aksiokersa

Honoring Mr. Robert Pyron Carter this weekend. American vet, Indy500 mechanic, awesome family man, and best Grandpa ever.

My Grandpa was a WWI vet. Yep. That's no typo.

He was in the navy, on the USS Arizona, toward the end of the war. He somehow managed to get his hands on a camera in those days and he took lots of pictures. There are many of France after the bombings - piles of rubble and craters everywhere.

But there are lots of fun pictures too. You can tell which were taken his first days at sea. He grew up in Missouri, so he must have been in awe of all that water - there are 5 that are just pictures of a vast horizon. They are titled "at sea." The photos are in such bad shape that I still haven't been able to get good scans of them, but I will post them when I can.

After the war, he became an auto mechanic and rode along in the early Indy500 races. Back then, the mechanics rode with the drivers, so he literally experienced all the action from the front seat. He used to talk about how incredibly fast 45mph was in those days.

After his two sons were born, in the early 30s, he quit racing and opened a garage. He kept his family fed throughout the depression, despite the fact that his wife had severe problems with mental illness and alcoholism, and then he somehow managed to help my dad and uncle through college too.

He's the quintessential American Hero: he put his life on the line for his country, helped push the boundaries of technology, worked his ass off for his family, and didn't mind that he ended up without much recognition or money.

That is why I hate war so much, particularly this war, which risks the lives of everyday American heroes like my grandpa for...what? For the destruction of a country that wasn't a real threat to us anyway? We need the men and women who make up our fighting forces at home. We need their industry and ingenuity to keep our economy going. We need their kindness and dedication to keep our families strong. I hate to think that if my grandpa had been born 90 years later, he'd could have been killed in a pointless war against an imaginary enemy fought for a government that has forgotten it's most important direction: to keep our everyday American heroes and the indomitable spirit that they will instill in future generations alive for their grandchildren to see.