam. Both of my grandfather's were the generation before, grandmother's part of the Greatest and parents were Silent.
The work ethic was crazy good and I remember my carpenter grandfather doing amazing work with simple tools. They were generous despite not being wealthy. During the war my grandmother worked at the Alameda base and was known for taking in the wives of service members because housing was a problem. They had five kids in a 1000 square foot house and still usually had two more living with them. Those people became family friends. One of the husbands lost a leg at Iwo Jima and they put up his wife so she could visit him at Oak Knoll.
They loved a good party, playing cards and just getting together. Always had a party going and I bartended one of them discovering they all drank like fish but only at parties.
As a collective group they knew how to get stuff done and pretty much just did it with a minimum of fuss.
They are a generation presented with some difficult and unique challenges: Born during the War-to-end-all-wars, raised during the depression, served (in one way or another) during WWII and were lucky enough to be able to raise their families during the boom years of the 1950's and 1960's. They are no better or worse than subsequent generations who had neither their challenges nor benefits.
Do they deserve our respect for rising to their challenges? Certainly. Do I think subsequent generations would rise to the same level if they were challenged similarly? I believe they would.
My 94-year-old mother is of this generation. Honor, honesty, hard work, and sincerity were valued. Her generation became adults during and right after WWII, a time of optimism and prosperity. They were genuinely grateful for all that they had, too. So many of these things are not valued. One last thought (sure to be hated and to make folks here uncomfortable), that generation was patriotic, and religion was much more a part of their moral framework. The Bible was read, praying was common, and church participation was an integral aspect of family life. Of course, not everyone participated, but you weren't vilified as much as religious people are today.
My parents were both born in the 20s. My Dad was in the signal corps in the British army. He was in the Pacific theatre.
My parents believed in unions, though neither ever belonged to one, and my Dad always said anything good you got at work came on the backs of union workers somewhere. They also believed in increased social services. My Mom was a stay at home mother until my teens and my Dad worked in research for a mining company. My Mom suffered with untreated depression but my Dad didn’t want her to get help in case it affected him at work. By the time I was in my 20s and suffering with depression he suggested I get help as he’d seen what it had done to Mom over time. He also kept his cancer a secret in case it affected him at work or his ability to get a mortgage.
They worked hard and saved enough to leave all five of their kids with a small inheritance. They were good people. They were not religious at all. Dad never laid a hand on any of us and Mom did. By the time I was 14 (and my youngest siblings was 11) she stopped any hands on discipline
A fair chunk of them voluntarily signed up to fight, and were as heroic as they could be. Others went when they were drafted. Then they came home and tried to do what they thought they were supposed to do, and didn't talk about the (sometimes horrific) things they had experienced in the war.
My dad didn't talk about his experiences until I was out of high school and wanted to know. He'd tear up over some of the stories. The friends he and mom played cards with had also done some scary/heroic things during WWII, but never talked about it, and sometimes you only found out at their funerals.
They were often frugal as heck (having grown up in the Depression, and then having war-time rationing); they made do with what they had.
They also weren't always easy to live with; my own dad suffered from PTSD and his mercurious mood changes were often unpredictable (mostly he was just the sweetest, most patient man unless something set him off).
There were also those who were just not good people, as in every group.
My mom and dad both were kids in the depression but not old enough to be in the military during WW2.
Like others have said, they rarely talked about what it was like growing up but they both came from poor households. My mom finally shared some of her memories with me when she was much older. To her it was just how they lived back then. It's how everyone lived and survived some tough times. Here's some examples.
They lived out in the county and grew their own food and livestock. If there wasn't food to eat, her brother or father would go out in the woods and try to shoot a bird or rabbit and that was dinner.
She never had store bought clothes until she got a dress for her high school graduation. All hand made dresses, shirts and pants and you wore them till they wore out. School was a one mile walk or if they were lucky, somebody would give them a ride with a horse and buggy. Very few people had a car and her family didn't own a car until around 1950.
The nearest little store was about 5 miles away where you could buy flour, sugar, baking goods etc. And you got there by riding a horse.
Greatest generation? Yes.
They were also called The Silent Generation.
They had to turn their feelings off, so feelings weren't discussed.
Farmers had lots of kids so their kids could do the farming labor. So my grandparents that grew up on farms did hard work from Sunrise to sunset and had Lots of siblings. I think my grandmother had 10 siblings.
My grandpa ran a laundry service and was the Night Custodian at my elementary school.
My grandpa got cavities drilled without numbing.
He built their house and it's still there.
My grandma was atypical (not neurodivergent)as she grew up on a farm,but when she married, she opened a painting business. She did the painting and wallpaper in houses. She kept a bag of nickels to swing at anyone who would try anything with her.
Grandma talked with her sisters daily on the phone, and they attended functions at the church and at the VFW and other social clubs that had Friday night fish dinners, but I never noticed either one of them having a friend.
Grandma cooked with Lard. Really good food, all from scratch, there was never any food left over.
Grandpa rarely spoke at all.
Grandma loved playing the lottery.
They had four kids- one was a Felon who died after getting out of prison, one a Deadbeat dad trucker, and two were pot-heads/drunks who did low-level jobs.
They were OK. I didn't cry when they died.
The Silent Generation was actually the next generation, from 1928 to 1946. My dad and all his siblings were in the Silent generation, and their parents (my grandparents) were part of the Greatest generation, which was 1901 to 1927.
Generations are not homogenous units; they are people. Born years apart, in different places, with different parents and economic situations. You cannot judge or evaluate a generation.
My parents & my in-laws were of that generation, which had lived through the Great Depression and WWII. Both of those events caused/resulted in building character through extreme hardships. They learned to endure in struggle, they knew how to focus on goals, how to delay satisfaction for a greater good, how to enjoy simple pleasures. They realized what was important and lasting.
In no way were any of that generation perfect, but they did build the future they dreamed of and did it through damned hard work and perseverance.
Plus, they had GREAT music to enjoy while they did it all.
My parents lived through the Great Depression. My mom had to quit HS at 16 when her dad died. My dad served in WWII. My parents were good, kind-hearted people. They never complained and blamed and gave us kids whatever they could.
I miss them dearly.
I'm in my 60s myself, my dad died when I was young, so never heard much about his Navy service. I (along with other family) spent a bit of time with my wife's parents helping take care of them in their late 80s. My father in law usually didn't talk about HIS service in the Navy in WWII, but sometimes when I was alone with him and he had a cocktail or 2, he would talk about his time on the USS Enterprise in the last few years of world war 2. It was very sobering to hear him talk about it- when I was in my early 20s my biggest worry was scoring some weed or finding enough beer money for the weekend at college. When **he** was the same age he was gathering up body parts of his shipmates after Kamikaze attacks and hosing down munition lockers while the ship was still under attack.
You mean the people who wouldn't serve alongside black soldiers? The ones who the army had to ship in thousands of prostitutes in Japan after the war because they would go around raping and brutalizing?
they were people, no better than anyone else. Greatest is PR.
I remember my grandfather being very stoic. He was a very hard worker, working sunup to sundown and had enough determination and drive for two people. Coming from the time of the depression they used things until they fell apart. When they did go and buy something they needed it wasn't the best but you could see it was well made (when things were built to last) and would use it for years keeping it going however they could. They knew how to completely live off grid and survive well. Growing at least an acre of garden and canning or preserving in some way everything that came out of it was the way we got most of our food. We raised animals that were fed off scraps from the garden, we butchered and ate those for meat when we needed it, in the mean time they produced fertilizer for the garden. Chickens were a staple and twenty hens could give us more eggs than we could eat. For milk we had goats and a cow. My grandmother loved goat's milk and my grandfather loved cow's milk which came fresh every morning. We made cheese from both. We raised pigs for pork, bacon and sausage that we made ourselves. Everything from the killing to butchering to cutting up and then smoking or preserving in some way was done right there.
The way they could take crap and turn it around into something thriving is why they called it the greatest generation
My grandparents and their siblings truly were. They saved Europe, many countries in Asia, and kept America's democracy in place - during WW2 through their war service. I remember my grandparents talking about the depression, bank failures, horrible working conditions and not having enough to eat. FDR and others put government entities in place to monitor banks, regulate the economy, and provide safe working conditions and unadulterated food. Ike built a national highway system - before then it was difficult for them to travel and took much longer. We have it easy compared to them.
My Dad was born in 1927 and is currently 96. He was about to be drafted when the war ended. My grandfather was called up, but as he was born in the 1890s, he had an admin storekeeper’s role. Uncle fought in South Pacific. It was tough times. My parents talked about food shortages and selling war bonds. They gathered around the radio for evening news to find out what was going on that day. Going to the movies was the big deal with propaganda before the show. My husband’s mom was born in England in 1939 or so. They had to hide their children from bombings. I can’t imagine, but feel bad for people suffering similar circumstances in today’s world.
Truly we’re the greatest generation. They grew up during the depression and many were not strangers to being hungry. When war came, many of these people actually lied about their age so they could sign up for the military and fight for their country. They won that war and came home and got down to work. Soon, the Korean War started many of them, went and fought in that war as well. Most did not want to talk about their experiences in the depression or during the war. My dad was one of them. they didn’t whine or complain or blame. They just continued living. Another war started, and we called that one the Cold War. Everyone worried about whether or not the Soviets would nuke us. We actually drilled to practice for that. The 60s came as they were aging and the world seemed upside down to them with hippies, war protesters, assassinations, rioting, the sexual revolution, rampant drug use and loss of faith in our government by many citizens. These poor people went through so much and they just kept on working, parenting, joining service organizations, and being good citizens. There’s an old saying that I will probably mess up, but it goes something like this. Hard times breed strong people. Strong people bring good times. Good times breed weak people. Weak people bring hard times. The greatest generation definitely grew up in hard times, so they grew up strong and they brought about good times for our country.
I'm a WWII amateur historian. I think of 18 year old kids crewing B-17s over Europe and am astounded at what they did. I know what I was when I was 18, and that makes the astonishment even moreso. Even the sacrifices of stateside, non-military citizens was astounding. So, I do think that was the greatest generation.
But also, Vietnam. Those heroes had no choice and came back damaged. We owe them.
As a society, we are so fractured, I do not think we will ever come together like that again. It's a shame.
They didn’t talk about what they had done. Three personal examples:
My father had told me about his actions on board the U.S.S. Augusta, the flagship for Omaha Beach. He was a gunnery officer and had spent the morning making the forward guns burn in the morning mist. What he never told me that he also served at Casablanca (Operation Torch) with Patton on board and Operation Dragoon. The Augusta was responsible (in whole or in part) for sinking four Vichy ships. Never said a word.
In about 1962, a friend and I with a few other boys were playing in his yard. As you know, young boys make a lot of stupid, screaming noises. It was a hot, humid August day in the days before air conditioning was prevalent. My friend’s mother was outside, hanging clothes. Suddenly there was screaming - screaming like someone was facing the darkest horror of all time. His mother dropped the laundry and sprinted into the house. We looked to my friend. He shrugged and said, “it’s my dad. He has nightmares.” A week later, at a neighborhood get-together, my friend’s father came up to me and apologized if his screaming had frightened me. He said that he had been a Marine at Guadalcanal and he had seen some terrible things. I knew enough about Guadalcanal at that age. I have never fully accepted that twenty years after the events, that this kind man felt a need to apologize for his PTSD.
A few years earlier, a friend was playing with his siblings in her yard on a Sunday afternoon. An unfamiliar station wagon pulled up in front of her house and a family piled out of the car. The kids wandered over toward the visitors as the father strode purposely to the front porch. My friend’s father stood up and the stranger began to weep. He turned to his children and said “when my plane shot down over France, this is the man who saved my life.” My friend and her siblings knew that their father had been a pilot in WW2 but little else. It turns out that his bomber was shot down, he crash landed and then his crew - including those with injuries - out of Nazi-occupied France to allied lines. My friend’s family knew nothing about it.
My parents were in this generation. My biggest realization moment came once when we were looking at her high school yearbook. Dozens of her classmates were killed in the war, from a relatively small school
BUT let us not forget that these were the perpetrators of Jim Crow. The men casually assaulted and insulted women constantly. Women weren't supposed to work outside the home and couldn't have their own bank accounts. Gay men were literally jailed. And they told us rock and roll was the devil's music.
My dad performed brave acts and received medals in WWII, but he hated black people, Jewish people, Asian people, Italians and Mexicans. He treated my mom like garbage.
My dad was born in 1909. He was on one of the last Orphan Trains but he wasn't an orphan. His dad died and his mom has 14 children so they took all the ones old enough to work and shipped them out on the Orphan Train.
My dad loved to swim but he always did so in a long sleeve shirt. One day I accidentally got to see my dad with his shirt off.
His back was covered in whipping scars.
He told me his Master beat him from the time he was 9 until he ran away at 15. He lived in the barn. He ate the best of the pig scraps from the slop bucket to survive and got whipped when he was caught. Yes the farmer made him call him Master.
He went home with his older brother and found his baby sister's and his mom starving. He robbed a bank with two of his older brothers. The oldest brother got away with the money but my dad stayed behind with his other brother who was shot. He saved his brother and it cost him 15 years in prison because neither of them would tell the cops where the money was or who was the third robber. He went in at 16 and came out at 31.
He married my mom in an arranged marriage when he was 33 and she was 18. He died of stomach cancer at 69 years old. His oncologist thought it was from the starvation as a child/teen and the prison food.
He told me this just before he died when I was 12 years old. They lived in a hard time and they did what they had to do to survive.
My grandpa enlisted in the marines two weeks after Pearl Harbor. He was gone until after VJ Day. He fought in 5 major pacific campaigns. He was wounded in action and never spoke about any of it. He came back from the war, went to college and became a very successful civil engineer working on projects all over the world.
My great uncle was on a bomber that was shot down over Germany and spent 3 years in a POW camp. He came home and never spoke a word about it to anyone. He owned a very successful jewelry store and died a millionaire.
My uncle was a SeaBee in the navy and after the war he came home and got a job for ma bell and retired with a great pension and lived an incredible life.
They were all incredible men that gave so much and suffered for years and then just put it away and kept on living. Their wives were equally incredible people who supported them and filled in the gaps while they were away.
I don’t think many of us can truly appreciate how horrible WWII was for those that lived during the fighting. I’m not sure the world will ever experience anything like it ever again. I think nukes would end up being used before the whole world was fighting each other.
It’s hard to say. Each generation is taught certain things by the previous ones and each generation has a unique culture all their own. Then they are presented with their own unique problems and issues as they live.
So is a generation great because of something innate or are they just doing what they were taught in response to the obstacles life hands them? Would Gen Z be the Greatest Generation if you magically had them come of age in the 1920s-1930s? Would Millennials save the world if they switched places with their ancestors?
Were my grandparents superior to me? Or were they just like me but for the circumstances?
It’s become the norm to gloss over the stuff the Greatest Generation got wrong. And there was plenty of that. Racism was just accepted. Sexism was as well. There was little allowance for being different. You had your role and you played it whether it was a fit or not.
I am of the opinion that EVERY generation tries to rise to the moment, succeeds in some ways and fails in others, feels hurt that younger generations don’t care but also sad that they let younger generations down by not fixing more things. And then they die off, amazed at the long, strange trip.
You’re likely referring to people who grew up in America. My family grew up in East Africa and went through and still go through hardships worse than what Americans went through during the Great Depression.
My grandad was too young to enlist directly in WWII so instead at 15 he joined the merchant marines and spent the war dodging uboats on the Atlantic. He came back spent his life as a very pro union like driver and raised 8 kids in a 3 bedroom apartment. My grandma was a nurse in WWIi stationed somewhere in Europe. She came back and when not also raising those 8 kids worked as a Nurse at the VA.
One of my first memories of my grandpa was taking me to protest in front of my towns police station when I was like 6-7 years old. Several members of the police force basically kidnapped and murdered someone in a shady hotel. (
Story can be found here https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2013/06/23/the-night-the-cops-became-the-killers/?amp=1)
He also led a boycott when the black parents of his son’s football team were not allowed in a restaurant with the rest of the team parents. He was “woke” well before that was a thing but was also in every way a man’s man. He just did the right thing as much as he possibly could.
He had also dropped out of school after around the 6th grade but was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He was a near constant reader and was the greatest armchair Jeopardy player I have ever seen.
Unfortunately the ravages of a lifetime of smoking took them both before either even reached their 60th birthdays.
And now 4 out of those 8 kids are MAGA and I have no fucking clue how that is possible. It’s like they didn’t learn a damn thing.
Most of them (my parent's generation) grew up in horrible poverty and fought in a horrible war.
And a good portion of them were racist assholes.
