BOOMER STATUS: WHAT MAKES A TRUE BOOMER

Boomer status, baby boomer that is, is more than a birth date.

Technically speaking, anyone born between 1946 through 1964 is a baby boomer, but there’s a big difference between the front end and the back end.

Legend has it that virtuous American soldiers and sailors returned from WWII on a magic carpet to resume the lives they left.

Was there really a magic carpet?

Eight million people say yes.

However, it is when the sheer volume of Americans returned are considered—eight million men and women from every service branch, scattered across 55 theaters of war spanning four continents—that one can make the case that Operation Magic Carpet stands as one of the greatest achievements of the entire war. Though lasting only 360 days, Operation Magic Carpet was the largest combined air and sealift ever organized.

Sounds like magic to me, too.

Not everyone felt the magic.

The top image shows young soldiers getting tuned up by an E-7, a Sergeant First Class. Look at those faces.

Those are the soon to be fathers of the first wave of baby boomers with true boomer status.

And they are angry. The war was over and they wanted to go home. NOW.

Daddy went to war, came back, married mom, and boom, there they all were.

Neat and tidy, but when is anything worthwhile neat and tidy?

Daddy’s War Story

Once you put on an Army uniform in time of war, you roll the dice.

At the end of WWII the story changed.

“We all trained together to invade Japan, then two atomic bombs later the war ended.”

None of the late comers would have war stories to tell, but that never stops anyone.

Those young men signed up, got drafted, whatever they did, and expected to join the fray with all of the fears and doubts about the future any kid has.

While no one admits to dreams of war glory on one leg, or missing an arm, or part of their face, what was it like for new recruits trained to attack when there was nothing to attack?

After climbing and descending cargo nets, stabbing dummies in bayonet practice, and listening to the sort of talk young guys talk when they don’t know what they’re talking about, the war ended.

Instead of elite warriors facing the uncertainties of battle, the young troops became a logistical problem of how to return them to where they came from.

“We knew it was over before we landed on some island and they made up do base work. We trained to be killers, not broom pushers.”

That’s when they heard war stories from a combat zone, stories they’d never tell. But some did.

Who was the hero? Depends on the audience. But one thing was certain: they would all come back ready to start living a better life with the girl of their dreams.

Boomer Status From Unknown Soldiers

Imagine being a kid and learning that your dad was lead man on a flame thrower team.

“You did what? To who?”

And that’s why boomer parents keep this stuff quiet. It doesn’t always work out for the best with impressionable youth.

Soldiers were recalled for service during the Korean War. Some wanted a better ending to their military saga besides sweeping up, others were upset at going into the grinder again.

My dad was nineteen in 1950. He signed up in the Marine Corps, went to Korea, then came back.

He didn’t say anything about his war experience.

This made the rounds at his funeral and memorial service:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Corporal Wayne B. Gillaspie (MCSN: 1132710), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Fire Team Leader of Company B, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 11 September 1951.

Participating in the attack against heavily defended enemy hill positions when his squad was subjected to sudden and intense hostile small arms, automatic weapons and mortar fire, inflicting several casualties, including the squad leader who had to be evacuated at once,

Corporal Gillespie bravely moved from man to man through the fire-swept area to assume command of the unit. Reorganizing the squad, he skillfully led an assault to overrun the first objective and, after evacuating several wounded men, directed a final devastating attack to completely rout the enemy. By his outstanding courage, inspiring leadership and stout-hearted devotion to duty, Corporal Gillaspie greatly aided the company in seizing its objective and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Growing up we knew nothing about our dad except he grew up on a farm.

He raised his family in the usual way, didn’t make himself the center of attention, but he could have.

That’s how boomers got boomer status, from Dad’s who helped others.

Now we’re the villains? I don’t think so.