Everett Christian

I had a note from Geneva telling me about her two older brothers who were in World War 2. I am sure that Geneva will not mind if I share her notes with you tonight. Here are her notes:

Two of my oldest brothers were in WW2, one in the Navy and the other in the Coast Guard. The oldest (93) still lives in a house by himself. He's just been amazing! However, now he reads books about that war, goes to bed and dreams and, when he awakes, he says he's been there and done that. He actually was on a ship that patroled the coasts of America. One week he'd be in tropical weather and almost the next week he'd be in arctic weather. They had leather mittens with sheep's wool inside and head gear to match along with really warm coats. His ship helped to capture a German short wave radio station in the northern most area. The name of the ship was the Westwind and it has now been scuttled.

**************************************************************************************** From the book "The Greatest Generation Speaks:"

Not all of the love letters had a happy ending. Sandra Eve MacDuffee's father, John Chichilla, was killed in 1945. His letters from the Christmas season of 1944 have a special poignancy.

Sandra writes: "My dad was killed two days before my second birthday in 1945, so I have no memories of him, which to me is the saddest part of it all. I have a lot of pictures, thanks to my mom's diligence and she and I talked about him a lot as I got older. My dad is buried in a military cemetery in Luxembourg and when I was sixteen, my mom ordered an aerial photo of the cemetery with his cross circled in pencil. We also got a close-up snapshot of his cross that enables us to read his name and outfit. The day that picture arrived was a day of many tears for both mom and me, and of an overwhelming sense of loss. . . .

I miss him more and more as I get older, not ever having known him and wondering what my life would be like today if he had come home safe. My mom remarried, but she never stopped loving my dad and she never stopped grieving for him. Mom also had a 'Lost Love Remembered' scrapbook full of newspaper clippings, cards from dad and photos of the two of them and me."

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Everett's note: You don't have to read these notes and letters if you don't want to but this is just a reminder of what really happened. Flonnie kept all the letters that I wrote to her and I still have them someplace. Even though I had only met her one time before I went overseas, I think both of us had a feeling that we would someday be married..