My column in Vetrepreneur normally focuses on small business issues. This month, I wish to indulge you with a different type of story – a story of sacrifice, of closure and most importantly, a story of veterans who shaped the world.
This past June, I accompanied my 80 year old father to the 65th D-Day Anniversary in Normandy, France. We booked our week-long trip with Valor Tours, a company that specializes in battlefield tourism.
Our agenda was to visit Normandy battlefield sites such as Omaha Beach, the Caen Peace Museum, Pont du Hoc, and Pegasus Bridge. The perceived highlight of the trip was advertised as the anniversary ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery hosted by Presidents Obama and Sarkozy.
The ceremony was an impressive event, but paled in comparison to the story that unfolded before me during this trip back in time. So, I will start from the beginning and share with you A Tale of Two PFCs (Private First Class).
We arrived in Paris June 2 and met our traveling companions. Our group of 14 boarded the tour bus and headed for the Normandy coast. As our Dutch driver fought the Parisian traffic, we each gave a short bio on ourselves and our respective interests concerning World War II and D-Day.
It was on this first tour day that I was introduced to George Rajner and his sister, Carol Rajner LaBounty. Their father, PFC George J. Rajner, United States Army, was killed in action July 3, 1944, just 21 days after D-Day. PFC Rajner was a member of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
I quickly learned that Carol had visited her father’s grave at the Normandy American Cemetery on many occasions, but that this would be the first visit for George.
George is a former Marine and retired ironworker, and as such, I did not expect to have a touchy-feely discussion with him about his father. But, I was particularly interested in George’s story and wondered what his reaction would be like when he visited his father’s grave for the first time. In four days, I would find out.
Prior to the anniversary, we visited a number of Normandy sites. Our lead guide (and owner of Valor Tours) was Bob Reynolds. Bob flew Lancaster bombers for the Royal Air Force during World War II and as a child, had vacationed at his family cottage in the Normandy countryside. Bob told us that the cottage was used to house German troops during the Occupation, but it was handed back to his family in pristine condition after the liberation of northern France.
Bob gave us an amazing perspective of the D-Day operation. This veteran had actually flown the air battle plan just after D-Day and has been roaming the Normandy countryside for more than 80 years.
We entered the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer for the anniversary ceremony June 6. The cemetery is both beautiful and majestic. Standing on a bluff, high above Omaha Beach, I thought about PFC Rajner, who on this day, 65 years ago, parachuted from a Douglas C-47 Dakota into enemy territory not too far from where we were standing.
I watched George approach his father’s grave site for the first time. I stayed back from the small contingent that accompanied him and his sister as I felt awkward about being with them at such a private moment.
As the group paid their respects, I thought about George and the very short time that he had with his father. I am not sure if George’s mom remarried, or who had become the male role model in his life.
My thoughts then turned to my father who had turned 80 just two days earlier. I thought about the incredible gift of time that I had with my dad. I thought about fate, luck and that elusive thing we refer to as timing.
You see, my father is the second PFC of this story. PFC Werner L. Frank, U.S. Army, entered military service in July 1952. Shortly after boot camp, a friend in headquarters notified my dad that his orders had been cut for Korea. His friend also informed him that a special on-base technical unit was seeking individuals with mathematic backgrounds.
My father had recently graduated from college with a degree in mathematics and approached this top secret unit and was ultimately accepted. As fate, luck, and timing would have it, this unit was employing digital computing for the first time to calculate rocket and missile aim points and other associated targeting data. Today, we call this software programming.
This Army training served him well. He left the service after a two-year stint and became a pioneer in the commercial software industry. A true Vetrepreneur, he was a founder of Informatics, Inc. and key executive at Sterling Software.
So there you have my Tale of Two PFCs. Our country called and PFC Rajner and PFC Frank answered. As in all aspects of life, fate, luck, and timing were the key variables that determined the future. In this case, the triangulation of variables determined that PFC Rajner would father a son before he died. PFC Frank would avoid the Korean battlefields, father a son, and play a key role in creating a new industry.
While chewing on the irony of life and death, I approached George after the ceremony and asked if I could take his picture by his father’s grave. He agreed and led the way to the grave site (see photo).
Afterward, my dad and I watched the heads of state depart via their helicopters. We then departed the cemetery, boarded the bus, and traded observations about this historic day.
It was during this trip that I really felt the sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation veterans. Here I was with my father, but George did not have the same luxury. But that did not stop him from serving as a Marine in Vietnam. There is something incredibly special about that.
In James Michener's 1953 novel-turned-movie, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, the battle group commander ponders the success of a bombing mission and the loss of life required to achieve such success. At the end of the movie, he utters the words, "Where do we get such men?"
After meeting George Rajner, I now know the answer. They come from fathers such as PFC Rajner, United States Army, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.