Preserving Memories of World War Two Veterans as They Pass On
A sobering reminder to share the stories of hardships and blessings
My father-in-law served as a teenage medic on a ship in the Pacific during World War Two and today he’s 97 and surviving in the hospital having recently fought off pneumonia, strokes, and Covid-19.
He’s among the 16 million Americans who served in WWII and the 240,329 who are still living, according to figures quoted by the National World War Two museum in New Orleans.
Growing up with stories of WWII and listening to the stories of people who fought in it, it’s hard to believe that in the next few years almost no veterans from that war will be alive.
Yet it’s important to share the stories and remember them, like the man in the picture above, Donald McCormick, who served on the U.S.S. Birmingham in the Philippines. He was killed in October 1944 when the Birmingham tried to assist another ship, the aircraft carrier Princeton, that was attacked and burning badly during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
On the Birmingham, 239 men died, 408 were wounded, and the bodies of four were never recovered. The ship needed repairs lasting from November 1944 to January 1945.