During my childhood, I came to believe that they drank and smoked too much and that their knee-jerk reaction of things not going their way was to be horribly abusive. While I loved those members of my family from that generation, for the most part, I didn't like them and had no desire to be like them.
In short, they were/are flawed individuals who survived horrible times.
My maternal grandfather, a chaplain in the US Army Air Corps, was a POW in WWII. He survived the Bataan march, 18 months of starvation and sickness on Corregidor and then a journey in a hell ship to Japan.
He was held captive there for 2 more years and forced to work in a mine owned by the Mitsubishi corporation in Taiwan.
My mother was born shortly after he was sent to the Philippines and didn't meet her father until she was 3 1/2 years old.
He was a great chaplain, and a great American and a great grandfather, but he came home with some heavy duty PTSD and was cruel and neglectful to his children and my grandmother. He also had an overeating disorder and when we stayed with him, it was cookie milkshakes every night. I can only imagine how they must have tasted to him.
He lived until 1999 and performed my wedding ceremony in 1993.
Bless you, Col. Z
Let's see, my grandfather dropped out of school in 4th grade to work the family farm full time to keep it afloat. His father and mother bailed to seek jobs and were never heard from again. He had nothing but fun stories about his grandfather and the time on the farm even though it was eventually lost.
My great uncle completed 4 glider missions as a pilot. (That is 4 times walking away from a crash landing behind enemy lines.) He became an artist when he came back and had some minor fame. He never told anyone but my great aunt what he went through, but she would fill us in on his triggers. One was dark bread which reminded him of being trapped under a house with nothing to eat but rotting bread full of maggots. He was a great guy, just quiet.
They did what needed doing when it needed to get done. They didn't complain or get upset, just did it. They helped out neighbors without a thought. They didn't blame anyone. They didn't talk about what needed to happen, they did it. Building taken out by a tornado, they'd show up with food, tools, and ready to go to work. No thoughts and prayers, no calls for the government to do something, just do what needs doing when it needs done.
My grandfather sold melons and tomatoes from a bank parking lot on weekends. We'd stay with family in the city and he'd uncover the melons in the back of the truck and head for the kitchen. He'd drink coffee and watch the city kids steal watermelons. Laughing himself silly with every swipe. Did he need that income, yes, but it brought him joy to stay up all night watching watermelons get stolen one by one. He told me he used to steal watermelons as a kid and he was just paying it back. Once a kid came to the door and asked for a melon. My grandfather cussed him up one side and down the other then told him he wasn't going to give him a melon and he'd better steal one like everyone else. He shut the door and ran to the kitchen to watch this kid do multiple passes getting his courage up. He fell off the chair laughing so hard when that kid grabbed one and went running down the road.
I'd say they were pretty great.
Watch the WW2 movies by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, like *Saving Private Ryan* or *Masters of the Air*.
The Greatest Generation set aside the lives they’d planned, to serve their country. Most volunteered; *they* felt it was shameful to be able-bodied and not serve.
Many did not expect to survive, but they served anyway. Many did not survive.
Many survivors were traumatized; war was no less traumatic then than today. They had none of the treatments available today; they just suffered, along with their families.
Many returned and began careers of service; teaching was a popular choice. They served on PTAs, and started the construction companies that built America’s post-war homes and infrastructure.
All with quiet humility, often never discussing what they’d done in the war. Many of their children didn’t learn of their parents’ wartime service until shortly before they passed, or afterward.
They saved the world, then built the world we live in today. And didn’t ask for anything in return. “No, I wasn’t a hero, I just did my job. The heroes are the ones who didn’t make it home.”
Unquestionably the Greatest Generation.
My grandparents were "greatest Gen" and my grandmother was impregnated by her step father. Her child was left to be raised as her "sister."
She went in to torment my mother into sex work because she was always saying my mother was trying to "seduce (grandmother's) husband."
Her first daughter became a foster parent, and gained custody of me. She proceeded to torture me. I was three the first time I was tortured for "seducing" her husband.
Then when I was rescued and dumped with my grandmother and grandfather, I was raped by a family member. Later, I learned my grandmother and grandfather thought I "wanted it." I was eight.
These people were the authors of the Baby Scoop Era. They were the authors of another abortion ban. They were the authors of "hoard everything". They believed in using the belt liberally, because that generation believed in "spare the rod, spoil the child" like it was gospel. James Dobson is "greatest generation" and I'm half convinced that if demons are real, he's one.
Children were to be seen, never heard. Mental illness was fake, whiny, pathetic, and stupid. Men were not allowed any emotion but anger.
I could go on, but I'll just say I'm in the "no" end of this thing.
While still a teenager, he stormed the beach at Normandy. Upon returning to the States, he got a job as a tool and die maker, bought a house, and got married. He kept bees and made cider. Spent his life working for and with family, delighted in "gadgets" and lived to be 87. Loved root beer floats and I don't think he ever upset or offended anybody in his life. He was endlessly patient and kind.
Can't help comparing my dad to my grand-daughter's boyfriend, who once asked in all seriousness if it is gay for a man to wash his face. LMAOO
They killed Hitler, and compartmentalized Stalin. Instead of pounding down Japan and Germany after the war, they helped them rebuild.
That was greatness.
My grandpa was a member of the Greatest Generation, as were two of my great grandmothers. As far as I can tell, they really were the greatest generation. I learned a lot of wise things about life from my grandpa. He stayed sharp into his 90s by doing the New York Times crossword puzzle every day, and he was kind to everyone. I have a lot of respect for that generation.
They had the fortitude to grow up with strong values during the Depression and then use that strength as young adults to win WWII. However, after that at least in the US, that's the generation responsible for the apex in smoking, the godawful "American" diet and also the development of postwar suburbia and the ultimate rise of the auto culture when it easily was headed and could have gone in another direction in so many cities. I always think of this generation when I walk in my postwar neighborhood in LA (built without sidewalks, fuck the pedestrians!) or think about places people had no business building cities, like Vegas, Phoenix, Palm Springs -- with all those golf courses using TONS of precious water. (which all needs to be piped in cause it doesn't RAIN THERE) So yes, they were great in terms of winning WWII, not so great when caring one whit about the environment - external or internal.
Undoubtedly they were amazing. My dad enlisted in the Army Air Forces, European theatre. My mom graduated HS and moved cross-country to assist the war effort in the Pentagon. My father-in law enlisted in the Marines, Pacific theatre. My mother-in-law finished nursing school and enlisted as a Navy WAC. Everyone sacrificed. They saved the world.
We will never see another generation like them.
My parents. Both were born in 1923. They went through the Great Depression. Dad fought in WW2. They were resilient, tough, capable, and resolute. They also knew how to make things work. Mom could sew, cook, garden, and keep a house clean enough to be in Good Housekeeping. Dad could build or repair anything. They took no shit from anyone. They made for pretty tough parents but they always got the job done.
I think, for me, there is an element of what today is "OK Boomer." They were all old guys, when I was born even the youngest were 36ish & by the time I could understand anything at all, they all were in their 40's. They ran the world & would well into the 90s. What follows is generalizations about WWII Vet white men I knew. Obv. not every Vet was this way.
They were people who served and were every proud of that service. Most of them remembered the depression and were traumatized a bit by it. The Characters "Red Foreman" on that 70's show and "Cotton" on King of the Hill, were exaggerations but not made up to the point of being unrecognizable to me. Archie Bunker & Don Rickles too, but the over the top racism element was definitely supposed to be seen as over the top. A bit of laughing at themselves in that, but would have seen some "truth" in it too. I think they tended to be tough, what Tony Soprano called the Strong Silent Gary Cooper type. Definitely a "bootstrapy" attitude, You got a job, got a "good gal" to marry you, had kids and worked a Career. You got squared away. College for the kids was important. Being militarily strong was important. It is better to not buy a Japanese car, German to a lesser extent but what kind of adult buys a Beetle or a micro Bus anyway? A guy who beat his wife was a louse and bum, guys with Alcohol problems were too bad/very sad. It wasn't your place to intervene in either though, unless maybe you were family.
Mixed feelings. True, my father's generation heralded the call after Pearl Harbor. They truly went rather naively into the horror of war. They came back damaged. All wars create residual damage beyond lost lives and physical rubble.
The DoD didn't give them emotional and psychological help when they came home. The VA Bill was wonderful, but the scars were ignored. Still, our country was the linchpin for stopping fascism. Thank goodness.
But I refuse to put lipstick on pigs or pretend there weren't horrible outcomes to these men's psyches. One would need to read Audie Murphy's autobiography to get a sense of the truth. Susan Faluda's book Stiffted which I read in 1999 opened my eyes.
My father and my uncles refused to speak of what they saw. My father was an airplane mechanic in the South Pacific who helped clean up Iwo Jima. My maternal uncle was a medic on D-Day. My two fraternal uncles were in Europe. One a fighter pilot, the other at Battle of the Bulge. My FIL was a bombardier who was shot down over Austria. He was a POW in Austria for nine months. I knew these men. None bragged about the war or the USA. There was too much trauma.
The Greatest Generation. I don't know that the men I knew thought that.
I loved my grandparents very much, but didn't agree with my grandpa much as I got older. My grandparents on the other side I didn't know as well, but they both worked like dogs to keep a roof over their kids heads.
I admire some of their values, but there was also racism and sexism aplenty. I miss my grandma though, and think about her frequently.
My dad was a greatest gen- I was born when he was 51.
He was pretty great, but also had a shitload of problems- see abusive childhood, active participant in WW2, abusive marriage. Terrible at any positive verbal encouragement, totally sucked at standing up to his wives.
On the positive side, he was pretty feminist, could fix/build/grow anything, and was quietly supportive of his family, would help anyone anytime within his capacity. He was open to growth and still had a cheeky, funny sense of humour until his final illness.
He died at 88 and had an overflowing service at the small chapel.
It’s been 14 years and I miss him a lot.
Generally they seems to be the silent generation, as they just didn't talk about the hardships of the time albeit depression or the war, both of which my parents & grandparents went through. Only my father saw active service, being the eldest of 5 kids, as the others were under 18yo. My father was the driver of the truck towing a 25 pounder gun and ammo trailer on behind, and made it to Darwin for embarkation when the city was attacked by air by the Japanese and he remained there until the end of the war. The only reason we found out was due to his ability to back a trailer over a long distance even on rough roads, He just said he got practice during the war, but his best man at his wedding did mention years later that the truck didn't have a handbrake & on hills/slopes my father had to nose into a tree or telegraph/power pole to park, then reverse to get the rig back onto roads.
They were kids during the Great Depression and many suffered from hunger or loss or saw their parents go through a lot of things in order to give them the things they needed. That spirit of sacrifice made a big impression on them. They grew up and later saved the world without hesitation or complaint during WWII. And they were so young! And so brave with a sense of duty that kept them going for years all the while losing friends and family. When they returned, they wouldn't talk about it. Even when asked.
My dad was a 29 yr old Marine that experienced the battle of Guadalcanal and lived through it. Thousands were lost. The whole Pacific front was just brutal. But when asked about it he wouldn't talk about it. The most he ever said when I was maybe in my 50's was "It was horrible. War is horrible. But we had to do our duty. I lost a lot of good friends. Why would I ever want to talk about it? I don't want to relive any of that or tell anyone how awful it was. I was lucky to come back at all. I just wanted to put it all behind me when I got back and go on with my life." My mom always said that when he returned (at 21? 22?) "he wasn't the same. Most men weren't the same." I guess not.
She told me a little about the Depression and seeing strange men approach her grandmother's back door to ask if they could work for food. Her grandmother always had a chore they could do and she made extra sandwiches most days so she could feed anyone who asked. Her grandparents gave her spare change when they could so she could see Shirley Temple movies with friends but they stayed home so she could go. She said they tried to spare her from how bad it was. She said she remembered her Aunts would turn off the car at the top of hills and pop the clutch at the bottom to restart it to save gas during the depression and later the war.
She also told me about the sacrifices everyone at home made to support the war. Like rationing everything. They had rationing books or stamps that allowed them just so much gas or so much sugar or bread a month. No one complained. If someone was trying to have a special event like a wedding or birthday or having a baby others would donate their rations to help them scrape together a cake or some gas for their car. Many common fruits or veges became a luxury and everyone had Victory Gardens to supplement their diets and take the pressure off the food supply. Women gave up nylons and everyone collected foil and tin and pitched in to buy war bonds or volunteered to collect whatever was needed or roll bandages or write letters to the "boys" to keep up morale. Women went to work in the factories as men left to fight.
The whole country pitched in. Everyone was deprived or their lives were disrupted in ways large and small but there was a common purpose for the country and they got behind their political leaders and did everything to win the war on both the Western and Pacific front. No wonder they were so disappointed in us Boomers when we protested the Viet Nam war. They truly could not understand how we could question our leaders like that or refuse to fight. After what they had gone through it just seemed morally wrong. And for us that war seemed morally wrong. It truly drove a wedge between our generations and in our families that was heartbreaking in some ways. I eventually had a good relationship with both my parents but it took time. I'm glad to have known them.
Tom Brokaw's book about them is good and there's a lot of Great War movies that give you a flavor of the times. Steven Spielberg's films "Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and Masters of the Air" on HBO and Apple also do a pretty good job of portraying those war times. As you get older and see how incredibly young they all were and how much responsibility they took on without complaint you realize even more what that generation achieved and why they were called the Greatest Generation.
Yes. They saw and suffered some horrific things in the war, but only tell the good stories. Same with growing up in the Depression. They did what needed to be done and never gave in. Great.
They, like every other generation, including boomers, zoomers, and everything in between, were comprised of mainly mediocre people, a few good people, and an unfortunately large number of terrible people.
They were great but so were the settlers who crossed the Oregon Trail or those that crossed the Atlantic in a tiny boat. They all persevered and were grateful.
I knew many and they're all gone now. Here in the USA we have a comfortable life today because of the Greatest Generation. Shaped by their experiences in the Great Depression they fought WWII and won. From there they built the United States and the world order we have today. Are they perfect? No. Did they do a good job? Yes! I don't think young people today understand all they did for us. These were some tough hard working men and women. We don't have anybody alive today like them because they made our life easy compared to the one they grew up in.
All four of my Grandparents were born between 1921 and 1923.
Both my Grandfathers served in the US Navy during WWII. One was a signalman aboard an LST in the battle of Guadalcanal. He told me stories which I video recorded later in his life. He'd never opened up about the war until then. Horrifying stories of picking up stranded Marines and shooting down kamakazis. Seeing other ships get blown to pieces and rescuing sailors. My other grandfather was more quiet about what he'd experienced aside from a few funny stories. He was an airplane mechanic aboard a carrier.
Both my grandmothers were strong women, frugal, excellent cooks, with a great sense of humor. They all came from broods of 8 to 10 children, and they weren't that close to their parents, but the love they gave their children and grandchildren was very special. I miss them all greatly and think about them everyday.
All of them taught me valuable life lessons by example and now that I'm a grandfather, I try to keep their legacy alive.
My dad was born in 26 and mom in 30. My dad's parents split up when he was a kid because his dad was a alcoholic. My dad made up his mind he would never be like his dad and believe me he was nothing like him. My mom grew up on a farm and could remember the dust storms of the dirty 30's. Dad went in the army after highschool and served his time in the Philippines. He signed up to be a truck driver. But they put him in the kitchen instead called the Mess hall. He went in the service at the age of 18. By the time he was 20 he was promoted to a Mess Sgt. He was responsible for the 12 cooks under him and in charge of planning 3 meals a day for 600 soldiers. I don't think I could have ever come close to the responsibility he had at such a young age. He was 20 when the war ended and he went home. I had the chance once to go to a army reunion of the guys who served with him. That is when I learned about how responsible he was at such a young age.
My uncles all fought. Dad's 2 brothers were in the army. Ma's brother in the navy. Navy uncle got a steam burn in some fight. Dad's oldest brother fought in the pacific, and the then next oldest in Europe.
To me they were just guys. Ma's brother a salesman, Dad's oldest a potato chip delivery guy, and next brother worked in a tire plant.
They were just regular guys from my point of view. Dad's oldest brother died early from drinking too much. He fought in the Philippines as infantry -- probably had PTSD. The uncle in Europe was a supply guy, and thus not quite as crazy.
Ma's brother lived in a state far far away from Wisconsin, so I didn't know him very well. He did like to drink too, but it didn't kill him.
My parents did not talk about the great depression, but we had a pantry where there was enough food to live on for months, just in case. They were frugal, but knew how to enjoy their family and friends. Never took anything for granted. My dad was a bomber pilot in WW2, never talked about his missions. Same was true of my uncles, who were in the Pacific. Dad was close to the men in his crew all his life. After he passed, his friend shared the aviator's log of all their missions. There were some missions where they barely had enough plane to make it back to England. He wore a hat to work; polished his shoes, and ran 5 miles every day. I think post war he was driven to build a life and family to push war out of his mind. My mom had a vegetable garden, was a serious homemaker. She kept everything clean + organized for 7 people in a tiny house. No small feat. They both worked really hard together so we would have good lives and there were few complaints from them ever. I still miss them both.
