Wise words on war and friendship this #MemorialDay

Robert Sechrist is my best friend’s Grandfather whom I would come to know through Brennan and forever more as the one and only “Grandpa Bob”.  I love to tell stories about my interaction with a man who had a profound impact on my life by touching my heart through laughter.  Sadly Grandpa Bob was called home on April 1st of this year.  I couldn’t think of a better person to share his thoughts on war, friendship and camaraderie on this Memorial Day.  Grandpa Bob was a member of the 101st Airborne Division and was a Pathfinder Paratroop on D-Day in 1944. Grandpa Bob was captured by the Germans and was a POW in France.  During an air raid Grandpa Bob was able to escape to recant his tale, however he wouldn’t talk about it until many years later.  This is an exerpt from a letter he wrote to a Belgian man in 2000 asking him about his experiences during WWII and the invasion of Normandy. It is a testament to the great man he was and I couldn’t agree more with him.  Thank you to all the men and women who serve in any Armed Services around the World, but especially to the Americans today, and a special honor and thank you to those who never made it home. 

“From June 6th through June 19th I learned there are no winners only losers in War…I am a life time member of the 101st Airborne Division Association and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Association.  However I have never personally attended one meeting and the reason is that I never wanted to relive my past experience.  I could not find it in my heart or mind to sit in drinking clubs rehashing the horrible experiences that man had perpetrated on mankind.  Two of my sons served in the Vietnam fiasco and fortunately survived.  Denis if it were up to the individual soldiers of the world there would never be war.  Wars are not started by the military they are started by the politician.  But I do want to tell you this that there were never a finer group of men that served under the Screaming Eagle Patch.  I found in my years with the 101st that each one of us were friends of the other.  Friendhip is freely entered into, freely given, freely exercised.  Friends never cheat each other or take advantage; friends have no secrets, friends glory in each other’s successes and are downcast by their failures.  Friends minister to each other, nurse each other, friends give to each other, worry about each other, and stand always ready to help. Perfect friendship is rarely achieved but at its heights it is ecstasy and that Denis was and is the 101st Airborne….”

RIP Grandpa Bob.  Thank you for your service, the laughs, your inspiring charisma and character, but most of all thank you for instilling these qualities in your family, inparticularly my best friend and brother from another Mother, your Grandson Brennan.  For it is through him I was fortunate enough to know you before I even met you.  Geronimo!!

4 days ago  /  0 notes

“Never lie, steal, cheat, or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away” - Alex Hitchens

1 month ago  /  0 notes

“Living in the moment, Living my life. Easy and breezy, With peace in my mind I got peace in my heart, Got peace in my soul. Wherever I’m going, I’m already home. I’m living in the moment”

1 month ago  /  0 notes

@BullyMovie was heart wrenching but very well done. I highly recommend seeing it. Take your kids and open up the dialogue. I believe we really need to re-implement the importance of caring and standing up for one another and not being so self indulgent and secular. Words are weapons and kids are killing themselves and/or others as a result. Change starts with us, you and I.  Another World Is Possible.

1 month ago  /  0 notes

It’s Leap Day so let’s leap into the 21st Century and leave inequalities behind us. We need to start caring for one another and the Earth we call home. Without it political views and debates are worthless. We the people need to govern our societies, not corporations. It’s up to us to give the future a fighting chance. Another World Is Possible and it absolutely starts with you, me, and us!

3 months ago  /  0 notes