The Greatest Generation knew real blood, sweat and tears, and as a millennial raised by great grand parents born in 1914, I miss these people a tremendous amount. If your word was no good, you were no good. Now a quality being lost to antiquity. My great grandfather, even in advanced age, was a huge man! He had giant weather checked hands from hard manual mining and farm labor. There was no task that couldn’t be beaten with brute force and determination. His wife was the maestro of all daily activities and ran a TIGHT ship of a house hold. There was absolutely no crossing her without severe and immediate penalty. It was a privilege to be brought up with these great ethics.

Blueberry and raspberry picking was not an afternoon to make a couple of pies. No, no. It was filling every container, washed out milk carton and hubcap off the car completely full with out the aid of sunscreen or deet for not one day, not two days, but until the entire patch was devoid of fruit!! Hunting and fishing was the same. It was survival. There was a volley of verbiage if you missed a strike or didn’t take the animal with one attempt! Now this wasn’t done in malice, but in teaching. You had to be precise and accurate, very deliberate in action. Once this was achieved to satisfaction, the feeling of these activities being work became fun, and common ground to merit with the generation. A true acceptance and friendship with them. Even though there were many failures, they did not give up and you would learn the ways of old by repetition.

Today at work, I just could not motivate my millennial counterparts. Distracted on mobile devices, it made me urn for one, just one from the greatest generation to be there. Does anyone else feel the same??

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SWCA #2948
SWHF #431

Yup. My grandparents were both born in 1917. Grandma's birthday was April 14, Grandpa's was two months later on June 12.

Grandpa passed in 1993, grandma hung in there until in 2015. I spent summers with them on the farm every year from age 8 to age 16. Learned what hard work really was (bucking bales in the hayfield), and how & why you should do your best to fix things when they break - instead of just buying new ones. Waste not - want not wasn't just a trite phrase, it was a way of life for them.

It's great to hear about your great grandparents. You learned from them because you wanted to. My perception is that not every one is like you these days and it is sad to see. My bride and I have a big hand in assisting our granddaughters and are working to instill the work ethics you talk about. They are willing to learn and doing a fantastic job.

Something I learned many years ago is that you cannot make someone want to do something until they want to do it. A bit like herding cats....just keep after it it until something clicks. Or not.

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Dan
Ps 96 SWCA 2930 SWHF 524

My parents were born in '22 & '29.

Different world.

Guns available by mail, but no drive-by's. Poverty big too, but morals were a big thing then.

When I was a kid in the '60's you could buy a .22 rifle by mail from the Boy's Life magazine. In the '80's I shipped a rifle to a guy that had an ad in Shotgun News, he didn't like it and mailed it back to me directly. Try that today!

Your word is your bond.

Different world indeed.

My dad would tell of he, his younger brother and the other kids bringing their shotguns to school.
They would prop the guns in the cloakroom until school was out so they could hunt on the way home.
He said they were grade school kids barely taller than their shotguns, allowed only two or three shells and better have the shells or some game when they arrived home.

These days a kid makes national news if he pinches his sandwich bread in the shape of a pistol!

YEP:

(

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John

And I miss my ( now theirs ! ) country, Brazil as well.
Hunting of native species was allowed albeit regulated back then.Now thanks to radical enviros is totally forbiden .
Regards, Ray

My grandparents were born in the 1890s and I in 1941. That's one thing they believed and passed it down to me. Larry

In 1965, I took my father's Model 70 Target rifle to school, along with a couple of rounds of his hand loaded ammo. Of course I cleared it with the principle first, but he said to leave it in my locker until needed. Needed for what? I had a speech class and had to give a speech on any topic. I chose the gun. While I spoke of it's use and various parts, I passed the ammo around the class for their inspection, and told them it was made in our basement. I also told the class my dad had taken 2nd place in the Navy Cup Match with the rifle at Camp Perry. I got an "A" on the speech.

How do you think that would fly today?