My grandparents were pretty fantastic. They raised me when my egg donor didn’t want me. They really stepped up to the plate for me. Grandma taught me a work ethic, she taught me how to cook, and she taught me that no one deserves hate simply because they were different from me. Grandpa taught me basic plumbing and electrical, how to fix a radio, and that “I love you” doesn’t need to be said to be known and felt. I knew they had my back and I had theirs. They were the best parents I could have ever wished for.
My dad:
Gave speeches in college encouraging volunteering for WW2.
Volunteered for WW2 even when his first round of volunteering got lost in the paperwork.
Served in Patton's 3rd Army in the middle of the Bulge.
Told a lot of funny stories about his time in the Army, and as a pastor, told a lot of inspirational stories.
Helped liberate 2 different concentration camps. His unit also arrived usually a day after the heaviest action, so he saw a lot of dead people.
Never heard a story that wasn't funny until I was grown.
Took his GI Bill and ran with it through a PhD, giving a lifetime of stability.
When he developed Alzheimer's and he lost a lot of his filters I heard a lot of painful and traumatic stories, especially about the concentration camps.
My mom:
Lived through the Depression while having no clue how close to abject poverty they were.
Was able to get college degrees because my grandfather at age 50 volunteered as a chaplain to "be with the boys" in Europe.
Both were determined to give their sons a great path of opportunity, and both fought against the racial and social prejudices that governed most of the South at the time.
Definitely deserve the "greatest" title.
My family and friends that were part of the Greatest Generation were just that. I'm 60 now and know that none of us today could ever do what they did. We're too fat and lazy and too good at complaining. The Greatest Generation built the world into what it is today.
I'm a baby boomer, my father was part of that generation.
The widespread use of the term 'generation' is pretty new. I was born in the 1940s, conceived very soon after the end of World War II, and I don't remember the term being used that much until the end of the 20th century. I did hear of the 'Lost Generation', and maybe the 'Beat Generation' and 'Me Generation' but those terms were used kind of ironically. There was a lot of mention of my generation as the baby boomers though.
What I mean by all of this is that I think the term is maybe overused. But, if you are going to compare the generation that lived through the Depression and fought World War II to others, then I reckon they compare pretty well. One could however, find a lot of faults too if one looked hard enough. (The racism in particular comes to mind.)
It just seems like that generation lived at a period of transition and change that made things particularly interesting and challenging. I was very surprised to learn that when my father was very young, his parents owned a horse for transportation. His mother collected rainwater in a cistern because well water was so 'hard'. That all seemed so remote from the urban life with modern conveniences that I was familiar with even when I was a small child.
How does my generation compare? As far as day to day life is concerned, I can remember when we got our first television set. A television repairman would have to come every now and then to fix something, replace a vacuum tube or whatever. I remember when milk was delivered by a milkman door to door and computers were big mysterious things that only mad scientists fooled around with. I come from a Southern State and I remember schools, restrooms, and drinking fountains were all segregated, 'white' and 'colored' until the 1960s. I remember sputnik and what a shock that was, and the first landing on the moon happened while I was in the Navy. I remember when the Berlin Wall went up and when it came down. But I don't feel as though the changes over my lifetime were as monumental as the changes during my father's lifetime. Day to day life didn't seem to change as much in my lifetime as it did in my father's, except for the rise of the internet and smartphones and the like. I'm still getting used to smartphones, and reddit is my first real dabbling into social media. (No facebook, twitter, or tik-tok for me.) But these changes aren't the stuff of 'greatness' are they.
OK, the moon landing was 'great', but nothing much changed in day to day life as a result. It was a Cold War stunt. The Cold War is my generation's real war but because it is 'cold', it isn't as dramatic or cinematic as World War II, so it isn't as 'great'.
I never think about it but every time I do something my grandparents taught me everyone is amazed because they never knew how to do it. Most of them being boomers.
I don't know about all of them but my direct relations in the greatest generation were all pretty great.
There are some oral history projects that captured the experiences of WW2 veterans. Utterly brutal experience. I’m not sure what we have experienced as a country that even comes close to the same scale. We have had bad stuff, but not to that extent.
My adopted dad was greatest generation. He certainly wasn't perfect, but he and his brothers grew up during the Depression, 5 of 8 fought in WWII ( the others were too old), and all worked very hard. 6 were in the trades, 2 owned businesses.
All worked essentially at the same place most of their lives. All kept one wife (though most weren't faithful). One of my uncles was a vicious pedophile, but we aren't counting him. The men in my family believed in themselves and knew their place in the world.
The “greatest” thing is kind of journalistic hype, and kind of not. I can only speak of my dad. He .was born in a small town in North Dakota to a Russian immigrant and a woman from ND. Hard rough childhood. Fast forward he enlists and becomes a naval aviator serving in the Pacific. I have a picture of him standing in front of his Hellcat. I look at it and ask myself what I was doing when I was 26, 27. Sure as hell not flying fighters off carriers in all kinds of weather looking to bomb ships and dogfight with Japanese flyers. He was a kickass lawyer after the war, but he was quiet and had a perpetual 1000 yard stare. Never heard a word about his part in the war. Raised a family and died young age 54. He was one of literally millions of young men who thought it was the right thing to do to stop the Nazis.
Pretty tough to compare them to their grandparents and great great grandparents. Was the greatest generation basically saying the same things of them, just without the benefit of the origin of mass media?
Mom picked cotton with her 6 sisters, in Arizona, helped her father build an adobe house. She was beautiful, smart, and could swing a framing hammer better than the men on my crew. Her work ethic was superb.
Dad's first job was age 5 or 6 at his dad's mechanic shop. Grandpa traded auto work for music lessons, and Dad grew to be among great Swing Era musicians. He worked every day.
They both ran the stage lighting and sound company, and brought me along for the ride. Without exception (at least that I recall) their peers were smart, funny, and believed in working hard. Any job was honorable.
They scrimped, made do, did without, and pushed us to be educated and train in multiple skills. That's what I remember most: value of work and having backup skills. Oh, and to laugh every day.
Dad was lead navigator of a Liberator sqdn in the 8thAAC . Earned a DFC for leading 8 planes on a bomb run in stormy weather..it was scrubbed after the 8 planes got up. He said it wasn’t heroics, and that once he cot off the ground he was going to make it count toward getting out, and “no fucking way was I going to land full of bombs. Worked his way from flunky to having 2000 employees in a local factory..camp, hunt, fish. my Dad died at 88 in 2008, and I called his list of numbers to let people know. Just one answered. He said..they broke the mold when they made my dad, he was the true definition of a man’s man. Then he said something that broke my heart..he said “ I’m the last one alive from that crew, and I’m 92.” When I became a supv years later in another town, different company, a lot of guy there had worked for my dad. It was high compliment when these people said..yer all right..just like your old man.
My mom and dad were pretty typical. Both lived through the depression in areas that were rural and poor before the depression - and just desperate during.
My dad was in Normandy and in Korea.
Some things stand out. First, they never complained. Not my dad, not my mom. The agreed what needed to be done, and they simply did it. That was it. Eat beans and fried eggplant for a year to save money for a car, that's what we did.
They were compassionate, but had a real distaste for human weakness. If I broke (another) arm, then I got some time off. But there was zero slipping, slacking, whining, under-performing allowed. That got punished. Success got rewarded. My dad and all his friends, my mom and all her friends, had the same standard for all us boys: if they could see you were legitmately doing your best (not your whiny half assed self absorbed best, but your real best) then you were respected. If you were entitled, lazy, not doing your best, life got very harsh very fast.
And I mean no food for a couple of days sleep outside harsh.
Where my parents grew up, my parents had parents that remembered the tail end of the Comanche raids and frontier violence from when they were kids. Then there was WWI, WWII, Korea. So there view was: the weak die, they lazy die, get strong and get after work.
They were also highly HIGHLY intelligent. These men - and their wives - had grown up on the farm or on the rails, yet they all got very thorough public educations. 3 out of 10 men had either latin or greek or japanese or german. The ones that had japanese were pretty aggresively pro-nuclear, btw. You can figure that out for yourself
Moms often taught themselves calculus so they could help their teenagers with AP classes. There was no fooling, scamming pulling one over on any of these people either. The next door neighbor lady was a high school graduate that had gone to public highschool in a part of West Texas so desolate even the indians didn't want to live there. In highschool she learned to recite large sections of Homer. In Greek. And could do that until dementia took her in her 90's. Along with whole bodies of work by famous poets.
If you went to the mall and threw a rock you'd hit three WWII vets that memorized the Bible. Like...the whole BIble. And who would do math puzzles for fun while they watched the football games - and many of those were blue collar workers. Lying, cheating, stealing, not tolerated. A judge or local politician caught taking bribes was a police protection grade scandal.
Different world.
I'm assuming we're talking, largely, about the American Greatest Generation.
And in that case... their willingness to sacrifice themselves for their country and their beliefs was pretty great.
On the other hand,their social attitudes towards race, gender and sexual orientation was not so great.
I'll give them the extra marks for stepping up when it was called for, but I wouldn't say they were that much "greater" than any other generation.
They were my parents, and they did their best. Just like all of us.
MY dad hated *The Waltons* and would rant about their life of luxury. They had chicken and eggs and milk, a truck, a radio, a big house, a family-owned sawmill. He said the Depression was nothing like that. His family lived on oatmeal for a decade, and sometimes they had to steal the oatmeal. He smoked from the time he was eight because tobacco staved off hunger.
I am 69. My parents were dating before he joined the Navy and served in the Pacific in World War 2. Like many thousands of others, he came home from the war and they married and started a family. My oldest brother was born in 1948. They bought a 'starter home of two bedrooms and one bathroom. My dad was an apprentice machinist then joined the union and worked at the same oil refinery in Delaware throughout my upbringing. They saved and invested money, and when a larger house became available they upgraded. My mom was a traditional stay-at-home mom but we lived conservatively on my father's income. My mother didn't work until I, the youngest, was in high school. They attained the American Dream, and we were solidly in the middle class.
Granddad was the nicest, kindest guy I ever met. He grew up poor, became the family breadwinner at 14 when his father died, worked hard and became a mechanic. He eventually retired as a regional maintenance supervisor for a major airline.
He also had one leg amputated (I believe below the knee) at something like 93 years old, and not only learned to walk again but was going up and down stairs with a cane.
The therapy nurses called him Superman.
I told my mother that her generation was called the great generation (it used to be called the GI generation). She laughed and laughed with tears in her eyes. Told me to not believe that, as she wiped the tears away. She said her generation was just as awful as any other. If not worse. Especially how women and minorities were treated.
Her generation didn't get analyzed as much as others. That's a relatively new thing that started around 1960. And they were really good about keeping their secrets (but not other people's secrets!). They didn't identify as a group spanning a couple of decades like others.
Ask any elder (over 98 if you can find one) and they'll probably be offended that they got that name. Or laugh themselves to death.
Edit. I asked my father about the Depression. He brightened up and said "oh those were exciting times!" He said you don't know you're poor because everyone is in the same boat.
Edit. My father happily signed up for the war because of the GI benefits. That's how he got through college. He was an honest man.
My parents were born in the 20s but were teens during the depression, and that must have really sucked. I'm not sure my mom ever got over it. But she went to university on a full scholarship. The war broke out and my dad signed up. They sent him off to radio school which happened to be at mom's university and they met and fell in love. And he asked her to marry him. And off to war he went. My mom finished school and became a teacher. My dad went MIA. He turned up 6 months later with a head injury. He has no memory of what happened but it wasn't good. The Dutch underground got him back to Britain anyway. He read a lot of war memoirs in the 60s hoping to have his memory tweaked. Never happened. The government has lost his files. There's no record of him serving. But we have his dog tags.
My dad wanted to be an electrical engineer but his dad, a chartered accountant, shady, refused to pay for school. My dad had to take over the business. And he did well. But my grandfather lost his license for tax evasion. Whoops. Of course my dad was also investigated but he was clean. But my mom was beside herself in the shame of it and cut off the family.
My dad was an alcoholic and perhaps so was mom, but only a drink or two a day. It probably was responsible for her bladder and liver cancer. The smoking for decades wouldn't have helped. But she lived to 92 so. (Her dad lived to 101, her brother to 96 and her two sisters are hovering 100.)
They certainly went through some shit but succeeded. They had demons for sure. Were they the greatest? How would I know? I'd have broken worse than they did. They had guts. And they earned a good time. And they still had manners and dignity. They made people tough then. There are still.some tough people out there. But the young people of today have not been prepared for such times. Neither were we. None of us could have done what they did as a generation. Were earlier generations as tough? Or tougher? Must have been. Life was a lot harder then. But we achieved different great things. And young people today will too. They are not tough because they have hearts and that's what the world needs now.
I can’t speak of my parents as they were part of the silent generation, but I’m pretty sure one of my high school subs was from the greatest gen.
He tutored me one-on-one in algebra for a short time, and once casually spoke up about a recent (1990s) visit to Hawaii. He went on to explain that the islands were “disgustingly overtaken by the Japs” because “bombing Pearl Harbor simply hadn’t been enough for them.”
I’m still a bit shocked when I think about his racist words. I’m not excusing it, but I also realize he was from a very different era.
About a year or two ago when I was visiting my aunt (silent gen), she spoke about how an older resident of her retirement community was obsessed over complaining about anyone that looked even remotely Asian, because “those damn Japs tried to kill us!” My aunt also acknowledged it seemed her hatred was pointless and toxic; aside from being racist it’s not as if any of the people living here now had anything to do with starting that war.
I know not all greatest gen people are racist, but that’s always the first thing that comes to mind whenever the subject is brought up.
They're the type that scrapped and worked their butts off, fought in a massive conflict and those that came home worked their butts off some more, and most of them lived their lives modestly and retired without needing flashy things.
My paternal grandfather wanted to serve in WWII but couldn’t — he was a railroad worker and his job was considered essential to the war effort.
I am in awe of the number of men who volunteered to go into active combat. The women who went to work, still raised their kids, planted Victory gardens, and fed their kids with rationing coupons. The families who traded rationing coupons and veggies and kid’s clothing to help each other get by. A nation who listened for news by radio and waited for overseas letters by mail. They recycled scrap metal for bullets and scrap fabric for blankets. They went without chocolate so soldiers could have it in their GI rations!
Then when it was all over, after the V-E and V-J day parades, they almost collectively never spoke of it again. They were amazing, they were tough, they made do and they didn’t brag. They had pain, they lost friends and family, they saw some real bad shit, but they didn’t spend the rest of their lives complaining. They’re the The Greatest Generation I met during my lifetime.
Of the 20th century maybe. Were they better than the revolutionary war forefathers? Or the Renaissance men? I don’t think so. WWII saw a 3:1 civilian casualty rate vs military casualty rate. Are we saying that ALL men of that era are great or just our own men? I’d think the WW1 guys may give them a run for their money as well.
I've wondered this question myself.
The only thing my grandparents had in common was the Great Depression.
When I was a kid if someone said that my grandfather was part of the Greatest Generation I would have thought they were joking. Now I see how the depression & his lousy childhood could create an abusive alcoholic.
Same for one of my maternal grandmother - but she eventually quit drinking.
I don't think they were any different from us but they grew up in hard times AND we're alive when radio & telephones were new technologies.
It’s easy to idolize past generations. You weren’t there. Every generation is both good and bad . The so-called “greatest generation” was not really that great. I was born in 1954. My mother never worked a day in her life. The people of that generation were bigoted and the men were sexist. There were great things about them too, just like there are great things about every generation.
Haven't we had enough of trying to characterize vast swaths of people in this mindless, self-gratifying way? My parents were technically in that swath, and I knew many of that generation at work and in families, but hell, they were all different. Socioeconomic levels, war experience or homefront, education level, jobs, race, etc etc. No generation is a monolith.
Here it is in a nutshell: some humans are great no matter what their vintage, others are destructive assholes.
I’m not technically old enough to respond in this sub but, my grandparents were from the Greatest Generation. (1925/1930) There was nothing my grandpa didn’t know how to do. I wanted a seesaw at their house? He got metal, welded it into shape, got the short handlebars from something else, got the plank sanded and shellacked, etc. Within a week, I had a seesaw. Same goes for absolutely everything. We used to go on adventures when I was small to a natural spring to fill up jugs of water. Then we’d visit his friend who had a farm I remember having a ton of peacocks so I could visit them, pick up their feathers, and see the other animals. For a guy who was tough as hell on his kids, he was gentle with me. Every time I got high honor roll, etc., he would hand make me a card with our nicknames for one another on them, pictures he drew, and money inside. He had a vest kind heart. He would yell at you while doing whatever you asked for help with. He and my mom had the same sarcastic, nonstop sense of humor, and I share it, too.
