WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE?

One of the great pleasures I enjoy is reading the obituary page of The Daily Telegraph (or any of the major British newspapers) where this type of writing is an art. The only close competitor in the U.S.A. would be The New York Times. These obit columns deal with important personages and are international in scope, not simply British. They are always well written, filled with anecdotal information as well as biographical and career details.

Frequently, they are of World War II heroes who, as you are well aware, are dying off rapidly. Tom Brokaw in his wonderful book about WWII “The Greatest Generation”, extolled this generation who saved our democracies. The British obit writers appreciate them just as much.

A special one struck my fancy yesterday in reading of the death of Billy Millin, an 88 year-old Scot, who was piper for Lord Lovat and his regiment and, at the D-Day landings, from the moment he emerged into the icy water from the landing barges playing his pipes, while the soldier directly behind him was killed as he came out of the barge, Billy waded ashore and continued marching back and forth along the beach while his Scottish comrades were landing, inspiring them with Scottish melodies. One Tommy ran up to him and exclaimed, “Yer a crazy bastard, ye are!” Billy Millin then followed his regiment into France and , while they were enduring fierce German resistance in the hedge rows of Normandy, Billy continued to march down the roads playing his inspirational songs. Soldiers were falling all around him, but he was unscathed, except for one bullet which slightly damaged his bagpipe, which was still operable. They later captured German prisoners, and one of them told him that the only reason he wasn’t shot was because they figured he was mad. Billy was depicted in the war film, “The Longest Day”, where his piping at the landing was shown.

As part of the international flavor of these obits, there was a beauty today for Bobby Thomson, Scottish-born, the creator of “the shot heard ‘round the world”, the famous home run when the New York Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in a playoff game, after coming bsck from a 13 ½ game deficit in August to pull off “the miracle at Coogan”s Bluff “ (the Polo Grounds, home of the Giants). In the obit, they told that Glasgow-born Thomson and his family moved to America for greater opportunity. Bobby came out of Curtis High Scool in New York and was signed by the Giants for the handsome bonus, in those days, of $100.00! He was a bombardier in the Army Air corps during the war and did not start his career in baseball until 1946.

Yes, the old heroes are going fast. But is fun remembering them through these wonderful write-ups.