World War II

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys. It contained his book, "G.I. Joe and Lilly" along with the CD. I had bumped into the song on YouTube and sat listening and crying over this American Love Story of a soldier in WWII and his WAC bride. Since I used to know the Oaks well, I sent Joe an email and he generously sent me his book and the CD. I played the song about ten times feeling Joe's pain each time. WWII is in the forefront of the news today with the big Tom Hanks movie opening at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, in 4-D. Hurrah, Hanks. He said what had to be captured, "without question," were the economic and human costs and the war's roots in the civil rights and women's rights movements. "We had a Jim Crow society when all that happened," Hanks said. "We still had segregated armed forces ... We asked guys to go off and risk their lives and come back home and ride in the back of the bus. There was no way that brand of injustice could continue in our country after that war." Injustice did continue and does continue, Tom, but we applaud you for your efforts. Joe's emotional tribute to his parents, GI Joe and Lilly moved me so much perhaps because my Daddy also went to War, enlisting after the bombs fell in December. He joined the Navy, a young boy of 16 when he went to War in 1942, trying to be a man. The war left him with scars on his leg, foot and soul as it did in many other American stories. Some of those wounds have not healed in the 60 odd years, perhaps they never will. Maybe so. Hope is everlasting. I'm WWII vet Estil Carl Adkins's daughter, Ruth Adkins Robinson