It's good that you did because he lives on through not just your memory and what he gave you that you bring into your day-to-day life, but now he lives, even in a small way, in the memory of every person who reads your post. This is why I am so passionate to remember the greatest generation and keep their memories alive through future generations.

It's been 15 years now that I wrote a piece of fiction about a WWII private training for D-Day and had the good fortune of a WWII veteran, who trained and participated in D-Day, serve as a consultant to the story. I started the tale wanting to get the history correct, call everything by their correct names, and so on, but more and more as we worked, the veteran always came back to the comic elements in the story. He finally said he was spending all his time helping me with it because it was one of the few things he'd ever read about the war that reminded him of the good times he'd had over there. He told me several really funny anecdotes, some I was able to include. When the storyfinally got published years later, he was barely still alive. He couldn't read anymore, but when I read it to him, tears of joy welled in his eyes.

We became friends and I was with him when he died. He'd lost the power of speech, but I'd read him all my stories in various drafts and I could always tell whether he approved or disapproved by the wonderful expressions he would make.

It was my good fortune to have met him, to have my gratitude forever awakened by him, and not a week goes by that I don't think of him.

Here is a very abridged author reading of the story if anyone wants to download it to their portable device.

http://cid-0bcb152343ba05...ate%5E4s%20Rehearsal.MP3