"We love our country and we did what we had to do for America. … It's as simple as that."—Frank Lucianna, 86, of Englewood Cliffs, NJ, summarizing why he and older brother Victor fought in the Second World War, quoted in Giovanna Fabiano, “Veterans Reflect on WWII,” The Record (Bergen County, N.J.), November 11, 2009
My local paper, The Record, had an unusually interesting story today focusing on the Lucianna brothers, who grew up in my parish, St. Cecilia’s, of Englewood, N.J., then as young men went off to battle two of the world’s great tyrannies—Nazism in Europe and the Japanese dictatorship under its premier Tojo in the South Pacific.
The Census Bureau Web site reported today that 2.6 million veterans from World War II were still alive in 2008, but those numbers are dwindling rapidly, with the article reporting that 1,000 veterans of the conflict are dying each day across the U.S.
Two of my own uncles passed away within 10 days of each other last month—and, like Frank and Victor Lucianna, they fought in Europe and the Pacific. At this point, I’m sorry I didn’t ask my uncles Ben and Al for more details while they were alive about their experiences.
I do recall my Uncle Ben telling me several years ago, “Ever since the South Pacific, I’ve felt like I’ve been living on borrowed time.” You can hear some of that same haunted note in the article, when Frank relates than more than half of his high school class died: “I think about how magnificent they were and how short their lives were.”
I’m glad the Lucianna brothers lived to tell even a part of what they went through. Whether they came back or not, the innocence of each young person who fought in that war died so that our nation could live in freedom, and extend it to others around the globe. We dare not forget those sacrifices.
My local paper, The Record, had an unusually interesting story today focusing on the Lucianna brothers, who grew up in my parish, St. Cecilia’s, of Englewood, N.J., then as young men went off to battle two of the world’s great tyrannies—Nazism in Europe and the Japanese dictatorship under its premier Tojo in the South Pacific.
The Census Bureau Web site reported today that 2.6 million veterans from World War II were still alive in 2008, but those numbers are dwindling rapidly, with the article reporting that 1,000 veterans of the conflict are dying each day across the U.S.
Two of my own uncles passed away within 10 days of each other last month—and, like Frank and Victor Lucianna, they fought in Europe and the Pacific. At this point, I’m sorry I didn’t ask my uncles Ben and Al for more details while they were alive about their experiences.
I do recall my Uncle Ben telling me several years ago, “Ever since the South Pacific, I’ve felt like I’ve been living on borrowed time.” You can hear some of that same haunted note in the article, when Frank relates than more than half of his high school class died: “I think about how magnificent they were and how short their lives were.”
I’m glad the Lucianna brothers lived to tell even a part of what they went through. Whether they came back or not, the innocence of each young person who fought in that war died so that our nation could live in freedom, and extend it to others around the globe. We dare not forget those sacrifices.
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