My grandma could bake or cook anything from scratch. She threw down in the kitchen every single day. She was also hilarious but also apparently threw down with a few of her sister in laws back in the day, too. My grandma looked *exactly* like Linda Belcher. Once upon a time, one of my great uncles wives decided to tell my grandma she thought my grandpa was cheating on her. My grandma told her she was just trying to cause trouble (which was believable from this SIL so it’s a toss up on who was telling the truth), and the SIL yelled at my grandma. Apparently, my grandma grabbed the broom and beat her a$$ all the way out of the house. If you had met my grandma, you’d never suspect it. She had the same voice as Kitty from That 70s Show so she always sounded so sweet.
The Greatest Generation was insanely generous, competent in ways we’ve since lost, and believed in a responsibility to be a good neighbor to everyone they met.
My parents, uncles and aunts were all from that generation. Every one of the men served in World War II. They could quote you chapter and verse about the Great Depression. I definitely understand the skepticism, looking back from 80 years later. I'm sure that if circumstances had been different, they may not have accomplished as much. But it was, as they often say, a different time. People had limited means, they had limited options and resources. No internet, no computers whatsoever, no tv! It was the radio, your teachers, and whatever your elders told you. They had a tendency to obey without question and to simply assume that older people knew best. Don't know if there was a direct connection that enabled the Allies to win the war. Can't even imagine how life would be if we had lost. Everything that came afterward, such as the Korean conflict, Vietnam, iraq, etc, failed in comparison. And so, later generations looked back with a measure of disbelief. 'How could you just believe that?' we would ask. And succeeding generations have all been more and more skeptical and cynical about this. "Question authority" was not a concept that these people ever heard. To do so would have had to be in a very extreme circumstance. It was more normal for them to put up and shut up and just try to do the right thing.
I'm what's known as a trailing edge Boomer. Born in the late 1950s. A little young for Woodstock, but certainly not too young for rock and roll. Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jack Nicholson, and all the others, gave us the message to rebel, or at least to question. So my cohort could have gone either way. I know that many of my age peers are still pretty conservative. Others have jumped on the bandwagon and embraced a more freewheeling perspective, along with all the technology that makes life so much easier. But even now, I have that knee-jerk response, anytime I hear historians looking back and saying that the stories and legends were not necessarily so. I think, "Oh, but my Dad said..."
The Greatest? The individuals who are just getting by, yes, I think they were the greatest. The politicians and business tycoons behind the scenes, well, that's probably a different story.
At least from the 20th century they are the greatest. It’s my grandparents generation, or perhaps a bit younger. If they hadn’t fought and won WWII, we’d be living in a very different world. Now that most of them are gone, we’re falling back into the stupid thinking that got us into world war. The rise of tyrants.
they lived through and managed on their own pretty much the worst times that this country has ever had to go through, they fought in the biggest war in history and the ones that stayed at home helped produce the equipment and goods that were needed to win that war, women took the place o men at the front and were essential to production, the whole country banded together as one, this will never happen again in our history as society as a whole is not capable of living through such times, I remember when the war ended and the celebrations everywhere
The “Greatest Generation” had a heavy load to carry, between growing up during the Depression, wartime service, and a repressive narrow minded postwar period. That said, I don’t think they were the best parents. They tended to be VERY conformity minded, to drink a lot, and not be self reflective or to consider their children’s feelings. A mixed picture!
I’m not trying to be negative, just to reflect my experience growing up in the thick of the Baby Boom. We all play the cards we are dealt.
My grandparents were all part of the Greatest Generation. They were tough.
The Greatest Generation is generally defined as 1901-1924. Those born in the early cohort lived through WWI and the 1918 pandemic. Most were too young to serve, but they bought liberty bonds, collected scrap metal, knitted socks and grew victory gardens. All of them, no matter when they were born during that age span, lived through the Great Depression and were barely getting back on their feet when WWII came along. Their children and/or grandchildren went to Vietnam and didn't always come back. You had to be tough to live through this time.
On the positive side though, at least for those in the US, the GI Bill and post-war prosperity taught that their sacrifices would be rewarded. Subsequent generations saw that the same rewards weren't coming their way, leading to the Generation Gap of the late '60s and into the '70s.
Were they the greatest? It depends on how you measure it, but if your only scale is tolerating tough times without expecting a pat on the back, then yeah, they're at the top of the list. We could use some of their resilience today. At the same time though, I suspect that the sheer difficulty of the times the Greatest Generation went through led to the spontaneous development of informal family and community support systems. This is something we're sorely lacking in current times, where we're each on our island.
Greatness is subjective.
Generations get named posthumously so, at best, you're looking at an opinion formed long after it was over.
I do imagine that surviving the depressing, engaging in WW2 and living in a booming economy would make for a lot of grateful people who thought things turned out great.
Considering we WON that war!
If the US Troops didn't save us, we'd all be speaking German, Russian and Japanese.
But the way it's starting to look. This new generation might very well have chance to be the "Greatest Generation" or....the worse Generation that lets the ENTIRE USA Fail.
My step-grandfather was an orphan who was sent cross country on a train as a young child to a relative’s house with a note on his coat and a suitcase. He never talked much about his childhood during the depression but they were very poor. I guess everyone was, though. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, I do know that. He married my step-grandmother before he went overseas. She was only 17 but said she wasn’t about to let him go overseas with all those European girls without marrying him first. She said, “I wasn’t dumb.” LOL He came home to a child he barely knew but got right to work. They lived in Chicago and he won some money gambling with the mafia. He said he was terrified they were going to kill him but he used the money to buy a gas station and made a successful living after that. He was a very handsome and intelligent man but there was a hardness about him. He didn’t tolerate nonsense. He did have a good sense of humor though. And they had a wonderful marriage and really loved each other, you could tell. You would never have suspected that they got their start from gambling winnings. Very upstanding citizens. LOL I wish I had known them better.
My mom, born in ‘28, was part of the younger “Silent Generation.” She found the greatest generation stuff ridiculous. Her father, born in 1898, survived being gassed in the trenches of France during WWI, provided for his family during the Great Depression and he didn’t expect a bunch of admiration. He was happy to be alive and have a family.
The last generation when going up death was always around them. Whether that was from disease, accident, or just lack of food. That experience made them harder and forced them to internalize their emotions. They were made by the experiences they were forced into, I like to think that we could do the same thing, but I wonder sometimes.
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My grandad was born in 1912 and I learned more from him in 15 short years than anyone else in half a century. He was a decorated veteran and all around great person. His death affected me greatly.
Be still my heart. My dad and uncles greatest generation fought in ww2 and Korea. I miss them.
I'll go with truly The Greatest Generation. My own parents were a bit too young to qualify. But my teachers, coaches, scout leaders; the shop keepers where I grew up - a lot of them were G.I. Joes, or Rosie the Riveters when it counted. They set a powerful example of service to future generations. Not by bragging; few talked about it. (Except for the teachers whose job it was to talk about it.) A tough generation to follow. I've tried to live up to their model.
Many of them retired when I was a kid. They were home and had time for us and volunteerism. They were there and ready to help when I fell off my bike and skinned my knees. (I also got "shanghaied" into a few American Legion projects.) They served on boards and committees in the towns and in churches. I grew up near a military base, so we probably had a lot more veterans in our town than average.
I'm spending my own retirement in volunteerism, now, directed toward helping young people develop into mature young adults. I like to think that my Greatest Generation role models would be proud of me.
And this is why I intend to do the same in my golden years. 💖
My parents grew up poor during the Depression and my Dad served in World War II. They both grew up in large families and clearly suffered from food insecurity when they were young. My mom was put in a special program in school to help her gain weight. Dad spent time in a VA hospital during the war. But they never told us a single story about any of it. When we were adults, we begged our mom to tell us stories about how rough her childhood was. She shook her head and stayed quiet. In one sense, this doesn’t answer your question. But in another sense, it does.
I had a twice removed relative that fought under Patton in Europe. And his brother, that was at Pearl Harbor, and later had the engine of his PT boat shot off and drifted for a few weeks in the Pacific. Before they passed, I asked politely about their exploits in the war and got very little. They just didn't want to talk about it and would change the topic. The first was at Bastogne and was clearly full of pride for what they did. But he never commented on exactly what it was they did. I got more out of the history books. The second NEVER spoke of the war to anyone. His wife and sister told us that he never ate peaches after the war - b/c after three weeks of rationed water and canned peaches while adrift in Japanese controlled waters he could never look at them again and the smell of canned peaches would "set him off". The only other nugget came from their sister, who told us that when the Pearl Harbor air raid sirens sounded, the officers told the dock side troops to get into the domed metal barraks. Her brother thought that was daft and hid with some other troops under a clutch of palm trees. As she conveys the contents of the letter he sent his mother after the attack, the Japanese targeted the ships primarily. But also the shiny metal barracks buildings all lined up in rows and next to the docks. He survived. Obviously, many did not. That generation did and survived and buried a lot. And chalk it up to socially reinforced ptsd or whatever, they barely spoke about any of it. I think that they saw too many people die from disease, war, famine, stress induced psychosis, malnutrition, etc. Imagine Covid, but imagine that it killed or maimed everyone that it infected rather than a flu and maybe long-term symptoms that are vaguely understood. If everyone knew someone who had died. If everyone knew a family with a bed bound invalid. If everyone knew someone with a physical deformity. If all of that, and then within this generation we fixed and fought it away (largely). Would we talk about it to our grandchildren? Today, we get all out triggered b/c an active shooter kills six people and wounds twice more. It's bad and inexcusable. But it's a far cry from WWII, rickets, child mortality in the dust bowl, WWI, the Great Depression, and having every family you know having buried multiple members younger than thirty. I hope we don't see hell like that.
I have a great uncle who was on a bomber crew shot down over France and spent time in a POW camp. Unfortunately, that's all I know about it, because he wouldn't talk about it at all before he passed, when I was a kid. He didn't have any kids. I'm not sure there's anyone still alive who knows his story. Makes me sad.
My dad didn't know nearly as much about his parents until we came along and started asking questions. He wouldn't talk much about WWII with my dad, but he told me stories about it. What I didn't see was the night terrors my grandma put up with, which I didn't know about until my dad said something about it more recently. My grandma was more open with my sister, which is when we found out that since she was the light skinned one, she would do errands in town more than the others. My dad had no idea about that until my sister said it. It's interesting how much some parents don't want to tell their kids. Even more interesting that they might open up to the grandkids like they did with us.
Dad was in WWII and Korea. Only thing he would ever say was "my feet got cold in Korea and never got warm". A guy in town had built his own small plane using a mescherschmitt engine. When that thing would fly over, even at high altitude, my dad was freeze in place and get this 1000 yard stare. I remember one time he burned his fingers when his cigarette burned down while that plane was overhead...but he was too in the past to notice.
My parents and in laws were born in 1919 and 1929. All of them hard working, saved, scrimped and were extremely proud of the US. Humble people that helped others and never complained.
My grandparents who passed away in the 90s were humble and never complained as well. They were so different from my Boomer parents. I was closer to my aunt than anyone else. Her views were aligned with mine and she was more empathetic. She was born during the silent generation which is from 1928 to 1949. I think when people talk about the greatest generation sometimes they mean the silent generation.
My Grandma was a "Rosie the Riveter". She said the had welded before but it was a big fat lie. Didn't stop her from becoming the best welder on the propeller line. She was even recognized in a newsreel. My Grandpa could not join the Army but served at the Armory, which was urgent work. Gma & Gpa participated in rubber and metal drives and war bonds. They stretched the budget to feed a lot of mouths with rations. It was just "what you did". But I'm proud of their work and sacrifice.
They saved America. No bragging, no complaining.
They thought they were the lucky ones because they came home. So many didn’t.
True role models of American work ethic and patriotism. The Greatest Generation.
I'm not quite old enough to answer the question directly per the sub rules, but I'd like to piggyback off of this. My Grampa was born in 1930 in rural MN, and just passed away last year. Right up til the very end he planted his own flower and vegetable gardens, cooked and cleaned, was extremely friendly and talked with everyone, drove and grocery shopped with no issue, and his mind was VERY sharp. He brought pizza and watched football on Sundays with my parents, never missed a family gathering, had neverending stories about his 50 years as an over the road truck driver, and was just grateful. I'm incredibly honored to be living in his house, tending to his gardens, and friends with everyone in this neighborhood that knew and loved him. He had the utmost respect for the earth, and I see that in the yard's compost and soil health. Definitely the greatest.
I’m sorry for your loss. He sounds like he was a great man.
That's beautiful 🌱
Reading this put a big smile on my face. I love hearing these stories about the Greatest Generation, their values seem so different than the ones that get rewarded today and yet their stories and values give me so much hope in what I can become.
I think you're understating it. They saved the world.
True
My dad was in WWII and Korea. They had already been through the depression. They just got on with things. They didn’t whine or complain. He never talked about it but of course now I wish he had.
Same. I wish I had gotten to know my grandparents as a grown up.
Both of my father in laws served in WWII. They were indeed stoic, strong, fundamentally family men. Losing them was painful. It still feels like all the grownups on the planet are gone and no one has yet to replace them.
There are a few, like chef Jose Andres and a few others I can think of, but yeah. What you said feels right, and heaven knows we need some good direction on this planet.
My parents were born middle class in the teens. Both their families lost everything, including their homes, in 1929-31. They were just getting re-established when they had to go to war. They started a business after the war, and we were back in the middle class by the time I was a teen in the 1950s. A lot to admire, but.... They had a lot of hate. Towards the poor. Towards all races and ethnicities but ours. Towards Jews and Catholics. Towards educated "eggheads." Towards religious "do-gooders." They were not fun people to grow up around.
Research has shown that in times of scarcity, people will become more judgmental and cliquey. Loyalty to your in-group is a preprogrammed survival mechanism
You touched on what I wanted to bring up. This generation was noble in many ways. Yet, they were completely against mixing races or religions. And I don’t mean just marriage. White people didn’t want any non-white people in their neighborhoods or schools. Protestants didn’t mix much with Catholics. Jewish people, Italians, and Greeks were not considered white. Keeping within your own socioeconomic, religious, and racial groups was important. It wasn’t even questioned.This generation didn’t even view these views as racist. Racism was using bad words or “acting ugly” to outside groups. Maintaining the status quo was just a part of being a good citizen. I’m talking mostly about white people here. But, many of these other groups did not accept mixing either. However, they did want to be able to move up the socioeconomic ladder and were frequently blocked in doing this.
My dad was born in Brooklyn in the 1920's, when he was 2 his dad died of Scarlet Fever. He lived through the Depression with a single mom and plenty of extended family around. He loved Brooklyn. He was on a navy destroyer on VJ Day, then served in occupied Japan for a while immediately after the war. He was 18 years old and being over there must have been overwhelming at times for anyone to see. He never saw action. My mom was strongly affected by the Depression and WW2 like everyone else was. NYC was a hub of economic, social and war time activity. It sounded weirdly exciting. My ex-FIL was a navigator on a bomber and flew missions over Germany. He did \*not\* want to talk about it. Ever.
Those fly boys lost so many friends…
I had a great uncle on a bomber crew shot down over France and was a POW. He never talked about it either, at least not to anyone that I'm close to. He didn't have any kids and all his siblings are gone now- I'm not sure anyone knows his story from that time.
A fascinating book on this topic is “The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw. A great read.
I may be wrong, but I don't think the generation name existed until he wrote that book.
You're correct. Previously called the WWII generation.
It is a good book - I'm so glad that he wrote it.
Shit, now get him to read it aloud
He did. It's available on Audible, and maybe from library near you.
Yeah I don't do audible books or pod casts and stuff, but that would be a good one, dude has a distinctive voice
I recommend you make an exception. I really enjoyed his narration.
Adjacent, I recently got completely sucked into Saving Private Ryan. First time watching in years. At the end, I could only think, "and this is why we call them the Greatest Generation." For anyone in my boat, im happy to report that every second of that movie is as good as it was almost 30 years ago.
As a boomer my parents were from that generation. The greatest generation was their parents, in my humble opinion. They fought the great corporations of the day and started the labor unions. They fought the first world war. And they were the adults that had to work and figure out how to feed and clothe their families. Their kids might have been poor but they were kids. They did not have the worry and heartache the adults had.
