This blog (project, obsession...whatever you choose to call it) has been five years in the making.
Ok, maybe that's a bit of an underestimate. It's actually been 73 years in the making. Ever since my grandfather returned from service in the Pacific in December 1945 and was honorably discharged from the army the following month, his story needed to be told. Not because he did anything particularly heroic or individually important in the two and a half years between his induction and his release (although who knows, maybe he did!). But because his story is no doubt the story of a generation of young men whose
Now here's the problem. It wasn't. And I can understand why. Coming home from a war where nearly everyone served in some degree, what point was it to make a special case for yourself? Why go into detail on stories that, in his mind, might not amount to much compared to those who on the front lines (he probably wasn't...but I'll get into that) sacrificed more. And of course, to what degree did his experiences leave him with post-traumatic stress? Surely this would make anyone shy away from reliving the past. The downside of this was, unfortunately, that he didn't really tell his full story to anyone who now remembers it beyond a few token lines that are oft-repeated but generally not understood in detail.
So why do this at all? Why endure the frustration and keep pushing against the dead ends. Well, of course the main reason I began was to honor a family member by being able to pass along his experience to his descendants (among them, my kids who were born in the years right before and after their great-grandfather's passing). But there are a few other reasons that keep me coming back to the well and probably will for some time.
The first is that, living in the modern digital age that I do, I am fascinated by the realization that knowledge or information from as recent as only 75 years ago may simply be unknowable. Considering that so much of my life (and surely my kids') will be permanently documented on social media, having something as personally important as my grandfather's service history go undocumented is simply incomprehensible to me. Every time I get discouraged by a dead end, I feel myself saying one more time "if you don't get to the bottom of this, who will."
And yet there is the question of why this blog. Why spend all the effort to make this information public. Why not just keep it to myself and my family and be done with it. Well, in the past few months I came to a significant realization. I am so thankful for those who - by posting their family's information on various internet sources - have helped me glean the slightest of details here and there to focus my research. By laying out my own detective work over the years, I can only hope to add to the body of knowledge that is out there for fellow "Googlers" of history.
So here goes nothing. My journey into my grandfather's Pacific War.
My grandfather, George Spishack. Summer of 1943.
Now here's the problem. It wasn't. And I can understand why. Coming home from a war where nearly everyone served in some degree, what point was it to make a special case for yourself? Why go into detail on stories that, in his mind, might not amount to much compared to those who on the front lines (he probably wasn't...but I'll get into that) sacrificed more. And of course, to what degree did his experiences leave him with post-traumatic stress? Surely this would make anyone shy away from reliving the past. The downside of this was, unfortunately, that he didn't really tell his full story to anyone who now remembers it beyond a few token lines that are oft-repeated but generally not understood in detail.
So why do this at all? Why endure the frustration and keep pushing against the dead ends. Well, of course the main reason I began was to honor a family member by being able to pass along his experience to his descendants (among them, my kids who were born in the years right before and after their great-grandfather's passing). But there are a few other reasons that keep me coming back to the well and probably will for some time.
The first is that, living in the modern digital age that I do, I am fascinated by the realization that knowledge or information from as recent as only 75 years ago may simply be unknowable. Considering that so much of my life (and surely my kids') will be permanently documented on social media, having something as personally important as my grandfather's service history go undocumented is simply incomprehensible to me. Every time I get discouraged by a dead end, I feel myself saying one more time "if you don't get to the bottom of this, who will."
And yet there is the question of why this blog. Why spend all the effort to make this information public. Why not just keep it to myself and my family and be done with it. Well, in the past few months I came to a significant realization. I am so thankful for those who - by posting their family's information on various internet sources - have helped me glean the slightest of details here and there to focus my research. By laying out my own detective work over the years, I can only hope to add to the body of knowledge that is out there for fellow "Googlers" of history.
So here goes nothing. My journey into my grandfather's Pacific War.
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