52 Ancestors Week 45: War and Peace

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 45

The theme for Week 45 is "War and Peace." With Veterans Day/Remembrance Day just around the corner, it seems appropriate to consider our ancestors who were affected by war.

Yet another header that doubles as an album cover.

     When popular culture depicts a soldier returning home from war, you often see them being greeted by their loved ones. Then the movie or television show ends with the soldier riding off into the sunset with their family and they end up being hailed a hero by millions of people. Granted, that's always been the case for any soldier in any conflict. However, there have been some instances where would stay in the service and perform his or her duty for as long as humanly possible.

Epic pipe is epic

        The birth of my mother in 1949 may have clipped my grandfather Air Force Staff Sargent Robert Hamel's wings in the 1940s. He still found a way to be useful in the post World War II era as the planet sought to rebuild itself from one of the deadliest conflicts the world had ever seen. In fact, I daresay that his travels ended up being the reason why he became so worldly in his old age. Travel will do that to a person.

    While serving in the U.S. Air Corps (Later known as the US Air Force), he worked on several planes for Uncle Sam and in his own way helped to make the world a better place. After the war, there was still much work to be done and my grandfather wanted to do what he could to help wherever he was needed.

    It often takes a special type of soldier to find a way to contribute in not just wartime. But, in peace as well and I think he did that pretty well. Maybe in his own way he really WAS Captain America. He always did smile when I called him "Cap" and saluted him. He knew what I meant. Of course he did.

    My grandfather did often regret not taking the advantage of the G.I. Bill, the law that provided an expansive range of benefits to veterans returning from the conflict overseas. These included everything from low-interest loans to being encouraged to settle in a rapidly growing suburban America with the wife and kids. Robert never settled for that. The "grey eagle" wanted to fly.

That's my mom being hugged by her
great-grandfather, Joseph.

    Uncle Sam was more than happy to have the continued services of a few good men. After all, a changing world needed to heal, right? One of the places the Hamel family went to was one of the countries hardest hit by the war. The Hamels went to the Land of the Rising Sun.

    Japan suffered tremendous losses during the war and not just from the two atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States effectively rewrote their Constitution and the country was not allowed to have a standing army ever again. Think that's harsh? Read up on post-war Germany.

    While in Japan, Robert worked in the personnel department paying the soldiers be they American or Japanese. My mother doesn't remember all of the details. However, being with the people there gave her father a keen insight to how they lived. After all civilians are really no one's "enemy".

    His travels around Japan were admittedly brief. I've often wondered what he made of their development from war-torn country in the 1950s to the ecnomic supergiant it became by the time I was growing up. I remember him telling me that he admired the country's resolve to make themselves better than they were before. Lessons were learned and now we reap the rewards that Japan has to offer from animé and super sentai shows to cars, toys and video games. Yeah, I'd say Japan did okay after the war. I hope they invested in Nintendo. I've heard good things about that playing card company. 

    Did you know America still has troops stationed in Japan? In fact, I once wrote a paper on the issue. But, that's a topic for another day.

My grandfather had so much swagger.

    Not only was Robert handling personnel in Japan. He also did the same thing on Saudi Arabia many years later. Once he was in the states, he still didn't stay still! My mom was an Air Force brat. So, she remembers going from base to base all across the continental United States from sea to shining sea.

    Eventually, he and the Hamel clan did settle down and all that traveling left my grandfather a changed man by the time he returned home to Newburyport. War does change a person. However, traveling the world AFTER a war can have a tremendous impact on a person, too!

    Think about it. Robert saw the horrors of war and documented it on his camera. I was never allowed to see those pictures until after he passed away.  He did let me see the post-war era pictures he took and he told me the stories behind every single one. After all, he much preferred to talk about the people and the lands he visited more than any conflict.

 A few years before his death, we looked at Google Earth on my Ipad and he showed me the various places he went to like Italy, Japan and Saudi Arabia.  He told me that it's a big world out there and that every culture should be respected. That, my fiends, goes without saying. What did I tell you? He was Captain America. 

    You can't say any good things about war. The conflict changed him and I honestly think traveling the world after seeing the horrors may have helped him deal with what he saw in the long run. As a young man Robert learned that there was more to people in other countries than just the soldiers asked to defend them. There are rich and sometimes even ancient cultures behind every nation on our small blue planet and those cultures have to be respected. It is a big world out there and war sadly gets in the way of allowing everyone to learn from each other. Once that happens, we can truly make the world a better place.

See ya next time!