Tom Brokaw

My grandfather, DW, was an American hero. I lived with him and my grandmother on and off during my childhood so I had privilege of hearing about some of his history. Born of mixed ancestry in 1898 in the San Fernando Valley, the son of a farmer, at a time when the valley was nothing but bean fields. He was to young to fight in World War I or The Great War as it was known up until WWII came along. By then he was to old to join up. So he never wore the the uniform of an American service man, put on a helmet, drove a tank, carried an M1 rifle or had a metal pinned to his chest.

He wore blue jeans, long sleeve gray work shirts and a hard hat. He drove a tractor and carried a shovel. Grampa was a farmer most of his life. He grew barley, wheat, corn and cotton. All of this was just as important to our national security as guns, battleships, heavy artillery and fighter planes.

Most of his life he was a farmer in the San Joaquin valley. Farming is intense labor with very little time off and carries with it a unique sets of risks. A single bad crop can cause a person to lose their entire life's savings. Even a bumper crop, which forces the market price down, can mean that a farmer will have to take a loss on the years harvest. And farm work can be quite dangerous. Tractors, harvesters, combines can be deadly. The herbicides, pesticides and can be harmful if used properly. Lethal if mishandled. My grandfather encountered a unexpected hazard. He was of cheated out of his farm by a con man.

He was not always a farmer though. He worked whenever and whereever it was necessary to feed his wife and five children. During the great depression he worked as a rough neck. Drilled for oil in the Ketlleman Hills in California. Drove wildcat wells, drilled in places when no one was sure if they we're going to find oil or not. They found it. Ketlleman is not a large oil reserve as oil fields go, but during WWII every little bit was of vital importance for the war effort. And drilling for oil is really risky business. In eighty years that have past improved safety procedures and the introduction of volumes of safety regulations have improved the life expectancy of the average rough neck. Way back then it took a special type of man to get on an oil rig.

Grampa told me about seeing an accident when two drilling pipesw with three foot long wrenches attached suddenly spun in opposite directions. A man was cut in half cleanly as if sheared with an over sized pair of scissors.

Oil. Gas. Corn. Wheat. Barley, (armies need beer). And cotton, an important fiber not just for clothes and tents but a major ingredient in high explosives. DW and millions of hard working men and women didn't go across the sea to protect our freedom, they supplied our GI with every thing they need for the allies to prevail. And they insured those returning home from Europe and Asia came home to a same America they had gone off to protect.

Our military personal deserved to be remembered and honored. But next time you thank a soldier remember the forgotten heroes that made their victory possible.

These men and women don't want a monument in their honor.

An occasional heart felt, well deserved thank you , would be appropriate..

OWL

May 28, 2008