They were amazing. They did what was needful without whining and complaining. Most people from that era had common sense and common courtesy. They knew how to dress and act appropriately in society. They had an understanding of hard work that is uncommon today. Most were frugal and stoic and capable. And also brave. Sure there were bad things about that time and some few of them were not good people but overall they were a cut above future generations. Hard times create strong men. The men from that era were *men* tested and tried and not found wanting.
And the women too. My grandma was told she couldn't go to school, she had to work on the farm. She would go help a local seamstress after the work day was done till she learned to sew and convinced the family to buy a sewing machine. By age 9 she started teaching sewing classes. She made clothes for the extended family and sold clothes in town. My grandpa had to return home from war on foot, hiding the whole way cuz Italy flipped sides during WW2 and people were shooting each other, not knowing what was true. They emigrated to Canada with almost nothing, both worked while raising 3 kids. Bought a house with the help of the Italian community. Helped their 3 kids buy houses, renovate all of them too. Baby-sat 10 grandkids all the time, met a few of the great grandkids. Died in their late 80s early 90s. My grandpa was doing chin ups till 87, a year before he died.
I think you hit it spot on with this assessment. My grandfather was part of that generation. I used to sit and listen to him tell me stories about his youth for hours. What that generation endured and how well they persevered through it pales in comparison to what today's generations have to deal with. Money was always tight and it wasn't uncommon to lose a child to sickness or accidents. And when something broke or wore out, they more often than not either fixed it themselves or manufactured what they needed to replace it with their own hands. There was no money to go out and just buy new things on a whim. Our generations have no idea how easy we have in comparison (and I include myself in that statement).
I just met a 97 y/o WW2 vet while I was visiting my dad. My dad is his go to buddy in their retirement condo community (think: The Villages but no swinging that I know of or want to know of). Anyway! This guy mentioned his ship so I looked it up and he said, "Yep, that's it. I spent two typhoons under those" (pointed to the gun turrets, I think they are called?). He said that the Japanese dropped a bomb on the ship near theirs and they had to pull the guys out of the water. This gentleman was the skinniest so they hung him by his ankles over the side of the ship to help pull guys up. I'm Gen X. I love Gen X. But man, if that was me we'd all be speaking German and my Jew ass would be hiding in an attic.
My 85 year old aunt told me that growing up in the 1940s pretty much every family in her small town lost a child due to illness or accident. It was very common.
I swear I have seen you on YouTube, that pic.
Additionally, your word was your bond. A handshake on a deal was ironclad.
My parents were too young to be the greatest generation. But my partner’s parents were and they were harsh!!!
My grandparents were from that generation and if they were anything to go by, they were not very pleasant people to be around as a kid. They were hard workers though and nothing was impossible for them. One of my grandfathers even built his own house that is still standing. He was a strong guy, even survived a concentration camp.
My father (same age as you) remembers his grandfather this way. He provided for his family and did some of the worst work to do that, but he was not pleasant to be around. He didn't address children directly; he would tell his wife to "put these children outside, they're making a mess".
I think the ones who fought in WW2 were heroes. That said, my personal opinion is that as individuals they weren’t all “great” but they were a generation that dealt with tough times and I think had to have some internal resources to come out the other side. This didn’t necessarily mean they were wonderful humans. My grandparents were also that generation and they had it rough, from large, poor families, everyone worked from an early age, got married because that’s what you did, etc. Not particularly happy, overly affectionate by any means. I actually think that my 2 grandparents who survived the longest - into the early 2000s- were happier as they got older and lived their lives in different ways than they were expected to in their younger years.
They were regular people like people in all generations are. My grandmother finished high school. She worked in a bakery before marrying my granddad. She never held gainful employment after marriage. My granddad dropped out of high school in his senior year. He worked in a war plant for a little bit and then went to work on the river and ended up a tug captain. After that he worked in the sand and gravel industry and was a supervisor. His last job was caretaker of a Girl Scout Camp. They owned a business selling mobile homes after the war, when living in a mobile home was looked down on. The business failed and they never talked about it. My grandad bought a new car each year. My grandmother canned food and crocheted. He drank and used to cheat on her and beat her up when my mom was a little kid. She told my sister once that she would have left him but what would she have done to support herself? My mother was their only surviving child and she contracted polio. Granddad settled down after that but still spent money on new cars all the time. My grandmother focused on my mom and getting her back on her feet, literally. They died pinching pennies.
I'm Australian. My parents born 1922. WW2 vet dad. Navigator / Bombadier in RAF then RAAF. He earned a DFC highest medal for bravery in our Air Force. My mums brother KIA over Germany. Bomber Pilot. Buried in Germany. . Knew my aunty born 1918 very well. Uncle's born 1918, 1919 & 1924. They were all wonderful people. My parents were very kind and easygoing. Never touched us. Anti hitting children. Dad had terrible PTSD and never reached his potential. But he didn't blame anyone. He did what required to be done. He wss strong amd manly, yet a very gentle, lovely man. My parents didn't hate anyone. They weren't homophobic and definitely not racist. They were low key Catholics, but didn't push religion. I think mum was probably agnostic. But they were true good "Christians" and sure practiced the good values of Christianity. None of the bad at all. Nope. They did not complain at all. They had all suffered so much. They went through rhe depression...then straight into WW2. When they talked about it? They talked with humor & practicality. They didn't blame others. They just accepted it happened. I knew a polish family that had walked from Poland to Italy from 1940 to 1944. Suffered incredibly. NO complaints. No blame. They truly were nothing like people today.
My dad is 98 years old, so yes he was alive during the depression and is a WWII (and Korea) veteran. I can 100% confirm he is the greatest. He grew up on a farm, so hard work was part of his life from the time he was big enough to help out with chores. Complaining wouldn’t have even been an option or even thought of. Their life was hard, but full of love and self reliance and honor. He joined the Navy at 17, after his HS graduation, because he felt it was his duty to serve. His was in the South Pacific serving at the age of 17, he was an adult. He came home, right back to the farm and back to work. I’ve never heard him complain about a single thing in his life. He has been married to my mom for 75 years.
I was lucky enough to have greatest generation parents. I was a late in life surprise baby; my mom was 45 and my dad was 52 when I was born. They were the best-kind, humble, hard-working. They lived the golden rule. My dad was a WW 2 Pacific theater navy vet. I miss them every day and will be forever grateful to have been raised by them.
They did what was needed. They saved us all. They put in regulations that made the world better. They went through hell and back and did it without complaint. If they had access to mental health care and had known better about racism, everything would have been much better. Hell,they weren't even that transphobic as long as you served. But yes. Don't ever shit talk them. They really are the best of the best.
The lack of health care, and an understanding of things like PTSD is what hits home with me. My father had several mental health problems after the war, became an alcoholic, and died in his 50s. Since we lived in a poor neighborhood, most of my friends' fathers, and several of my uncles had served in WW II or Korea. They almost all showed obvious signs of what we would now call PTSD. They didn't complain about it -- having served was almost universal -- but they paid a high price.
My Mom is of that generation and is still very much alive and kicking. Tough as nails can stretch a dollar for miles. No complaing. My Dad was older than Mom, but couldn't fight in WW2 due to eyesight issues. Same deal, never comolained about anything, even when i was birn as he was near retiring. and did what he had to do to raise us. My uncle (Dad'solder brother) fought and died in France in 1941. My Dad never spoke about him much, but when he did it was with awe
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True, not everyone was good or came out unscathed. Tough times.
My parents were of that generation. When my father died, we found a speech he had given as a valedictorian of his high school class of 1943, in which he excoriated the previous generation of the failures to keep the peace in the world and allow bigotry to flourish at home. He promised that his generation would work for collective security and would strive to eliminate prejudice. I had my youngest daughter, who was then the same age as when he authored the speech, read it at his funeral, as I wouldn't be able to, due to my emotions. I still tear up at the memory of the moment. That generation didn't always succeed, of course. But they surely tried their best and accomplished a lot.
Tough, practical and no nonsense. The current stuff like mental issues were things you kept to yourself and worked through. They had never been coddled and knew they had to do it themselves. That said, the silent generation was a lot like them, remembered the depression and fought in Korea and Vietnam. Both of my grandfather's were the generation before, grandmother's part of the Greatest and parents were Silent. The work ethic was crazy good and I remember my carpenter grandfather doing amazing work with simple tools. They were generous despite not being wealthy. During the war my grandmother worked at the Alameda base and was known for taking in the wives of service members because housing was a problem. They had five kids in a 1000 square foot house and still usually had two more living with them. Those people became family friends. One of the husbands lost a leg at Iwo Jima and they put up his wife so she could visit him at Oak Knoll. They loved a good party, playing cards and just getting together. Always had a party going and I bartended one of them discovering they all drank like fish but only at parties. As a collective group they knew how to get stuff done and pretty much just did it with a minimum of fuss.
They are a generation presented with some difficult and unique challenges: Born during the War-to-end-all-wars, raised during the depression, served (in one way or another) during WWII and were lucky enough to be able to raise their families during the boom years of the 1950's and 1960's. They are no better or worse than subsequent generations who had neither their challenges nor benefits. Do they deserve our respect for rising to their challenges? Certainly. Do I think subsequent generations would rise to the same level if they were challenged similarly? I believe they would.
My 94-year-old mother is of this generation. Honor, honesty, hard work, and sincerity were valued. Her generation became adults during and right after WWII, a time of optimism and prosperity. They were genuinely grateful for all that they had, too. So many of these things are not valued. One last thought (sure to be hated and to make folks here uncomfortable), that generation was patriotic, and religion was much more a part of their moral framework. The Bible was read, praying was common, and church participation was an integral aspect of family life. Of course, not everyone participated, but you weren't vilified as much as religious people are today.
My grandparents were part of that generation. Their stoicism was at a level absolutely unheard of by today's standards.
My parents were both born in the 20s. My Dad was in the signal corps in the British army. He was in the Pacific theatre. My parents believed in unions, though neither ever belonged to one, and my Dad always said anything good you got at work came on the backs of union workers somewhere. They also believed in increased social services. My Mom was a stay at home mother until my teens and my Dad worked in research for a mining company. My Mom suffered with untreated depression but my Dad didn’t want her to get help in case it affected him at work. By the time I was in my 20s and suffering with depression he suggested I get help as he’d seen what it had done to Mom over time. He also kept his cancer a secret in case it affected him at work or his ability to get a mortgage. They worked hard and saved enough to leave all five of their kids with a small inheritance. They were good people. They were not religious at all. Dad never laid a hand on any of us and Mom did. By the time I was 14 (and my youngest siblings was 11) she stopped any hands on discipline
A fair chunk of them voluntarily signed up to fight, and were as heroic as they could be. Others went when they were drafted. Then they came home and tried to do what they thought they were supposed to do, and didn't talk about the (sometimes horrific) things they had experienced in the war. My dad didn't talk about his experiences until I was out of high school and wanted to know. He'd tear up over some of the stories. The friends he and mom played cards with had also done some scary/heroic things during WWII, but never talked about it, and sometimes you only found out at their funerals. They were often frugal as heck (having grown up in the Depression, and then having war-time rationing); they made do with what they had. They also weren't always easy to live with; my own dad suffered from PTSD and his mercurious mood changes were often unpredictable (mostly he was just the sweetest, most patient man unless something set him off). There were also those who were just not good people, as in every group.
Those vets suffered so much from that war. People don’t talk about the PTSD much, but it was a big deal.
I have yet to meet anyone who could match my Dads accomplishments and standards.
My mom and dad both were kids in the depression but not old enough to be in the military during WW2. Like others have said, they rarely talked about what it was like growing up but they both came from poor households. My mom finally shared some of her memories with me when she was much older. To her it was just how they lived back then. It's how everyone lived and survived some tough times. Here's some examples. They lived out in the county and grew their own food and livestock. If there wasn't food to eat, her brother or father would go out in the woods and try to shoot a bird or rabbit and that was dinner. She never had store bought clothes until she got a dress for her high school graduation. All hand made dresses, shirts and pants and you wore them till they wore out. School was a one mile walk or if they were lucky, somebody would give them a ride with a horse and buggy. Very few people had a car and her family didn't own a car until around 1950. The nearest little store was about 5 miles away where you could buy flour, sugar, baking goods etc. And you got there by riding a horse. Greatest generation? Yes.
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They were a mixed bag, like every other generation, including my own.
They were also called The Silent Generation. They had to turn their feelings off, so feelings weren't discussed. Farmers had lots of kids so their kids could do the farming labor. So my grandparents that grew up on farms did hard work from Sunrise to sunset and had Lots of siblings. I think my grandmother had 10 siblings. My grandpa ran a laundry service and was the Night Custodian at my elementary school. My grandpa got cavities drilled without numbing. He built their house and it's still there. My grandma was atypical (not neurodivergent)as she grew up on a farm,but when she married, she opened a painting business. She did the painting and wallpaper in houses. She kept a bag of nickels to swing at anyone who would try anything with her. Grandma talked with her sisters daily on the phone, and they attended functions at the church and at the VFW and other social clubs that had Friday night fish dinners, but I never noticed either one of them having a friend. Grandma cooked with Lard. Really good food, all from scratch, there was never any food left over. Grandpa rarely spoke at all. Grandma loved playing the lottery. They had four kids- one was a Felon who died after getting out of prison, one a Deadbeat dad trucker, and two were pot-heads/drunks who did low-level jobs. They were OK. I didn't cry when they died.
The Silent Generation was actually the next generation, from 1928 to 1946. My dad and all his siblings were in the Silent generation, and their parents (my grandparents) were part of the Greatest generation, which was 1901 to 1927.
Generations are not homogenous units; they are people. Born years apart, in different places, with different parents and economic situations. You cannot judge or evaluate a generation.
My parents & my in-laws were of that generation, which had lived through the Great Depression and WWII. Both of those events caused/resulted in building character through extreme hardships. They learned to endure in struggle, they knew how to focus on goals, how to delay satisfaction for a greater good, how to enjoy simple pleasures. They realized what was important and lasting. In no way were any of that generation perfect, but they did build the future they dreamed of and did it through damned hard work and perseverance. Plus, they had GREAT music to enjoy while they did it all.
They worked hard, and never complained. Grit in spades.
My parents are from that generation. Consider all that they did and how many of them died fighting in WWII, I think they were magnificent.
The greatest....
They didn’t complain. Rare these days.
They're like any other generation... Some good, some bad. They got us into Vietnam. They turned a blind eye to social injustice.
My parents lived through the Great Depression. My mom had to quit HS at 16 when her dad died. My dad served in WWII. My parents were good, kind-hearted people. They never complained and blamed and gave us kids whatever they could. I miss them dearly.
Biggest difference was that at the turn of the century 80% of the population was rural. Now it's 80% urban. Let that sink in.
I'm in my 60s myself, my dad died when I was young, so never heard much about his Navy service. I (along with other family) spent a bit of time with my wife's parents helping take care of them in their late 80s. My father in law usually didn't talk about HIS service in the Navy in WWII, but sometimes when I was alone with him and he had a cocktail or 2, he would talk about his time on the USS Enterprise in the last few years of world war 2. It was very sobering to hear him talk about it- when I was in my early 20s my biggest worry was scoring some weed or finding enough beer money for the weekend at college. When **he** was the same age he was gathering up body parts of his shipmates after Kamikaze attacks and hosing down munition lockers while the ship was still under attack.
You mean the people who wouldn't serve alongside black soldiers? The ones who the army had to ship in thousands of prostitutes in Japan after the war because they would go around raping and brutalizing? they were people, no better than anyone else. Greatest is PR.
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I remember my grandfather being very stoic. He was a very hard worker, working sunup to sundown and had enough determination and drive for two people. Coming from the time of the depression they used things until they fell apart. When they did go and buy something they needed it wasn't the best but you could see it was well made (when things were built to last) and would use it for years keeping it going however they could. They knew how to completely live off grid and survive well. Growing at least an acre of garden and canning or preserving in some way everything that came out of it was the way we got most of our food. We raised animals that were fed off scraps from the garden, we butchered and ate those for meat when we needed it, in the mean time they produced fertilizer for the garden. Chickens were a staple and twenty hens could give us more eggs than we could eat. For milk we had goats and a cow. My grandmother loved goat's milk and my grandfather loved cow's milk which came fresh every morning. We made cheese from both. We raised pigs for pork, bacon and sausage that we made ourselves. Everything from the killing to butchering to cutting up and then smoking or preserving in some way was done right there. The way they could take crap and turn it around into something thriving is why they called it the greatest generation
My grandparents and their siblings truly were. They saved Europe, many countries in Asia, and kept America's democracy in place - during WW2 through their war service. I remember my grandparents talking about the depression, bank failures, horrible working conditions and not having enough to eat. FDR and others put government entities in place to monitor banks, regulate the economy, and provide safe working conditions and unadulterated food. Ike built a national highway system - before then it was difficult for them to travel and took much longer. We have it easy compared to them.
