Humility and Courage.

• Author: Emord, Jonathan W.
• Position: OUT OF THE PAST - Veterans

THE MEN AND WOMEN of the Greatest Generation are passing, a huge loss for our nation, particularly as the common sense, humility, and courage that characterized nearly every one of them has become a rarity today. I think of them often, and even more so as Memorial Day approaches. Indeed, each year, we are compelled to mourn any number of those from a long line of modest and brave heroes who have "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to quote World War II veteran and poet John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

My father and mother were of that generation. Caring, well spoken, humble, brave, generous, and filled with love for their family and country, they were models of citizenship and virtue. The words duty, honor, and country were ones they did not bellow to the world as if to demand acceptance--rather, they but humbly lived every day, inspiring by example.

My father, Ernest A. Emord (aka Tommy Reardon), a professional boxer from Brockton, Mass., before entering the service, was ever ready to lay down his life for his country. He spent 33 years in the military. In his final years of service, despite age and rank, he repeatedly wrote to the Secretary of Defense requesting a combat assignment. He was mortified to see his country losing the Vietnam War and believed that, if only he were allowed to join in the fight, he might change the outcome or die while trying.

He asked that he be substituted for a reluctant draftee or another who might do better serving his country at home, all to no avail. I once asked him what he thought the best form of death would be; he answered without hesitation--he could think of no better way to die than while fighting for his country.

In her early 20s at the close of World War II, my mother, who married my father while he was on leave, flew to Tripoli, Libya, to be with him. At that time, Tripoli was very hard to reach by plane, dangerous territory, and recently liberated from occupation at the assassination of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The Army Air Corps discouraged my mother from going. When she remained insistent, the military relented and issued her a pistol and encouraged her to...