*Odyssey of Odysseys
“I got down like this,” he says easing his eighty-something-year-old body into a squatting position nestling the umbrella he is using as a rifle into the crook of his shoulder and looking down the “barrel.”
I’m not sure if I was more impressed by my uncle’s incredible memory of the day he was shot in Germany during World War II, or his ability to maneuver his body into that position. On this particular biennial family visit to Uncle Rudy’s home on the island of Curacao, I brought along a list of questions and a video recorder.
Because of his jovial and fun loving nature, the telling of that fateful story was lightened considerably when Uncle Rudy joked about the bullet just missing the “family jewels.” But as I rewatch the video I am reminded of the gravity of the stories that followed about his friend who died next to him after taking off his wedding ring thinking the glint was giving away their location, and when Uncle Rudy describes what he was most proud of — following through on the promise to “leave no man behind.”
The only thing I regret is that I didn’t have the foresight to interview my own father about his experiences in the Korean War. Dad died young before I was astute enough to realize the importance of such things.
On this Veterans day, I salute all those who served and remind everyone — military or not — to ask questions. It doesn’t have to be a formal interview (ours has my loud and boisterous family in the background as we try to shush them).
We were so lucky that Uncle Rudy lived to be almost one hundred, and luckier still that he was jovial and fun loving right to the end, breaking into song often, grabbing the knee of whomever sat next to him as he laughed that great laugh, and always telling his wonderful stories.
*“Odyssey of Odysseys” is the title of the autobiography Uncle Rudy wrote for friends and family