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I also miss it. I was fortunate to live with my parents and grandparents (Mom was a riveter during WWII- Dad was Army Air corp. Flight engineer).
Gramps was an inventor /farmer, Gram was a house wife .
Todays world I don't care for, I think thats why I've become a borderline hermit, I stay away from todays society as much as I can. Mom is still going. Mowing her own lawn, living by herself in the mountains and lawn sailing every weekend (just turned 93)
So I had the best of both worlds.
Met my GGrandfather once in the fifty's. never forgot that.
Hat, three piece suit, gold pocket watch chain and barefoot. Didn't believe in shoes

Millennials??? This video says it all perfectly:

“Nobody is going to take better care of you than yourself. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. Do your studies.” said Walt as I left for college. Made it back to visit not nearly as much as one would want over the next 4 years. Virginia and Walter did ok, but when the advanced education started, Virginia passed and my great grand fathers condition declined rapidly, I came back to intervene and was greeted with, “what are you doing here!? You have a life to build, now get!” What I thought was appropriate accommodations did not match his wishes. I knew he wanted to go on his own terms, but couldn’t let him. I do believe he was disappointed as at this point, Walt felt like he was a burden, and his goal was not to be on anyone. One of the most enduring traits of the Greatest generation. Still hits me right in the feels every time I think about it.

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SWCA #2948
SWHF #431

My wife and I both had grandparents that were farmers in Iowa. Lived through the depression and persevered to live a good life.
I am a fan of Grant Wood most noted for American Gothic, this
painting called Dinner for threshers represents the people and the times. My mother talked about cooking for 20 men who came to harvest crops.

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SWCA 1932 SWHF 135

This is a great thread!

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S&W Accumulator

My grandfather was more of an easy going guy with a really wry sense of humor. But man did he work hard. My grandmother was TOUGH. She had grown up in Chicago and left home as a teenager when she couldn't take the nightly brawls between her mother and father any more.

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You're shy a few manners.

I'm a millennial.

I don't like much technology, serve in the Air Force doing a manual labor intensive civil engineering job, don't even really know what "instagram" is (and don't care), and am attracted to the old ways and old guns to be sure.

I'm 26. I'm a millennial... and am not proud of it. I hate labels and generalizations. Some of the "old hands" on this forum scoff at my generation. This is a shame, as we all are not "like them"...

I miss the greatest generation and their forebears every day, when I witness the fruits of their labors and and their incredible perseverance in the face of obstacle after obstacle.

Here are some examples from my own family.

This is my maternal grandfather. Born in Ohio in 1865, he ran away from home in his teens to find adventure in the West. He worked with his hands and his brains, holding jobs varying from a Wells Fargo stage "shotgun rider" to a foreman in the copper mines in Bisbee, Arizona. I was named for him - his first name was John. He died in 1944.



This is my paternal grandfather. He worked for a railroad in rural Kentucky, saved his money, bought a dry goods store, and served in it for years before his wife's health necessitated a move to Arizona in 1924. In Phoenix, he became a sales manager for a large department store until his untimely death in 1942 at age 60 from renal failure. He built two rental homes with his own hands in Phoenix, the income from which sustained my grandmother until she died in 1975. Those homes, built in the 1930s, still stand.



Their offsprings were my mother and father, here pictured shortly after their marriage in 1936. They remember WWI, and survived the great depression - my dad as a banker, and my mother as a school teacher. They saved their money, were frugal and fiercely independent.



My father's brother served in the Army Corps of Engineers during WWII. He was sharp as a tack, and could manage any mechanical apparatus. This is a pic of him and me during the war.



These folks lived through tough times, and survived with their heads held high. Their word was their bond, and deals were sealed with handshakes.

I miss them all, every one.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I've posted this before, so please forgive me, I think it bears repeating.

I was at a gathering of my friends a year or so ago. We were honored to have two fathers of this group join us. Both of the "Greatest Generation". These two had never met, but instantly sat aside from the main group and shared stories. Stories of WWII, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc.

The rest of us respectfully stayed away, allowing these two gentlemen a rare opppority to speak with another contemperary.

When the time came to leave, and we were shaking hands and taking pictures, the most in demand hands and pictures belonged to these two old warhorses.

The OP is carrying on this generation's legacy. For that he should be proud, and humbled.

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Reg. Magnum wants/Rossi wallet

my DAD was born in 1917....he was my parent, teacher and friend......the qualities of respect and discipline that i learned from him were endless.....he was taken from me too soon and i miss him every day since then.....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

Early Sat and Sunday mornings=WWI, WWII, and Korean War vets would show up at our house-smoke pipes, cigars-etx-drink coffee-with my dad-everyone else was asleep-or so they thought. Id get up early-sneak under the table and listen to their stories-and supposedly they never knew I was there. The feeling I felt-was I was always surrounded by greatness. One I miss very much--is Mr. Cole-who was a WWI-vet and Infantry Captain. Sadly, I do not remember the names of the others except for Dr, Fred G. Leon, and Charles Ed Forrest-both who served in the Army Air Corps-then USAF the same times with my dad--all being life-long friends who joined at the same time.

