Dad and I have watched a few nights of the World War II documentary by Ken Burns on PBS. It has been fascinating and sobering at the same time. Grandpa Hodgkinson served in World War II in the Italian arena, where he received the Silver Star and Purple Heart. The Silver Star is awarded to a person who is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force (I cut and pasted that - can you tell). I hear he was pretty heroic but don't really know all the details. The Purple Heart is given if a service man is wounded or killed. My dad didn't write very much about the war. After watching the footage and hearing the descriptions, I am sure he didn't want to remember it very much. The only thing I have heard about was that he was selected to be interviewed while he was in the hospital with his injury and it was heard nationwide, for which his mother and my mother were pretty excited. I am thankful that he served and I am thankful that he returned home safe to be our Dad and Grandpa!!!
Dad and I have watched a few nights of the World War II documentary by Ken Burns on PBS. It has been fascinating and sobering at the same time. Grandpa Hodgkinson served in World War II in the Italian arena, where he received the Silver Star and Purple Heart. The Silver Star is awarded to a person who is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force (I cut and pasted that - can you tell). I hear he was pretty heroic but don't really know all the details. The Purple Heart is given if a service man is wounded or killed. My dad didn't write very much about the war. After watching the footage and hearing the descriptions, I am sure he didn't want to remember it very much. The only thing I have heard about was that he was selected to be interviewed while he was in the hospital with his injury and it was heard nationwide, for which his mother and my mother were pretty excited. I am thankful that he served and I am thankful that he returned home safe to be our Dad and Grandpa!!!
It would be very interesting to know some details of What, Where, Who... regarding Grandpa Hodgkinson and "The War". Being such a prolific writer it is surprising that there is not a journal or letters regarding this part of his great life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with dad. I didn't realize that WWII special was on. Ken Burns came and did a forum last year and he showed clips of this special. We will have to watch it.
ReplyDeleteAsk Grandma about the Silver Star. I believe she found an article about it in the case behind the actual award. From what I can remember, Grandpa's unit was being attacked by Germans who had taken over two houses and had opened fire. Grandpa crawled up to the first house, launched 2 hand-granades inside, went to the second house, launched more granades in, and saved their entire troop.
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