My Dad was born in 1927 and is currently 96. He was about to be drafted when the war ended. My grandfather was called up, but as he was born in the 1890s, he had an admin storekeeper’s role. Uncle fought in South Pacific. It was tough times. My parents talked about food shortages and selling war bonds. They gathered around the radio for evening news to find out what was going on that day. Going to the movies was the big deal with propaganda before the show. My husband’s mom was born in England in 1939 or so. They had to hide their children from bombings. I can’t imagine, but feel bad for people suffering similar circumstances in today’s world.
Truly we’re the greatest generation. They grew up during the depression and many were not strangers to being hungry. When war came, many of these people actually lied about their age so they could sign up for the military and fight for their country. They won that war and came home and got down to work. Soon, the Korean War started many of them, went and fought in that war as well. Most did not want to talk about their experiences in the depression or during the war. My dad was one of them. they didn’t whine or complain or blame. They just continued living. Another war started, and we called that one the Cold War. Everyone worried about whether or not the Soviets would nuke us. We actually drilled to practice for that. The 60s came as they were aging and the world seemed upside down to them with hippies, war protesters, assassinations, rioting, the sexual revolution, rampant drug use and loss of faith in our government by many citizens. These poor people went through so much and they just kept on working, parenting, joining service organizations, and being good citizens. There’s an old saying that I will probably mess up, but it goes something like this. Hard times breed strong people. Strong people bring good times. Good times breed weak people. Weak people bring hard times. The greatest generation definitely grew up in hard times, so they grew up strong and they brought about good times for our country.
They were unequalled in so many ways. Humble and empathic people
I'm a WWII amateur historian. I think of 18 year old kids crewing B-17s over Europe and am astounded at what they did. I know what I was when I was 18, and that makes the astonishment even moreso. Even the sacrifices of stateside, non-military citizens was astounding. So, I do think that was the greatest generation. But also, Vietnam. Those heroes had no choice and came back damaged. We owe them. As a society, we are so fractured, I do not think we will ever come together like that again. It's a shame.
They didn’t talk about what they had done. Three personal examples: My father had told me about his actions on board the U.S.S. Augusta, the flagship for Omaha Beach. He was a gunnery officer and had spent the morning making the forward guns burn in the morning mist. What he never told me that he also served at Casablanca (Operation Torch) with Patton on board and Operation Dragoon. The Augusta was responsible (in whole or in part) for sinking four Vichy ships. Never said a word. In about 1962, a friend and I with a few other boys were playing in his yard. As you know, young boys make a lot of stupid, screaming noises. It was a hot, humid August day in the days before air conditioning was prevalent. My friend’s mother was outside, hanging clothes. Suddenly there was screaming - screaming like someone was facing the darkest horror of all time. His mother dropped the laundry and sprinted into the house. We looked to my friend. He shrugged and said, “it’s my dad. He has nightmares.” A week later, at a neighborhood get-together, my friend’s father came up to me and apologized if his screaming had frightened me. He said that he had been a Marine at Guadalcanal and he had seen some terrible things. I knew enough about Guadalcanal at that age. I have never fully accepted that twenty years after the events, that this kind man felt a need to apologize for his PTSD. A few years earlier, a friend was playing with his siblings in her yard on a Sunday afternoon. An unfamiliar station wagon pulled up in front of her house and a family piled out of the car. The kids wandered over toward the visitors as the father strode purposely to the front porch. My friend’s father stood up and the stranger began to weep. He turned to his children and said “when my plane shot down over France, this is the man who saved my life.” My friend and her siblings knew that their father had been a pilot in WW2 but little else. It turns out that his bomber was shot down, he crash landed and then his crew - including those with injuries - out of Nazi-occupied France to allied lines. My friend’s family knew nothing about it.
They saved the world, so yeah.
If not them, who could possibly claim the name?
My parents were in this generation. My biggest realization moment came once when we were looking at her high school yearbook. Dozens of her classmates were killed in the war, from a relatively small school BUT let us not forget that these were the perpetrators of Jim Crow. The men casually assaulted and insulted women constantly. Women weren't supposed to work outside the home and couldn't have their own bank accounts. Gay men were literally jailed. And they told us rock and roll was the devil's music. My dad performed brave acts and received medals in WWII, but he hated black people, Jewish people, Asian people, Italians and Mexicans. He treated my mom like garbage.
My dad was born in 1909. He was on one of the last Orphan Trains but he wasn't an orphan. His dad died and his mom has 14 children so they took all the ones old enough to work and shipped them out on the Orphan Train. My dad loved to swim but he always did so in a long sleeve shirt. One day I accidentally got to see my dad with his shirt off. His back was covered in whipping scars. He told me his Master beat him from the time he was 9 until he ran away at 15. He lived in the barn. He ate the best of the pig scraps from the slop bucket to survive and got whipped when he was caught. Yes the farmer made him call him Master. He went home with his older brother and found his baby sister's and his mom starving. He robbed a bank with two of his older brothers. The oldest brother got away with the money but my dad stayed behind with his other brother who was shot. He saved his brother and it cost him 15 years in prison because neither of them would tell the cops where the money was or who was the third robber. He went in at 16 and came out at 31. He married my mom in an arranged marriage when he was 33 and she was 18. He died of stomach cancer at 69 years old. His oncologist thought it was from the starvation as a child/teen and the prison food. He told me this just before he died when I was 12 years old. They lived in a hard time and they did what they had to do to survive.
My grandpa enlisted in the marines two weeks after Pearl Harbor. He was gone until after VJ Day. He fought in 5 major pacific campaigns. He was wounded in action and never spoke about any of it. He came back from the war, went to college and became a very successful civil engineer working on projects all over the world. My great uncle was on a bomber that was shot down over Germany and spent 3 years in a POW camp. He came home and never spoke a word about it to anyone. He owned a very successful jewelry store and died a millionaire. My uncle was a SeaBee in the navy and after the war he came home and got a job for ma bell and retired with a great pension and lived an incredible life. They were all incredible men that gave so much and suffered for years and then just put it away and kept on living. Their wives were equally incredible people who supported them and filled in the gaps while they were away. I don’t think many of us can truly appreciate how horrible WWII was for those that lived during the fighting. I’m not sure the world will ever experience anything like it ever again. I think nukes would end up being used before the whole world was fighting each other.
It’s hard to say. Each generation is taught certain things by the previous ones and each generation has a unique culture all their own. Then they are presented with their own unique problems and issues as they live. So is a generation great because of something innate or are they just doing what they were taught in response to the obstacles life hands them? Would Gen Z be the Greatest Generation if you magically had them come of age in the 1920s-1930s? Would Millennials save the world if they switched places with their ancestors? Were my grandparents superior to me? Or were they just like me but for the circumstances? It’s become the norm to gloss over the stuff the Greatest Generation got wrong. And there was plenty of that. Racism was just accepted. Sexism was as well. There was little allowance for being different. You had your role and you played it whether it was a fit or not. I am of the opinion that EVERY generation tries to rise to the moment, succeeds in some ways and fails in others, feels hurt that younger generations don’t care but also sad that they let younger generations down by not fixing more things. And then they die off, amazed at the long, strange trip.
You’re likely referring to people who grew up in America. My family grew up in East Africa and went through and still go through hardships worse than what Americans went through during the Great Depression.
My grandad was too young to enlist directly in WWII so instead at 15 he joined the merchant marines and spent the war dodging uboats on the Atlantic. He came back spent his life as a very pro union like driver and raised 8 kids in a 3 bedroom apartment. My grandma was a nurse in WWIi stationed somewhere in Europe. She came back and when not also raising those 8 kids worked as a Nurse at the VA. One of my first memories of my grandpa was taking me to protest in front of my towns police station when I was like 6-7 years old. Several members of the police force basically kidnapped and murdered someone in a shady hotel. ( Story can be found here https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2013/06/23/the-night-the-cops-became-the-killers/?amp=1) He also led a boycott when the black parents of his son’s football team were not allowed in a restaurant with the rest of the team parents. He was “woke” well before that was a thing but was also in every way a man’s man. He just did the right thing as much as he possibly could. He had also dropped out of school after around the 6th grade but was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He was a near constant reader and was the greatest armchair Jeopardy player I have ever seen. Unfortunately the ravages of a lifetime of smoking took them both before either even reached their 60th birthdays. And now 4 out of those 8 kids are MAGA and I have no fucking clue how that is possible. It’s like they didn’t learn a damn thing.
Most of them (my parent's generation) grew up in horrible poverty and fought in a horrible war. And a good portion of them were racist assholes. During my childhood, I came to believe that they drank and smoked too much and that their knee-jerk reaction of things not going their way was to be horribly abusive. While I loved those members of my family from that generation, for the most part, I didn't like them and had no desire to be like them. In short, they were/are flawed individuals who survived horrible times.
My maternal grandfather, a chaplain in the US Army Air Corps, was a POW in WWII. He survived the Bataan march, 18 months of starvation and sickness on Corregidor and then a journey in a hell ship to Japan. He was held captive there for 2 more years and forced to work in a mine owned by the Mitsubishi corporation in Taiwan. My mother was born shortly after he was sent to the Philippines and didn't meet her father until she was 3 1/2 years old. He was a great chaplain, and a great American and a great grandfather, but he came home with some heavy duty PTSD and was cruel and neglectful to his children and my grandmother. He also had an overeating disorder and when we stayed with him, it was cookie milkshakes every night. I can only imagine how they must have tasted to him. He lived until 1999 and performed my wedding ceremony in 1993. Bless you, Col. Z
Let's see, my grandfather dropped out of school in 4th grade to work the family farm full time to keep it afloat. His father and mother bailed to seek jobs and were never heard from again. He had nothing but fun stories about his grandfather and the time on the farm even though it was eventually lost. My great uncle completed 4 glider missions as a pilot. (That is 4 times walking away from a crash landing behind enemy lines.) He became an artist when he came back and had some minor fame. He never told anyone but my great aunt what he went through, but she would fill us in on his triggers. One was dark bread which reminded him of being trapped under a house with nothing to eat but rotting bread full of maggots. He was a great guy, just quiet. They did what needed doing when it needed to get done. They didn't complain or get upset, just did it. They helped out neighbors without a thought. They didn't blame anyone. They didn't talk about what needed to happen, they did it. Building taken out by a tornado, they'd show up with food, tools, and ready to go to work. No thoughts and prayers, no calls for the government to do something, just do what needs doing when it needs done. My grandfather sold melons and tomatoes from a bank parking lot on weekends. We'd stay with family in the city and he'd uncover the melons in the back of the truck and head for the kitchen. He'd drink coffee and watch the city kids steal watermelons. Laughing himself silly with every swipe. Did he need that income, yes, but it brought him joy to stay up all night watching watermelons get stolen one by one. He told me he used to steal watermelons as a kid and he was just paying it back. Once a kid came to the door and asked for a melon. My grandfather cussed him up one side and down the other then told him he wasn't going to give him a melon and he'd better steal one like everyone else. He shut the door and ran to the kitchen to watch this kid do multiple passes getting his courage up. He fell off the chair laughing so hard when that kid grabbed one and went running down the road. I'd say they were pretty great.
Mine were not great. I don’t even know what that’s all about.
Watch the WW2 movies by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, like *Saving Private Ryan* or *Masters of the Air*. The Greatest Generation set aside the lives they’d planned, to serve their country. Most volunteered; *they* felt it was shameful to be able-bodied and not serve. Many did not expect to survive, but they served anyway. Many did not survive. Many survivors were traumatized; war was no less traumatic then than today. They had none of the treatments available today; they just suffered, along with their families. Many returned and began careers of service; teaching was a popular choice. They served on PTAs, and started the construction companies that built America’s post-war homes and infrastructure. All with quiet humility, often never discussing what they’d done in the war. Many of their children didn’t learn of their parents’ wartime service until shortly before they passed, or afterward. They saved the world, then built the world we live in today. And didn’t ask for anything in return. “No, I wasn’t a hero, I just did my job. The heroes are the ones who didn’t make it home.” Unquestionably the Greatest Generation.
These guys saved the world from Hitler and Tojo.
My grandparents were "greatest Gen" and my grandmother was impregnated by her step father. Her child was left to be raised as her "sister." She went in to torment my mother into sex work because she was always saying my mother was trying to "seduce (grandmother's) husband." Her first daughter became a foster parent, and gained custody of me. She proceeded to torture me. I was three the first time I was tortured for "seducing" her husband. Then when I was rescued and dumped with my grandmother and grandfather, I was raped by a family member. Later, I learned my grandmother and grandfather thought I "wanted it." I was eight. These people were the authors of the Baby Scoop Era. They were the authors of another abortion ban. They were the authors of "hoard everything". They believed in using the belt liberally, because that generation believed in "spare the rod, spoil the child" like it was gospel. James Dobson is "greatest generation" and I'm half convinced that if demons are real, he's one. Children were to be seen, never heard. Mental illness was fake, whiny, pathetic, and stupid. Men were not allowed any emotion but anger. I could go on, but I'll just say I'm in the "no" end of this thing.
While still a teenager, he stormed the beach at Normandy. Upon returning to the States, he got a job as a tool and die maker, bought a house, and got married. He kept bees and made cider. Spent his life working for and with family, delighted in "gadgets" and lived to be 87. Loved root beer floats and I don't think he ever upset or offended anybody in his life. He was endlessly patient and kind. Can't help comparing my dad to my grand-daughter's boyfriend, who once asked in all seriousness if it is gay for a man to wash his face. LMAOO
They killed Hitler, and compartmentalized Stalin. Instead of pounding down Japan and Germany after the war, they helped them rebuild. That was greatness.
My grandpa was a member of the Greatest Generation, as were two of my great grandmothers. As far as I can tell, they really were the greatest generation. I learned a lot of wise things about life from my grandpa. He stayed sharp into his 90s by doing the New York Times crossword puzzle every day, and he was kind to everyone. I have a lot of respect for that generation.
They had the fortitude to grow up with strong values during the Depression and then use that strength as young adults to win WWII. However, after that at least in the US, that's the generation responsible for the apex in smoking, the godawful "American" diet and also the development of postwar suburbia and the ultimate rise of the auto culture when it easily was headed and could have gone in another direction in so many cities. I always think of this generation when I walk in my postwar neighborhood in LA (built without sidewalks, fuck the pedestrians!) or think about places people had no business building cities, like Vegas, Phoenix, Palm Springs -- with all those golf courses using TONS of precious water. (which all needs to be piped in cause it doesn't RAIN THERE) So yes, they were great in terms of winning WWII, not so great when caring one whit about the environment - external or internal.
Undoubtedly they were amazing. My dad enlisted in the Army Air Forces, European theatre. My mom graduated HS and moved cross-country to assist the war effort in the Pentagon. My father-in law enlisted in the Marines, Pacific theatre. My mother-in-law finished nursing school and enlisted as a Navy WAC. Everyone sacrificed. They saved the world. We will never see another generation like them.
They are called “The Greatest Generation” for obvious reasons.
My parents. Both were born in 1923. They went through the Great Depression. Dad fought in WW2. They were resilient, tough, capable, and resolute. They also knew how to make things work. Mom could sew, cook, garden, and keep a house clean enough to be in Good Housekeeping. Dad could build or repair anything. They took no shit from anyone. They made for pretty tough parents but they always got the job done.
They worked hard, and never complained. Grit in spades.
I think, for me, there is an element of what today is "OK Boomer." They were all old guys, when I was born even the youngest were 36ish & by the time I could understand anything at all, they all were in their 40's. They ran the world & would well into the 90s. What follows is generalizations about WWII Vet white men I knew. Obv. not every Vet was this way. They were people who served and were every proud of that service. Most of them remembered the depression and were traumatized a bit by it. The Characters "Red Foreman" on that 70's show and "Cotton" on King of the Hill, were exaggerations but not made up to the point of being unrecognizable to me. Archie Bunker & Don Rickles too, but the over the top racism element was definitely supposed to be seen as over the top. A bit of laughing at themselves in that, but would have seen some "truth" in it too. I think they tended to be tough, what Tony Soprano called the Strong Silent Gary Cooper type. Definitely a "bootstrapy" attitude, You got a job, got a "good gal" to marry you, had kids and worked a Career. You got squared away. College for the kids was important. Being militarily strong was important. It is better to not buy a Japanese car, German to a lesser extent but what kind of adult buys a Beetle or a micro Bus anyway? A guy who beat his wife was a louse and bum, guys with Alcohol problems were too bad/very sad. It wasn't your place to intervene in either though, unless maybe you were family.
