By MARSHA MERCER
“When you put your life on the line for other people,
you become a hero & one day I truly wanna be someones hero like you are
mine!” a girl named Jasmine wrote in red ink on pink construction paper.
I came across the note in stacks of thank you cards
from school children who had heard Guy DeGenaro talk about his experience as a
glider pilot in World War II.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War
II, only about 325,000 remain, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported last
Veterans Day. Every day, about 300 veterans of World War II leave us.
I’d like to tell you about one of them.
On his 18th birthday, Nov. 20, 1939, with
Europe at war, DeGenaro left his home in New Haven, Conn., and enlisted in the
U.S. Army Air Corps. He was a sergeant major shuffling paper when he learned
volunteers were being sought for a dangerous mission.
“Almost as a lark, I said I’d put my name down,” he
told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 2017. He became one of the first class
trained in piloting gliders.
An Army website describes gliders as “the stealth
technology of their day.” Lacking engines and unarmed, they were powered by air
currents and the courage of their pilots. Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland
described glider pilots as “the only aviators during World War II who had no motors,
no parachutes, and no second chances.”
On D-Day, DeGenaro piloted a British-made Horsa glider
about 6 miles behind German defenses in the Normandy invasion. He hit the
ground going 70 mph, slowed the glider by hitting two or three Rommel’s Asparagus,
the tall anti-glider poles installed by the Germans days before, and finally
drew the aircraft to a stop by steering the nose between two trees, sheering
off both wings.
“This really could be dangerous,” he later recalled
thinking.
Miraculously, no one was hurt. He, the co-pilot and
six 82nd Airborne troops clambered from the wreck and made a wild
dash for the nearby hedgerow ditch with bullets flying in all directions. Later,
a jeep and trailer were unloaded in usable condition.
DeGenaro served on two other glider missions in Europe
during World War II, then made a career in the Air Force, retiring as a
lieutenant colonel. But he was always thinking ahead. He took advantage of
educational opportunities in the military to get his bachelor’s and master’s
degrees.
After he retired from the Air Force in 1968, he earned
a Ph.D. at the University of Florida and became a professor of management at
Virginia Commonwealth University, teaching for 26 years. He then started a
management consulting firm and was still working in his 90s.
He married a Texan named Jennie Jennings in 1948. She
became a teacher and administrator in Henrico County. When she died in 2014, he
continued to live independently, with help from a support team that included a
weekly cleaning lady, meals delivered by a catering company and help from a
friend with paperwork, shopping and driving him to doctors’ appointments.
In his 1998 book, “The Greatest Generation,” Tom
Brokaw praises its members’ common purpose and values -- duty, honor, courage,
service, love of family and country, and self-responsibility.
The DeGenaros, characteristically of the generation,
downplayed their individual roles in making their country and world better. As
the generation’s numbers dwindled, he talked more about the war with school
groups, in programs at the Virginia War Memorial and with reporters.
Last November, DeGenaro celebrated his 99th
birthday with a small family gathering. He’d have a real party when he turned
100 and COVID-19 was in the past, the family agreed.
His mind remained sharp. He kept up with current
affairs and the stock market, taking the conservative position in many spirited
discussions about politics. His sly smile was a tip-off he was about to zing
me. He learned to Zoom so we could talk during
the pandemic.
For, you see, I’m Guy and Jennie DeGenaro’s only
child. He was my No. 1 reader, always supportive, even when we disagreed. I
wish he could read this column. He died Feb. 13.
Several years ago, a 7th grader wrote my
dad: “Even though you think you are not a hero you will always be a hero in my
eyes.”
Mine too.
(Marsha Mercer writes from Washington. You may contact
her at marsha.mercer@yahoo.com)
©2020 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.
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My husband loves to go to estate sales on Saturday mornings. Sometimes I go, but I often find them depressing. Today was different, the first room I walked into in a charming Richmond home was an office where I immediately felt the presence of a man who accomplished many things in his life. As we wondered through the rooms I was comforted by the artifacts of a life well-lived. When we entered what I think was the master bedroom and saw all the buttons and badges that were saved from military days long past, I felt an enormous affinity for the gentleman of the house. My husband came across a gown that looked like a college professor would wear for commencement ceremonies. The carefully collected treasures from abroad touched my heart. I wanted to ask the people running the sale if the homeowner was still alive but I was afraid to hear that one or both were living with dementia or were suffering through their last days. I saw something in the house with the owner's last name. When we got to the car, I Googled Guy Joseph Gennaro. I read his obituary aloud to my husband as he drove. The first sentence "a glider pilot on D-day" caused me to gasp, and I finished the obituary in tears. Then I read your Mom's obituary with all of her accomplishments, and felt close to the woman of the house.
ReplyDeleteToday's estate sale was not depressing at all, it was a wonderful glimpse into the home of a member of The Greatest Generation. We didn't buy anything, but now that I know the background I'm tempted to go back tomorrow.
I haven't used this website since my son was a baby, hence my user name. He is in his first year of college!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comments. I had missed them earlier.
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