A Memorial To Those That Served The United States During World War II
Dear Friend,
This has been a very interesting couple of days for me. The volume of email has been beyond the usual 'busy' level.
Part of this no doubt has to do with the recent teleseminar. If you missed it, you missed a great one. I'll be offering it in CD version in a couple of weeks because a lot of people requested it since they could not be on.
I've also been busy researching some special problems that various people on my customer list have had and wanted direction with in terms of proper supplementation.
Finally there have been some truly touching and emotional emails coming in because of Memorial Day.
A whole stream of emotions have been expressed but a couple of you have said the same thing: I wonder what my parents would say about the state of the world today.
If you are a 'Baby Boomer' like me there is a good chance someone in your family fought in WW2 and that you are remembering them today.
I always marvel at the sacrifice they made not just for themselves but for generations to come. I am sure that there would be some confusion and disgust at the state of the world today. As a matter of fact I have many patients who fought in WW 2 and some of them are indeed baffled and angered by where this country is at now.
I am going to talk more about that before I close this email but I wanted to share with you my own personal Memorial memories about my own father who I remember EVERY day!
My Dad was born in 1921 to a very poor immigrant family. Two years prior to his birth several family members were caught up and died from the Great Influenza pandemic which killed 25 million people world wide.
The small Northeastern city he grew up in was a haven to Gangsters from the Philadelphia mob who were trying to escape the'heat'. You see they had a gang problem even then!
While he realized early in his life that he was a healer and not a fighter, the Army's GI Bill gave him the only chance he could ever hope for of being able to afford Medical School. Also he had a strong sense of obligation to his country like so many of his generation. When WW 2 broke out, he enlisted in the Army Medical Corps.
He told me once that he was never sure he would live another day until he actually woke up while he was in the Army.
His unit participated in the Battle of the Bulge which was the last true German offensive of the war. He learned very quickly from watching what happened to his friends in the Medical Corps. Lesson # 1 : Take off your Red Cross helmet so the German snipers couldn't site on it and blow your brains out!
The defining moment came for him while riding into the battle in the back of an Army truck. He had asked God to spare his life only if he was heading in the direction the Almighty had planned for him.
While riding into battle, he was sitting next to a guy whom had exactly the same name as he did, although it was spelled one letter different.
A German fighter plane swooped in from over head and strafed the column of trucks he was riding in. Every one ducked and hit the deck of the truck. When the plane passed over and the strafing stopped, my Dad got up.
The guy with the same name as him was sitting in exactly the same position he had been in when the strafing started. He hadn't budged! At first my dad thought he was either very brave or very dumb. When he noticed the enlarging red circle of spreading across the man's chest he realized the unblinking look was that of a man who was very dead!
From that moment on my dad felt that he had indeed been spared to become a healer. When the war ended, he came back home finished college and using the money from the GI Bill went to Med School.
During my stay at ST Christopher's Hospital in Philadelphia where I was doing a Pediatrics rotation I came across an old year book 1954 I believe. Leafing through it I saw the smiling visage of a young man I knew as my father looking back at me. It was pretty cool I have to tell you.
A year or two later my dad handed me my diploma, a tradition at Temple Med where I graduated from.
I lost my dad in the spring of 2000. He had practiced medicine for 45 years. He had been working up to 3 weeks before his death.
While I miss him dearly and think of him everyday, I am mostly proud of his achievements. This leaves little room for sorrow.
As to the world we live in now compared to the world our parents grew up in I have this to say. World War 2 resulted in the deaths of over 50 million people, a large number of them innocent non-combatants. It was a clash of political and life philosophies on a scale that had not been seen before or since.
In today's world we do not have a megalomaniac running around bent on the destruction of everything we know, at least not one with the power Hitler had.
Each generation faces its own challenges. Our parent's generation faced theirs with honor and faith, and the belief that they were right. Somewhere in that list of things lies the primary difference between us and them. I'd like to think that if we were to face this type of challenge, we would also respond with the same attributes. But remember one of the reasons they went to war was so that we would not have to face these same problems.
My mom and I visited Dad's gravesite as we always do on Memorial Day. I utter the same words that that I did the minute he passed from this earth, 'Good Job Dad!' Let me have the courage and strength to do the same or more.
At the cemetery, we have a family plot as is customary in this part of the country. If we choose, we can all be laid to rest side by side (it's probably a vertical stack for space reasons!)
All of our names are on the tombstone; birthdates and where they apply (dad and Brother John) death dates. Mom is now 80 and statistically speaking a little closer to filling in the number opposite the birth date. With gallows humor she jokes that she is a little unnerved by seeing her name there on the stone.
My name is there too. I couldn't help but remember the old theme song form the James Bond movie, 'You only live Twice' once when you're born and once when you pass away.
For my part I reminded Mom and I'd like to remind all of you that that is counter intuitive to my whole philosophy, and that of Anti-Aging medicine. The born and died dates don't mean a thing. It the story you write in between that counts!
Have a fantastic Memorial Day. May it bring you one day closer to your dreams
Sincerely,
Dave Woynarowski, M.D., CPT
The Nation's #1 Anti-Aging Physician
P.S. For the worlds best anti-aging supplements including Dr Dave's Best
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Don't delay; you are not getting any younger, YET!