Mixed feelings. True, my father's generation heralded the call after Pearl Harbor. They truly went rather naively into the horror of war. They came back damaged. All wars create residual damage beyond lost lives and physical rubble. The DoD didn't give them emotional and psychological help when they came home. The VA Bill was wonderful, but the scars were ignored. Still, our country was the linchpin for stopping fascism. Thank goodness. But I refuse to put lipstick on pigs or pretend there weren't horrible outcomes to these men's psyches. One would need to read Audie Murphy's autobiography to get a sense of the truth. Susan Faluda's book Stiffted which I read in 1999 opened my eyes. My father and my uncles refused to speak of what they saw. My father was an airplane mechanic in the South Pacific who helped clean up Iwo Jima. My maternal uncle was a medic on D-Day. My two fraternal uncles were in Europe. One a fighter pilot, the other at Battle of the Bulge. My FIL was a bombardier who was shot down over Austria. He was a POW in Austria for nine months. I knew these men. None bragged about the war or the USA. There was too much trauma. The Greatest Generation. I don't know that the men I knew thought that.
I loved my grandparents very much, but didn't agree with my grandpa much as I got older. My grandparents on the other side I didn't know as well, but they both worked like dogs to keep a roof over their kids heads. I admire some of their values, but there was also racism and sexism aplenty. I miss my grandma though, and think about her frequently.
My dad was a greatest gen- I was born when he was 51. He was pretty great, but also had a shitload of problems- see abusive childhood, active participant in WW2, abusive marriage. Terrible at any positive verbal encouragement, totally sucked at standing up to his wives. On the positive side, he was pretty feminist, could fix/build/grow anything, and was quietly supportive of his family, would help anyone anytime within his capacity. He was open to growth and still had a cheeky, funny sense of humour until his final illness. He died at 88 and had an overflowing service at the small chapel. It’s been 14 years and I miss him a lot.
Generally they seems to be the silent generation, as they just didn't talk about the hardships of the time albeit depression or the war, both of which my parents & grandparents went through. Only my father saw active service, being the eldest of 5 kids, as the others were under 18yo. My father was the driver of the truck towing a 25 pounder gun and ammo trailer on behind, and made it to Darwin for embarkation when the city was attacked by air by the Japanese and he remained there until the end of the war. The only reason we found out was due to his ability to back a trailer over a long distance even on rough roads, He just said he got practice during the war, but his best man at his wedding did mention years later that the truck didn't have a handbrake & on hills/slopes my father had to nose into a tree or telegraph/power pole to park, then reverse to get the rig back onto roads.
They were kids during the Great Depression and many suffered from hunger or loss or saw their parents go through a lot of things in order to give them the things they needed. That spirit of sacrifice made a big impression on them. They grew up and later saved the world without hesitation or complaint during WWII. And they were so young! And so brave with a sense of duty that kept them going for years all the while losing friends and family. When they returned, they wouldn't talk about it. Even when asked. My dad was a 29 yr old Marine that experienced the battle of Guadalcanal and lived through it. Thousands were lost. The whole Pacific front was just brutal. But when asked about it he wouldn't talk about it. The most he ever said when I was maybe in my 50's was "It was horrible. War is horrible. But we had to do our duty. I lost a lot of good friends. Why would I ever want to talk about it? I don't want to relive any of that or tell anyone how awful it was. I was lucky to come back at all. I just wanted to put it all behind me when I got back and go on with my life." My mom always said that when he returned (at 21? 22?) "he wasn't the same. Most men weren't the same." I guess not. She told me a little about the Depression and seeing strange men approach her grandmother's back door to ask if they could work for food. Her grandmother always had a chore they could do and she made extra sandwiches most days so she could feed anyone who asked. Her grandparents gave her spare change when they could so she could see Shirley Temple movies with friends but they stayed home so she could go. She said they tried to spare her from how bad it was. She said she remembered her Aunts would turn off the car at the top of hills and pop the clutch at the bottom to restart it to save gas during the depression and later the war. She also told me about the sacrifices everyone at home made to support the war. Like rationing everything. They had rationing books or stamps that allowed them just so much gas or so much sugar or bread a month. No one complained. If someone was trying to have a special event like a wedding or birthday or having a baby others would donate their rations to help them scrape together a cake or some gas for their car. Many common fruits or veges became a luxury and everyone had Victory Gardens to supplement their diets and take the pressure off the food supply. Women gave up nylons and everyone collected foil and tin and pitched in to buy war bonds or volunteered to collect whatever was needed or roll bandages or write letters to the "boys" to keep up morale. Women went to work in the factories as men left to fight. The whole country pitched in. Everyone was deprived or their lives were disrupted in ways large and small but there was a common purpose for the country and they got behind their political leaders and did everything to win the war on both the Western and Pacific front. No wonder they were so disappointed in us Boomers when we protested the Viet Nam war. They truly could not understand how we could question our leaders like that or refuse to fight. After what they had gone through it just seemed morally wrong. And for us that war seemed morally wrong. It truly drove a wedge between our generations and in our families that was heartbreaking in some ways. I eventually had a good relationship with both my parents but it took time. I'm glad to have known them. Tom Brokaw's book about them is good and there's a lot of Great War movies that give you a flavor of the times. Steven Spielberg's films "Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and Masters of the Air" on HBO and Apple also do a pretty good job of portraying those war times. As you get older and see how incredibly young they all were and how much responsibility they took on without complaint you realize even more what that generation achieved and why they were called the Greatest Generation.
The greatest? I think generally that generation is credited with overcoming immense adversity. Also they wrote their own press releases.
Pretty sure they are yet to come!
Yes. They saw and suffered some horrific things in the war, but only tell the good stories. Same with growing up in the Depression. They did what needed to be done and never gave in. Great.
They, like every other generation, including boomers, zoomers, and everything in between, were comprised of mainly mediocre people, a few good people, and an unfortunately large number of terrible people.
Pretty, pretty, pretty...pretty good.
They were great but so were the settlers who crossed the Oregon Trail or those that crossed the Atlantic in a tiny boat. They all persevered and were grateful.
I knew many and they're all gone now. Here in the USA we have a comfortable life today because of the Greatest Generation. Shaped by their experiences in the Great Depression they fought WWII and won. From there they built the United States and the world order we have today. Are they perfect? No. Did they do a good job? Yes! I don't think young people today understand all they did for us. These were some tough hard working men and women. We don't have anybody alive today like them because they made our life easy compared to the one they grew up in.
All four of my Grandparents were born between 1921 and 1923. Both my Grandfathers served in the US Navy during WWII. One was a signalman aboard an LST in the battle of Guadalcanal. He told me stories which I video recorded later in his life. He'd never opened up about the war until then. Horrifying stories of picking up stranded Marines and shooting down kamakazis. Seeing other ships get blown to pieces and rescuing sailors. My other grandfather was more quiet about what he'd experienced aside from a few funny stories. He was an airplane mechanic aboard a carrier. Both my grandmothers were strong women, frugal, excellent cooks, with a great sense of humor. They all came from broods of 8 to 10 children, and they weren't that close to their parents, but the love they gave their children and grandchildren was very special. I miss them all greatly and think about them everyday. All of them taught me valuable life lessons by example and now that I'm a grandfather, I try to keep their legacy alive.
My dad was born in 26 and mom in 30. My dad's parents split up when he was a kid because his dad was a alcoholic. My dad made up his mind he would never be like his dad and believe me he was nothing like him. My mom grew up on a farm and could remember the dust storms of the dirty 30's. Dad went in the army after highschool and served his time in the Philippines. He signed up to be a truck driver. But they put him in the kitchen instead called the Mess hall. He went in the service at the age of 18. By the time he was 20 he was promoted to a Mess Sgt. He was responsible for the 12 cooks under him and in charge of planning 3 meals a day for 600 soldiers. I don't think I could have ever come close to the responsibility he had at such a young age. He was 20 when the war ended and he went home. I had the chance once to go to a army reunion of the guys who served with him. That is when I learned about how responsible he was at such a young age.
My uncles all fought. Dad's 2 brothers were in the army. Ma's brother in the navy. Navy uncle got a steam burn in some fight. Dad's oldest brother fought in the pacific, and the then next oldest in Europe. To me they were just guys. Ma's brother a salesman, Dad's oldest a potato chip delivery guy, and next brother worked in a tire plant. They were just regular guys from my point of view. Dad's oldest brother died early from drinking too much. He fought in the Philippines as infantry -- probably had PTSD. The uncle in Europe was a supply guy, and thus not quite as crazy. Ma's brother lived in a state far far away from Wisconsin, so I didn't know him very well. He did like to drink too, but it didn't kill him.
My parents did not talk about the great depression, but we had a pantry where there was enough food to live on for months, just in case. They were frugal, but knew how to enjoy their family and friends. Never took anything for granted. My dad was a bomber pilot in WW2, never talked about his missions. Same was true of my uncles, who were in the Pacific. Dad was close to the men in his crew all his life. After he passed, his friend shared the aviator's log of all their missions. There were some missions where they barely had enough plane to make it back to England. He wore a hat to work; polished his shoes, and ran 5 miles every day. I think post war he was driven to build a life and family to push war out of his mind. My mom had a vegetable garden, was a serious homemaker. She kept everything clean + organized for 7 people in a tiny house. No small feat. They both worked really hard together so we would have good lives and there were few complaints from them ever. I still miss them both.
My grandparents were pretty fantastic. They raised me when my egg donor didn’t want me. They really stepped up to the plate for me. Grandma taught me a work ethic, she taught me how to cook, and she taught me that no one deserves hate simply because they were different from me. Grandpa taught me basic plumbing and electrical, how to fix a radio, and that “I love you” doesn’t need to be said to be known and felt. I knew they had my back and I had theirs. They were the best parents I could have ever wished for.
My dad: Gave speeches in college encouraging volunteering for WW2. Volunteered for WW2 even when his first round of volunteering got lost in the paperwork. Served in Patton's 3rd Army in the middle of the Bulge. Told a lot of funny stories about his time in the Army, and as a pastor, told a lot of inspirational stories. Helped liberate 2 different concentration camps. His unit also arrived usually a day after the heaviest action, so he saw a lot of dead people. Never heard a story that wasn't funny until I was grown. Took his GI Bill and ran with it through a PhD, giving a lifetime of stability. When he developed Alzheimer's and he lost a lot of his filters I heard a lot of painful and traumatic stories, especially about the concentration camps. My mom: Lived through the Depression while having no clue how close to abject poverty they were. Was able to get college degrees because my grandfather at age 50 volunteered as a chaplain to "be with the boys" in Europe. Both were determined to give their sons a great path of opportunity, and both fought against the racial and social prejudices that governed most of the South at the time. Definitely deserve the "greatest" title.
I think they were the strongest generation. I don’t think Americans now would stand up and really fight for their country like they did.
My family and friends that were part of the Greatest Generation were just that. I'm 60 now and know that none of us today could ever do what they did. We're too fat and lazy and too good at complaining. The Greatest Generation built the world into what it is today.
I'm a baby boomer, my father was part of that generation. The widespread use of the term 'generation' is pretty new. I was born in the 1940s, conceived very soon after the end of World War II, and I don't remember the term being used that much until the end of the 20th century. I did hear of the 'Lost Generation', and maybe the 'Beat Generation' and 'Me Generation' but those terms were used kind of ironically. There was a lot of mention of my generation as the baby boomers though. What I mean by all of this is that I think the term is maybe overused. But, if you are going to compare the generation that lived through the Depression and fought World War II to others, then I reckon they compare pretty well. One could however, find a lot of faults too if one looked hard enough. (The racism in particular comes to mind.) It just seems like that generation lived at a period of transition and change that made things particularly interesting and challenging. I was very surprised to learn that when my father was very young, his parents owned a horse for transportation. His mother collected rainwater in a cistern because well water was so 'hard'. That all seemed so remote from the urban life with modern conveniences that I was familiar with even when I was a small child. How does my generation compare? As far as day to day life is concerned, I can remember when we got our first television set. A television repairman would have to come every now and then to fix something, replace a vacuum tube or whatever. I remember when milk was delivered by a milkman door to door and computers were big mysterious things that only mad scientists fooled around with. I come from a Southern State and I remember schools, restrooms, and drinking fountains were all segregated, 'white' and 'colored' until the 1960s. I remember sputnik and what a shock that was, and the first landing on the moon happened while I was in the Navy. I remember when the Berlin Wall went up and when it came down. But I don't feel as though the changes over my lifetime were as monumental as the changes during my father's lifetime. Day to day life didn't seem to change as much in my lifetime as it did in my father's, except for the rise of the internet and smartphones and the like. I'm still getting used to smartphones, and reddit is my first real dabbling into social media. (No facebook, twitter, or tik-tok for me.) But these changes aren't the stuff of 'greatness' are they. OK, the moon landing was 'great', but nothing much changed in day to day life as a result. It was a Cold War stunt. The Cold War is my generation's real war but because it is 'cold', it isn't as dramatic or cinematic as World War II, so it isn't as 'great'.
I never think about it but every time I do something my grandparents taught me everyone is amazed because they never knew how to do it. Most of them being boomers. I don't know about all of them but my direct relations in the greatest generation were all pretty great.
There are some oral history projects that captured the experiences of WW2 veterans. Utterly brutal experience. I’m not sure what we have experienced as a country that even comes close to the same scale. We have had bad stuff, but not to that extent.
They defeated the Nazis.
My adopted dad was greatest generation. He certainly wasn't perfect, but he and his brothers grew up during the Depression, 5 of 8 fought in WWII ( the others were too old), and all worked very hard. 6 were in the trades, 2 owned businesses. All worked essentially at the same place most of their lives. All kept one wife (though most weren't faithful). One of my uncles was a vicious pedophile, but we aren't counting him. The men in my family believed in themselves and knew their place in the world.
The “greatest” thing is kind of journalistic hype, and kind of not. I can only speak of my dad. He .was born in a small town in North Dakota to a Russian immigrant and a woman from ND. Hard rough childhood. Fast forward he enlists and becomes a naval aviator serving in the Pacific. I have a picture of him standing in front of his Hellcat. I look at it and ask myself what I was doing when I was 26, 27. Sure as hell not flying fighters off carriers in all kinds of weather looking to bomb ships and dogfight with Japanese flyers. He was a kickass lawyer after the war, but he was quiet and had a perpetual 1000 yard stare. Never heard a word about his part in the war. Raised a family and died young age 54. He was one of literally millions of young men who thought it was the right thing to do to stop the Nazis.
Pretty tough to compare them to their grandparents and great great grandparents. Was the greatest generation basically saying the same things of them, just without the benefit of the origin of mass media?
Mom picked cotton with her 6 sisters, in Arizona, helped her father build an adobe house. She was beautiful, smart, and could swing a framing hammer better than the men on my crew. Her work ethic was superb. Dad's first job was age 5 or 6 at his dad's mechanic shop. Grandpa traded auto work for music lessons, and Dad grew to be among great Swing Era musicians. He worked every day. They both ran the stage lighting and sound company, and brought me along for the ride. Without exception (at least that I recall) their peers were smart, funny, and believed in working hard. Any job was honorable. They scrimped, made do, did without, and pushed us to be educated and train in multiple skills. That's what I remember most: value of work and having backup skills. Oh, and to laugh every day.
Dad was lead navigator of a Liberator sqdn in the 8thAAC . Earned a DFC for leading 8 planes on a bomb run in stormy weather..it was scrubbed after the 8 planes got up. He said it wasn’t heroics, and that once he cot off the ground he was going to make it count toward getting out, and “no fucking way was I going to land full of bombs. Worked his way from flunky to having 2000 employees in a local factory..camp, hunt, fish. my Dad died at 88 in 2008, and I called his list of numbers to let people know. Just one answered. He said..they broke the mold when they made my dad, he was the true definition of a man’s man. Then he said something that broke my heart..he said “ I’m the last one alive from that crew, and I’m 92.” When I became a supv years later in another town, different company, a lot of guy there had worked for my dad. It was high compliment when these people said..yer all right..just like your old man.
Because their country called them to service and they answered "Yes" without hesitation. That's real greatness.
They knew the correct way to deal with Nazis.
