Obituary of Hero

I was cleaning out some drawers recently and came upon an obit of one of my wife's uncles - sounded like quite a guy to say the least - thought you might be interested - it was dated October 23 1999 - Charles "Dutchy" Schnappauf of Cooper Street in Pringle, died Saturday at the VNA Hospice, Heritage House in Wilkes-Barre -

Born in Pringle he was the son of the late Martin and Flora Schnappauf - He was a member of Scared Heart Church in Luzerne - He was employed as a ................... He was a decorated Army Combat veteran of World War II who participated in the first wave of the 29th Division (115 regiment first battalion) invasion of Normandy on D-Day - he also served in the military as a special aide to general rank officers as an interpreter and military policeman -

"Dutchy" was on the boxing team and entertained troops as a boxer in Special Services as well. He won various titles in several divisions including the European Theater of Operations welterweight championship. He also boxed professionally having won over 200 bouts and fought for a world welterweight title against Chalky Wright

He was preceded in death by brothers Martin, Joseph (my father-in-law) and John - ...........

Sounded like he was a member of the greatest generation

What exactly made him a hero? I am of the firm belief that the term hero is tossed around so often that a true hero gets lost in the applause of every Tom, Dick and Harriette that ever served in the armed forces, fire department or police agency.

The greatest generation? Sure if you are a white male.

I believe that most of the guys that fought in that war were heroes - they did a fantastic job and many paid the ultimate price - you will never be able to put together a group of men to do what they had to do anymore - all you have now is a bunch of spoiled brats that if they were ever called to serve they would either riot or flee to Canada

When I was young I would hang around a smoke shop where a lot of these veterans hung out after the war - I would listen to the many stories that they would tell about the war - many of them went through hell - and I will tell you something - those kind of heroes are real hard to find today = they don't call it the Greatest Generation for nothing - we are raising a bunch of wimps now a days - when you are on a burial detail picking up dead soldiers that have turned black and when lifting them up they fall apart it gets to you as was the case of a neighbor vet who ended up needing shock treatments every once in awhile to put his mind right - I experienced combat in Korea and I'll tell you something unless you went through it you have no idea what it does to you

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Originally Posted by fishermccann

The greatest generation? Sure if you are a white male.

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If you were a white male - what in the world does that have anything to do with fighting a war - from the comments you make sometimes I kinda wonder how old you are - it does show how limited your experience in life has been - remember - MAGA

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Originally Posted by JoePa

I believe that most of the guys that fought in that war were heroes - they did a fantastic job and many paid the ultimate price - you will never be able to put together a group of men to do what they had to do anymore - all you have now is a bunch of spoiled brats that if they were ever called to serve they would either riot or flee to Canada

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The men and woman that have served in all areas of the service can definitely be considered heros but those opposing the war can often be considered heros just the same. Protesting is the basis for democracy, without being able to voice your opinion democracy is dead and all those who died fighting oppression have died for nothing.

A person can serve in the armed forces without ever setting foot on or near a battlefield. There is nothing heroic about that and treating him as such certaainly demeans that individual who acctually puts his life in peril to save a fellow soldier.

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Originally Posted by sawbill

A person can serve in the armed forces without ever setting foot on or near a battlefield. There is nothing heroic about that and treating him as such certaainly demeans that individual who acctually puts his life in peril to save a fellow soldier.

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Agreed. I also think assuming those who serve now are all a bunch of wimps shows he doesn't know anybody in our forces. Based on some I know personally I sure as hell would not want to be taking them on. We may have a small and poorly equipped army but that has nothing to do with those who would actually fight to defend our arses.

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Originally Posted by sawbill

A person can serve in the armed forces without ever setting foot on or near a battlefield. There is nothing heroic about that and treating him as such certaainly demeans that individual who acctually puts his life in peril to save a fellow soldier.

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Truer words than those, were never spoken!

I'm with Sawbill. Joe, what exactly did this man do to warrant the title "hero"? The obit sounds like the man was behind the front lines more than on them?
I have seven uncles who saw action during WW2. (5 Army, 2 Navy) In my genealogy research, which I hobby with, I've collected all of their military records. 3 were sappers who were in various theaters of the war, one was a tank gunner who landed on Juno beach, (little test for you JP. Where was "Juno Beach"?) 1 was infantry who went thru Italy, Belgium, Holland and Germany and the 2 navy boys were on ships in the Atlantic and Pacific respectively.
None of them were heros? Just ordinary boys doing an extraordinary job. None, that I ever overheard, even talked about their experience, save one uncle who I remember telling a few funny stories. And none of them had any mention of their war time experiences in their obits.