My Grandfathers birthday tribute:

It’s My Grandfathers Birthday Today

I wanted to share some memories… My Nana met my Poppy in 1943 at the Greyhound bus station. They fell in love at first bite     My Nana was a full blooded Portuguese Marrano/Crypto-Jewish~Catholic from California.  Sounds odd, but most Portuguese Crypto Jews are like that.   She was more led toward Catholicism over her Judaism.    My Poppy was a full-blooded Scottish Catholic man, from Brooklyn, NY.  He was a boxer, & professional diver- Poppy wanted to be an olympic diver, (He dove off of the Brooklyn bridge in the late 1930′s, several times-He was a famous diver in NYC).   Poppy joined the Merchant Marines in the 1930′s.  In the 1940′s, he joined the army and left home to fight in the Pacific theater throughout most of WW2. After WW2, Poppy joined the USAF. He served our once great county for 32 years of his life.  My grandparents lived on bases all throughout America.  Their favorite being in Montauk, L.I. in the late 50′s, then Westhampton Beach, AFB where he retired and went into civilian life.

   My Grandmother was the epitome of a Rosie the riveter type. While Poppy was in the Pacific, she worked day, and at night, she volunteered at the Armories in San Francisco (when it was a normal city); serving drinks, dancing with any soldier returning from furlough, she was VERY pretty.    Her mother, my g-grandmother had a pretty large home that housed 17 members of the family during the Great depression and countless numbers of soldiers during WW2.   She fed them, gave them homemade afghan blankets to sleep in the garage (no room inside).    Many soldiers knew they could get a bowl of soupish and bread at my G-grandmothers house during those times. That was America.  That was how we were (my family) and that was the way most families were.   My grandparents adopted their nephews; both who served; My Uncle John who was in the US Navy and my Uncle Tom, who was in the National Guard.

  My grandmother and grandfather were strict and moral people.  Most Americans were during those times. They LOVED this nation.  I remember when I was 12 years old…I was whining about something petty.. My grandmother shoved me up against the wall and told me; “DON’T YOU EVER WHINE, LITTLE LADY. AMERICANS ARE NOT WHINERS. YOU LIVE IN THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.“ 

  My grandmother also learned a hard lesson during the Vietnam war. She protested, but it was because of the political leftist brainwashing.   Not for the soldiers. This was the biggest mistake she made in her life (she always told me that.)   She changed her views, wrote letters to the editor, letters to D.C., the ARMY, you name it.    Trying to persuade to bring our men home, as did my grandfather, who was in defiance to Vietnam.   Almost cost him his pension and career in the USAF.  When the Persian Gulf war came around, she was the FIRST to hang her flag in her antique shop…Made her liberal friends pissed, but she was the first.

My grandfather loved my grandmother, passionately. They had one ‘blood’ daughter, my mother.

This post is for their Anniversary. They are very missed by me; 2 patriotic people and wonderful, tough, God-fearing Americans. The best of America. THANK GOD I was raised by my grandparents, mostly my Nana (My mom worked 14-16 hours a day.)

Here were their favorite songs together:

“As time goes by”

When they were returning to California to Ft Ord:

While Poppy was gone during WW2, about the same time the picture below was taken.

(I am a spitting image of my Nana, BTW):