@mas1581 Go for it! It is not Patton. For an American living through the war, it would be obvious. But not today. My mother-in-law, born in 2025, was aware that we were dining with him near the end of his life and she was gaga. He was a democrat, a dove, not a hawk, a true military hero who grew up poor and was the youngest American general in WWII. During the late 1950's he parted ways with the military because he was a dove, and adamantly against use of nuclear weapons. He had been on the shortlist to run the CIA under Kennedy, but his dovishness made him unpopular among the Generals. He was a true military hero, though.
My first thoughts were Ike, Nimitz, and Gavin. Your 2nd round of clues eliminated Ike and Nimitz and made it easy. Its Jumping Jim Gavin.
Your knowledge of history is impressive. How did you figure it out?
I like history but WWII and Negro League baseball are my 2 favorite subjects. WWII because when I was a kid about 8, I found my grandfather's photo album from his time in Italy and N. Africa and he told me he wasn't in the war, and just took pictures from the sideline(lol). That got me interested because I wasn't getting the answers I wanted. Negro league baseball because I heard about some of the greats in gradeschool and went to the library looking for books on them and found nothing. If I was denied knowledge, I got hyperfocused on learning all I could about it
I didnt know if Gavin was youngest but knew he was really young and loved. 82nd airborne was really interesting to me as well. Also, from photos, he was a really good looking guy.
Well, Since you are talking about a hero, I'd like to tell you about one of mine. This episode in my life involves what today would be a huge piece of history, and I am proud to have witness it. It meant nothing for me at the time. I was only 12 years old.
It was the summer of 1971. My Mom had just sent my sister and I to our aunt’s house in Alexandria, Virginia. The trip had two simple objectives, to visit with the family and to improve our English Language skills. We had fun that summer. But I remember one day in July when my uncle came back from work. Boy, he was very excited. He said to my aunt, “We finally got it.”
My aunt was not in the best of moods that day, so she grumbled, “What did you get?” He said, “The phone. Remember that I told you that we were working on a phone that you would be able to talk and see the person on the other side at the same time?” Still, my aunt seemed unimpressed. So, instead of congratulate him or say something nice, she muttered, “Why do I want it for? What about if I am in the bathroom? People are going to see me naked.” My uncle, sensing her mood, lowered his voice and replied, “Well, it will have a button to block the other person from seeing you, if you don’t want to be seen… besides, it will be available for the general public in about thirty years… but the Pentagon has it already.”
My uncle is long gone now and never saw his creation in the hands of the general public. He was an engineer who worked in the Pentagon and was able to develop this technology with five other colleagues who were working in this project. He was a simple brilliant man, who was born and raised in the poorest slum in Puerto Rico and through hard work and perseverance graduated from college. His desire to improve his life is what makes him a hero to me.
This COVID-19 virus made me realized the importance of that day in my life. I am a professor, and thanks to my long gone uncle, I have been able to earn my living through the magic of Zoom. Who would have ever imagined?...
Your uncle changed the world that day. That invention not only made things so much easier today for the workforce, but it allowed kids to get a proper education, people to get safe healthcare, saved numerous people from isolation depression, and saved countless lives. He probably had no clue what he had done at the time but for you to be a bystander at that moment was amazing. That has recently become the single most important invention of my lifetime in my opinion.
He was aware that the general public would be able to have it in thirty years, and that's what happened. But at the time, my uncle and his team developed it for space communication. Man arrived to the Moon in 1969, they finished the "phone" in '71. But as you said, he never knew how a basic necessity his invention was going to be fifty years later.
I've been thinking a lot about him lately. He was the kind of uncle not afraid to stuff up his station wagon, full to the brim, with his kids and all the cousins ('The Tribe" he used to say) for a day at the beach, or the zoo, or camping, or the movies... He died suddenly at 54.
@mas1581. Good for you for finding time to recharge your batteries. We need such alone time with no guilt.