My grandfather, Eugene Jens Gibbs.
Andy and I met my grandparents in Washington DC this weekend. They flew out with
Operation Hero Flight, an organization in Utah whose goal is to get as many WWII Veterans to Washington DC to see the WWII Memorial. It was an honor to be around 113 brave veterans, 5 of them women. Many of them were in their original uniforms.
My grandpa, Eugene Gibbs, proudly wearing his military medals, one of which is a purple heart. He was shot in the throat on Iwo Jima. A young man named Jimmy Fisher saved my grandpa's life by sticking one of his fingers into the wound to stop the bleeding. Jimmy Fisher was killed in battle the very next day. Read more of this story from last years Veteran's Day post by clicking
here.
Because there were so many wonderful pictures to share, I created a slide show for you to view. Much of this post will be me describing the events of the weekend, which are pictured on the slide show. One picture in the show is a picture of a wall on the memorial that has 400 stars, each star represents 100 lives lost during WWII. It was both humbling and mind-boggling to learn that 400,000 servicemen and women lost their lives fighting for our country.
During the ceremony, they had a man playing the bagpipes. They also had a veteran play "Taps" on his trumpet. They had a wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial in front of the Utah pillar at the memorial. On the wreath, a ribbon said, "Remembering Utah's Greatest Generation". 70,000 men and women from the state of Utah alone served in World War II.
There is a picture of my grandpa on the Pacific side of the memorial. He fought at Saipan and Tinian. He also fought on Iwo Jima and was there to see both flags raised on Mt. Suribachi.
After the wreath-laying ceremony, Andy and I had Grandpa and Grandma sit in wheelchairs. We ran and pushed them down the mall so they could see the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. Then we ran them back for a box lunch.
From there, we went to see the Washington DC Temple for a quick visit. We had time for just a couple pictures.
Afterwards, they loaded their buses and we all went to the hotel in Alexandria, VA. We had some rest time before the banquet. Grandpa took a nap. . .it had been a busy day so far!
At 6:30 PM, the Veterans met for a group picture. We then went downstairs to the beautiful banquet that was set up. Our guest speaker was Bob Dole. Grandma and Grandpa were sitting at the head table, where Grandpa was representing the Marines. Bob Dole sat there with them. What an honor! We also heard from Rear Admiral . We had a delicious dinner, then went to bed at 10PM.
We were up bright and early for breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa got special permission to ride with us in our car to Arlington so that we would have enough time to find Jimmy Fisher's grave. We found it in less than 5 minutes! Grandma found it first.
We all stood silently as Grandpa put some flowers on his grave. Grandpa stood there, quietly, for a moment, then gave Jimmy Fisher one last salute. This was the crowning event of the entire weekend. It was very touching to see Grandpa thank this young hero for saving his life.
We then went to see JFK's grave and the eternal flame there. Afterwards, we went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We saw the changing of the guard, then Orrin Hatch addressed the veteran's. He held a question and answer session that turned into many veterans telling some of their war stories. Sen. Hatch commended them for their bravery and said (along with Sen. Dole last evening) that they truly were the
GREATEST GENERATION.