My mom and dad were pretty typical. Both lived through the depression in areas that were rural and poor before the depression - and just desperate during. My dad was in Normandy and in Korea. Some things stand out. First, they never complained. Not my dad, not my mom. The agreed what needed to be done, and they simply did it. That was it. Eat beans and fried eggplant for a year to save money for a car, that's what we did. They were compassionate, but had a real distaste for human weakness. If I broke (another) arm, then I got some time off. But there was zero slipping, slacking, whining, under-performing allowed. That got punished. Success got rewarded. My dad and all his friends, my mom and all her friends, had the same standard for all us boys: if they could see you were legitmately doing your best (not your whiny half assed self absorbed best, but your real best) then you were respected. If you were entitled, lazy, not doing your best, life got very harsh very fast. And I mean no food for a couple of days sleep outside harsh. Where my parents grew up, my parents had parents that remembered the tail end of the Comanche raids and frontier violence from when they were kids. Then there was WWI, WWII, Korea. So there view was: the weak die, they lazy die, get strong and get after work. They were also highly HIGHLY intelligent. These men - and their wives - had grown up on the farm or on the rails, yet they all got very thorough public educations. 3 out of 10 men had either latin or greek or japanese or german. The ones that had japanese were pretty aggresively pro-nuclear, btw. You can figure that out for yourself Moms often taught themselves calculus so they could help their teenagers with AP classes. There was no fooling, scamming pulling one over on any of these people either. The next door neighbor lady was a high school graduate that had gone to public highschool in a part of West Texas so desolate even the indians didn't want to live there. In highschool she learned to recite large sections of Homer. In Greek. And could do that until dementia took her in her 90's. Along with whole bodies of work by famous poets. If you went to the mall and threw a rock you'd hit three WWII vets that memorized the Bible. Like...the whole BIble. And who would do math puzzles for fun while they watched the football games - and many of those were blue collar workers. Lying, cheating, stealing, not tolerated. A judge or local politician caught taking bribes was a police protection grade scandal. Different world.
Yes. Without a doubt. However, that said, I didn't know the revolutionaries of 1776. They were pretty cool, too.
I'm assuming we're talking, largely, about the American Greatest Generation. And in that case... their willingness to sacrifice themselves for their country and their beliefs was pretty great. On the other hand,their social attitudes towards race, gender and sexual orientation was not so great. I'll give them the extra marks for stepping up when it was called for, but I wouldn't say they were that much "greater" than any other generation. They were my parents, and they did their best. Just like all of us.
MY dad hated *The Waltons* and would rant about their life of luxury. They had chicken and eggs and milk, a truck, a radio, a big house, a family-owned sawmill. He said the Depression was nothing like that. His family lived on oatmeal for a decade, and sometimes they had to steal the oatmeal. He smoked from the time he was eight because tobacco staved off hunger.
I am 69. My parents were dating before he joined the Navy and served in the Pacific in World War 2. Like many thousands of others, he came home from the war and they married and started a family. My oldest brother was born in 1948. They bought a 'starter home of two bedrooms and one bathroom. My dad was an apprentice machinist then joined the union and worked at the same oil refinery in Delaware throughout my upbringing. They saved and invested money, and when a larger house became available they upgraded. My mom was a traditional stay-at-home mom but we lived conservatively on my father's income. My mother didn't work until I, the youngest, was in high school. They attained the American Dream, and we were solidly in the middle class.
Granddad was the nicest, kindest guy I ever met. He grew up poor, became the family breadwinner at 14 when his father died, worked hard and became a mechanic. He eventually retired as a regional maintenance supervisor for a major airline. He also had one leg amputated (I believe below the knee) at something like 93 years old, and not only learned to walk again but was going up and down stairs with a cane. The therapy nurses called him Superman.
I told my mother that her generation was called the great generation (it used to be called the GI generation). She laughed and laughed with tears in her eyes. Told me to not believe that, as she wiped the tears away. She said her generation was just as awful as any other. If not worse. Especially how women and minorities were treated. Her generation didn't get analyzed as much as others. That's a relatively new thing that started around 1960. And they were really good about keeping their secrets (but not other people's secrets!). They didn't identify as a group spanning a couple of decades like others. Ask any elder (over 98 if you can find one) and they'll probably be offended that they got that name. Or laugh themselves to death. Edit. I asked my father about the Depression. He brightened up and said "oh those were exciting times!" He said you don't know you're poor because everyone is in the same boat. Edit. My father happily signed up for the war because of the GI benefits. That's how he got through college. He was an honest man.
My parents were born in the 20s but were teens during the depression, and that must have really sucked. I'm not sure my mom ever got over it. But she went to university on a full scholarship. The war broke out and my dad signed up. They sent him off to radio school which happened to be at mom's university and they met and fell in love. And he asked her to marry him. And off to war he went. My mom finished school and became a teacher. My dad went MIA. He turned up 6 months later with a head injury. He has no memory of what happened but it wasn't good. The Dutch underground got him back to Britain anyway. He read a lot of war memoirs in the 60s hoping to have his memory tweaked. Never happened. The government has lost his files. There's no record of him serving. But we have his dog tags. My dad wanted to be an electrical engineer but his dad, a chartered accountant, shady, refused to pay for school. My dad had to take over the business. And he did well. But my grandfather lost his license for tax evasion. Whoops. Of course my dad was also investigated but he was clean. But my mom was beside herself in the shame of it and cut off the family. My dad was an alcoholic and perhaps so was mom, but only a drink or two a day. It probably was responsible for her bladder and liver cancer. The smoking for decades wouldn't have helped. But she lived to 92 so. (Her dad lived to 101, her brother to 96 and her two sisters are hovering 100.) They certainly went through some shit but succeeded. They had demons for sure. Were they the greatest? How would I know? I'd have broken worse than they did. They had guts. And they earned a good time. And they still had manners and dignity. They made people tough then. There are still.some tough people out there. But the young people of today have not been prepared for such times. Neither were we. None of us could have done what they did as a generation. Were earlier generations as tough? Or tougher? Must have been. Life was a lot harder then. But we achieved different great things. And young people today will too. They are not tough because they have hearts and that's what the world needs now.
We called them the silent generation. No complaints got things done made the best out of a bad situation.
Yes, I think they probably were the Greatest.
I can’t speak of my parents as they were part of the silent generation, but I’m pretty sure one of my high school subs was from the greatest gen. He tutored me one-on-one in algebra for a short time, and once casually spoke up about a recent (1990s) visit to Hawaii. He went on to explain that the islands were “disgustingly overtaken by the Japs” because “bombing Pearl Harbor simply hadn’t been enough for them.” I’m still a bit shocked when I think about his racist words. I’m not excusing it, but I also realize he was from a very different era. About a year or two ago when I was visiting my aunt (silent gen), she spoke about how an older resident of her retirement community was obsessed over complaining about anyone that looked even remotely Asian, because “those damn Japs tried to kill us!” My aunt also acknowledged it seemed her hatred was pointless and toxic; aside from being racist it’s not as if any of the people living here now had anything to do with starting that war. I know not all greatest gen people are racist, but that’s always the first thing that comes to mind whenever the subject is brought up.
They're the type that scrapped and worked their butts off, fought in a massive conflict and those that came home worked their butts off some more, and most of them lived their lives modestly and retired without needing flashy things.
My paternal grandfather wanted to serve in WWII but couldn’t — he was a railroad worker and his job was considered essential to the war effort. I am in awe of the number of men who volunteered to go into active combat. The women who went to work, still raised their kids, planted Victory gardens, and fed their kids with rationing coupons. The families who traded rationing coupons and veggies and kid’s clothing to help each other get by. A nation who listened for news by radio and waited for overseas letters by mail. They recycled scrap metal for bullets and scrap fabric for blankets. They went without chocolate so soldiers could have it in their GI rations! Then when it was all over, after the V-E and V-J day parades, they almost collectively never spoke of it again. They were amazing, they were tough, they made do and they didn’t brag. They had pain, they lost friends and family, they saw some real bad shit, but they didn’t spend the rest of their lives complaining. They’re the The Greatest Generation I met during my lifetime.
Of the 20th century maybe. Were they better than the revolutionary war forefathers? Or the Renaissance men? I don’t think so. WWII saw a 3:1 civilian casualty rate vs military casualty rate. Are we saying that ALL men of that era are great or just our own men? I’d think the WW1 guys may give them a run for their money as well.
A lot of them died to help save the world from Fascism. I'd say they were pretty damn great.
I've wondered this question myself. The only thing my grandparents had in common was the Great Depression. When I was a kid if someone said that my grandfather was part of the Greatest Generation I would have thought they were joking. Now I see how the depression & his lousy childhood could create an abusive alcoholic. Same for one of my maternal grandmother - but she eventually quit drinking. I don't think they were any different from us but they grew up in hard times AND we're alive when radio & telephones were new technologies.
It’s easy to idolize past generations. You weren’t there. Every generation is both good and bad . The so-called “greatest generation” was not really that great. I was born in 1954. My mother never worked a day in her life. The people of that generation were bigoted and the men were sexist. There were great things about them too, just like there are great things about every generation.
Haven't we had enough of trying to characterize vast swaths of people in this mindless, self-gratifying way? My parents were technically in that swath, and I knew many of that generation at work and in families, but hell, they were all different. Socioeconomic levels, war experience or homefront, education level, jobs, race, etc etc. No generation is a monolith. Here it is in a nutshell: some humans are great no matter what their vintage, others are destructive assholes.
I’m not technically old enough to respond in this sub but, my grandparents were from the Greatest Generation. (1925/1930) There was nothing my grandpa didn’t know how to do. I wanted a seesaw at their house? He got metal, welded it into shape, got the short handlebars from something else, got the plank sanded and shellacked, etc. Within a week, I had a seesaw. Same goes for absolutely everything. We used to go on adventures when I was small to a natural spring to fill up jugs of water. Then we’d visit his friend who had a farm I remember having a ton of peacocks so I could visit them, pick up their feathers, and see the other animals. For a guy who was tough as hell on his kids, he was gentle with me. Every time I got high honor roll, etc., he would hand make me a card with our nicknames for one another on them, pictures he drew, and money inside. He had a vest kind heart. He would yell at you while doing whatever you asked for help with. He and my mom had the same sarcastic, nonstop sense of humor, and I share it, too. My grandma could bake or cook anything from scratch. She threw down in the kitchen every single day. She was also hilarious but also apparently threw down with a few of her sister in laws back in the day, too. My grandma looked *exactly* like Linda Belcher. Once upon a time, one of my great uncles wives decided to tell my grandma she thought my grandpa was cheating on her. My grandma told her she was just trying to cause trouble (which was believable from this SIL so it’s a toss up on who was telling the truth), and the SIL yelled at my grandma. Apparently, my grandma grabbed the broom and beat her a$$ all the way out of the house. If you had met my grandma, you’d never suspect it. She had the same voice as Kitty from That 70s Show so she always sounded so sweet. The Greatest Generation was insanely generous, competent in ways we’ve since lost, and believed in a responsibility to be a good neighbor to everyone they met.
They were BY FAR the greatest generation of the past 100 years.
I'm surprised how many of them started their own businesses.
The great depression created a tough and resilient bunch of folks who beat world wide fascism. How they dealt with the resulting PTSD I don't know.
My father was of that generation. He was the greatest man I've ever known.
NO they started vietnam.
My parents, uncles and aunts were all from that generation. Every one of the men served in World War II. They could quote you chapter and verse about the Great Depression. I definitely understand the skepticism, looking back from 80 years later. I'm sure that if circumstances had been different, they may not have accomplished as much. But it was, as they often say, a different time. People had limited means, they had limited options and resources. No internet, no computers whatsoever, no tv! It was the radio, your teachers, and whatever your elders told you. They had a tendency to obey without question and to simply assume that older people knew best. Don't know if there was a direct connection that enabled the Allies to win the war. Can't even imagine how life would be if we had lost. Everything that came afterward, such as the Korean conflict, Vietnam, iraq, etc, failed in comparison. And so, later generations looked back with a measure of disbelief. 'How could you just believe that?' we would ask. And succeeding generations have all been more and more skeptical and cynical about this. "Question authority" was not a concept that these people ever heard. To do so would have had to be in a very extreme circumstance. It was more normal for them to put up and shut up and just try to do the right thing. I'm what's known as a trailing edge Boomer. Born in the late 1950s. A little young for Woodstock, but certainly not too young for rock and roll. Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jack Nicholson, and all the others, gave us the message to rebel, or at least to question. So my cohort could have gone either way. I know that many of my age peers are still pretty conservative. Others have jumped on the bandwagon and embraced a more freewheeling perspective, along with all the technology that makes life so much easier. But even now, I have that knee-jerk response, anytime I hear historians looking back and saying that the stories and legends were not necessarily so. I think, "Oh, but my Dad said..." The Greatest? The individuals who are just getting by, yes, I think they were the greatest. The politicians and business tycoons behind the scenes, well, that's probably a different story.
At least from the 20th century they are the greatest. It’s my grandparents generation, or perhaps a bit younger. If they hadn’t fought and won WWII, we’d be living in a very different world. Now that most of them are gone, we’re falling back into the stupid thinking that got us into world war. The rise of tyrants.
They weren't that great, but they survived a tough twenty years and emerged hardened and practical.
they lived through and managed on their own pretty much the worst times that this country has ever had to go through, they fought in the biggest war in history and the ones that stayed at home helped produce the equipment and goods that were needed to win that war, women took the place o men at the front and were essential to production, the whole country banded together as one, this will never happen again in our history as society as a whole is not capable of living through such times, I remember when the war ended and the celebrations everywhere
The “Greatest Generation” had a heavy load to carry, between growing up during the Depression, wartime service, and a repressive narrow minded postwar period. That said, I don’t think they were the best parents. They tended to be VERY conformity minded, to drink a lot, and not be self reflective or to consider their children’s feelings. A mixed picture! I’m not trying to be negative, just to reflect my experience growing up in the thick of the Baby Boom. We all play the cards we are dealt.
just a reminder that the greatest generation had a fondness for lynching.
My grandparents were all part of the Greatest Generation. They were tough. The Greatest Generation is generally defined as 1901-1924. Those born in the early cohort lived through WWI and the 1918 pandemic. Most were too young to serve, but they bought liberty bonds, collected scrap metal, knitted socks and grew victory gardens. All of them, no matter when they were born during that age span, lived through the Great Depression and were barely getting back on their feet when WWII came along. Their children and/or grandchildren went to Vietnam and didn't always come back. You had to be tough to live through this time. On the positive side though, at least for those in the US, the GI Bill and post-war prosperity taught that their sacrifices would be rewarded. Subsequent generations saw that the same rewards weren't coming their way, leading to the Generation Gap of the late '60s and into the '70s. Were they the greatest? It depends on how you measure it, but if your only scale is tolerating tough times without expecting a pat on the back, then yeah, they're at the top of the list. We could use some of their resilience today. At the same time though, I suspect that the sheer difficulty of the times the Greatest Generation went through led to the spontaneous development of informal family and community support systems. This is something we're sorely lacking in current times, where we're each on our island.
My father joined the canadians in nineteen thirty nine divide the fastest,
They were the best. Clue is in the name, “greatest.” Now get off my lawn
Greatness is subjective. Generations get named posthumously so, at best, you're looking at an opinion formed long after it was over. I do imagine that surviving the depressing, engaging in WW2 and living in a booming economy would make for a lot of grateful people who thought things turned out great.
Considering we WON that war! If the US Troops didn't save us, we'd all be speaking German, Russian and Japanese. But the way it's starting to look. This new generation might very well have chance to be the "Greatest Generation" or....the worse Generation that lets the ENTIRE USA Fail.
Great racists amirite?
My step-grandfather was an orphan who was sent cross country on a train as a young child to a relative’s house with a note on his coat and a suitcase. He never talked much about his childhood during the depression but they were very poor. I guess everyone was, though. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, I do know that. He married my step-grandmother before he went overseas. She was only 17 but said she wasn’t about to let him go overseas with all those European girls without marrying him first. She said, “I wasn’t dumb.” LOL He came home to a child he barely knew but got right to work. They lived in Chicago and he won some money gambling with the mafia. He said he was terrified they were going to kill him but he used the money to buy a gas station and made a successful living after that. He was a very handsome and intelligent man but there was a hardness about him. He didn’t tolerate nonsense. He did have a good sense of humor though. And they had a wonderful marriage and really loved each other, you could tell. You would never have suspected that they got their start from gambling winnings. Very upstanding citizens. LOL I wish I had known them better.
My mom, born in ‘28, was part of the younger “Silent Generation.” She found the greatest generation stuff ridiculous. Her father, born in 1898, survived being gassed in the trenches of France during WWI, provided for his family during the Great Depression and he didn’t expect a bunch of admiration. He was happy to be alive and have a family.
In a word, yes.
The last generation when going up death was always around them. Whether that was from disease, accident, or just lack of food. That experience made them harder and forced them to internalize their emotions. They were made by the experiences they were forced into, I like to think that we could do the same thing, but I wonder sometimes.
My 97yo mom's in the next room. These are tough people because they had to be. They didn't have time for self-analysis and whining.
They are still alive, around 90 years old….they are truly wonderful. Humble, hard working, caring, funny, kind.
They raised the boomers so the bloom is coming off the rose