I miss all those guys immensely........

Not just that. The term "millennial" has come to mean late teens and early 20s when in fact it actually goes into the late 30s. Anyone born in 1980 is a millennial.

Therm everyone is looking for is Generation Z. At least in the way it's used.

As someone who was born right at the end of Gen Y I was around when all the cool tech was starting to come out. Home computers, laptops, CDs, DVDs, cell phones, etc.. I was into all that but there was a line that where the technology kept advancing and I just didn't care. Aside from the smart phone I don't have Instagram, Facebook, snap chat, my space, .... even my smartphone has only a few apps. This one I'm viewing the forum on, a calculator, map, Bank app, home security camera. That's it. I don't use or need or even know of any others.

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There are good and bad in every generation. People worked hard back then because there was no other way. They also stayed married, because they had too.

They weren't better or worse people than us, just a product of their times.

My biological father was in the occupation forces in Japan. One of my uncles was killed at Normandy. My step dad survived the war, but passed away in 2009. Years ago I met a man who was in the Dutch resistance, and another man that survived Auschwitz. All are heroes to me.


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VCDL, GOA, NRA

my mom went through the dust bowl & depression in SW Kansas and my dad through the depression in Pennsylvania. Dad said if it wasn't for a big garden his grandfather had the family might have starved. Mom talked about jackrabbit drives & her mom putting a wet cloth over her face when she went to bed to keep the dust out of her lungs. Lost them both recently & miss talking to then about things in my life every day, we will never see their like again.

I began my career with the Baltimore City Fire Department in 1974. At that time, the Greatest Generation was still running the show. These were the guys who had served in World War II, and had begun their BCFD careers in '46 or '47...they were the Lieutenants, Captains, and Chiefs I served under back then.

They were tough, and brave, and honorable, and hardworking. They thought we Baby Boomers were the pits, and they didn't hesitate to tell us that! They were politically incorrect, and didn't care if you were offended by something they said.

They did their jobs with obvious pride, and instilled that in us. They had no tolerance --- not a little bit --- for slackers or loads, and they were unapologetic about busting you in the butt if you did something wrong.

They were some of the best damned firefighters I ever worked with, and I think about them every day...I was so lucky to have worked with them!

Thanks to the OP for posting this thread as it brings back many fond memories of life many years ago, maybe a harder life but it seemed simpler too. I began deer hunting in Minnesota in 1977 with the OP's father. I feel privileged to have been part of the family for many years, eventually 4 generations all together for the hunt. I will never forget the stories told by the elders of their early life in the north woods.

Here is an old photo of the OP, me, and grandpa Walt after a successful hunt.

Attached Images

DEER.JPG (52.6 KB, 41 views)

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Birds like shiny new toys too.

I was "raised" in my LE career by the same type as those who "raised" you in the fire service. I'm sure there are others here, regardless of career path, that thrived as a result of the same education. Now retired, I work part time and those half my age or more don't seem to appreciate my motivational methods. Oh well, I learned from some of the best there ever was. hardcase60

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You want me to do what?

When I started my career, the old guys would bemoan the good old days, when ladders were wooden and men were iron! Now I find myself saying the same thing...

Interesting post. My Dad is 91, a WWII and Korea vet and still busting his butt (and mine). All that time away meant he didn't marry until fairly late so I'm a '67 model. Guess that makes me a tail end Boomer?

My last living uncle died yesterday. Born in 1921, he was a pilot in the 9th Air Force in Europe in WWII. Lived a long life and worked hard. Enjoyed it fully.

We can gripe about various generations but I look at my kids, their friends and the young folks serving in the armed forces today and how hard they work when given the chance and know that every generation has its great people and dregs as well. The biggest issue I see now is how splintered our society has become. I'm not sure how that will be overcome in the future.

^^^^I was raised on Dodderidge and 10th Streets in Kingsville. We lived across the street from a Lutheran Church-across the other street from Flato Park. We had a WWII Navy vet across the alley from us--Archie L. Klassen. Just on Dodderidge from 10th to 9th streets-we had at least 2 WWI Vets-living across the street from each other were the: (AND I KID NOT-and I also greatly miss them as well, their names respectively were) the: Flowers and the Roses. There were at least 4 others vets living on our side of the street in between the Roses and our house. I REALLY do miss them all.