My father was born in 1926 in Montreal, Canada, where he lived for 11 years. His parents were Leon and Edna Zareski. He was the eldest of three children, the other two, a sister, Audrey, and brother, Norman.
What I want to do now about my father. I want you to walk away from here with a better understanding and appreciation of his life and who he was. And I'm going to introduce you to some aspects of his life which could not be known - thesoldier, geologist, and sports fans ... But first ...
My father, as a young boy - the story ketchup.
The setting for the history of ketchup childhood home of my father in 1931 in Montreal, Canada. He is 5 years. Most of you knew my father as a modest man, wise words, and diplomatically. [Smile ..] But it was not always this way ...
The father of my father (my grandfather) came home from work one evening, a bottle of homemade ketchup to discover that the woman nextdoor was made and transferred. (Apparently this was not the first bottle of ketchup.) My grandfather spoke a few words, took the ketchup bottle, opened the back door and threw the bottle in the cow pasture.
A few days later, the lady who did the ketchup, and asked how they felt. My father (the boy) yelled happily,
"Oh, Dad threw ketchup on the back for the cows!"
Needless to say, was the last bottle of ketchup, whichwomen ever created for the family! [Pause ...]
My father was a soldier
Tom Brokaw wrote a book about the generation of humble men and women who went to fight in World War II - is the name of the book, I am proud to see my father was a participating member of this "The Greatest Generation." "Greatest generation." [Pause ...]
For years - decades in fact - after the war, he does not talk about his involvement. Only after the movie 'Saving Private Ryan, who played 50 yearsAfter the war he began to open up some of his experiences.
What plans he had for the college as a 18-year-old was suspended when he went to Boot Camp. He said he almost lost the ring finger of his right hand during practice for combat in Boot Camp as a soldier who fought the lace was caught up in her ring. After this experience had not much to wear rings. His parents gave him the ring in 1944 as a high school diplomapresent.
This is the ring, and I am proud to bear now.
He was in the Army 78th Infantry Division (known as the "Lightning" Division), 311th Regiment.
After completing Boot Camp, it was literally sent to the frontlines of the European theater, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-1945. Rain and mud of December gave way to snow and bitter cold of January 1945. A thick blanket of snow draped over the hills and valleys, and hung from trees in a pinepassport size photograph the beauty that belied the horrors of war.
That winter was the coldest winter in Europe in 50 years. The infantry dug holes in the snow every night and did their best to stay warm and sleep. He said he would not like to swim for two or three weeks to go at a time. He explained that his most expensive piece of clothing was his socks - the only garment he was wearing two pairs. It was a couple of washing as often as possible, so that his feet would not berot. You see, if you're in the infantry and in constant motion, the feet are the most important resource.
During this winter, the 78th Infantry was part of the Siegfried Line was taken against the violent German attacks. Forward to the Rhine, the 78th engaged in bitter, painful struggle. From city to city, pit to pit, covering hedging, from cellar to cellar, hoping for hope rubble rubble, the Germans resisted in advance, but weremethodically killed or captured.
Another famous battle, which saw action, was the bridge at Remagen. On 8 March 1945, just four days after his 19th birthday, was among the first troops to proceed to the intersection of the nightmare Ludendorff bridge at Remagen. The Germans shot down the bridge from the opposite hill. Trying to imagine what it was like to cross the bridge on foot and under heavy fire. Bullets were flying everywhere ... flying metal rebounded againststeel beams. Exclaimed that he did not run so fast in his life so as to reach the other side. [Pause ...]
He told me later, when the bridge was put down, his battalion was on the mound for a few hours to watch with amazement the Allies moved literally everything they had on the bridge - soldiers, vehicles, supplies and artillery. He noted recently that was one of the most remarkable monuments of his life.
This struggle issubject of many books and movies through its historical significance. The spectacular crossing at Remagen, and ensure the first bridge across the Rhine was a major turning point in the war, and marked the beginning of the last phase of the Allied destruction of Nazi Germany.
At 19 he was promoted to sergeant. It 'was the only member of his original choice, which was left behind - the rest were killed or wounded in battle. [Pause ...] He once saidSharon believed that it was for him to live, because everyone around him was killed. [Pause ...]
On 17 April, after 128 days of continuous front-line and intense fighting - 128 days of continuous combat - the Lightning Division was taken from the front line and in reserve for a well deserved round. [Pause ...]
In 2000, he and Sharon went to a meeting at Remagen 55 years of this battle. When he and Sharon came to a corner of a building in particularcity, pointed to a window across the street and said Sharon as 55 years ago, a German soldier had fired at him from the window and had nailed. [Pause ...]
My father was a geologist
After the war, in 1952, he received a degree in geology from Brooklyn College in New York that same year he married my mother, Eleanor Zareski, and moved to Tucson, Arizona. He was about to take courses toward a Masters Degree from the University of Arizona,when I came along. My parents also had two daughters - my sisters, Carol and Lisa. [Smile ...]
My father was intelligent, hard working, and enjoyed a successful career.
He started as a geologist and expert in the field of Utah and the West in the early 1950s, where he put together a small group of inspectors to discover uranium deposits Atomic Energy Commission, a branch of the U.S. government.
Can anyone imagine what the government was doing with this uranium?
L 'was used in developing atomic bombs. [Pause ...]
For several decades - the 1960s, 70s and 80s - a sample of uranium from one of his discoveries was seen in Washington, DC, at the Museum of Natural History. [Pause ...]
Over the years the ranks of the government at the level of GS15 and when he retired he was the deputy director of the Office of Gas and Oil and Gas Information System within the Department of Energy.
Afterleft the government in early 1980, he joined a consulting firm, Zinder Associates as Senior Vice President.
In 1981, my father married Sharon. Words can not express my gratitude to Sharon for the unconditional love, commitment and absolute dedication that Sharon paid to my father, especially in her final months and weeks.
My father was a sports enthusiast
He loved to play golf. E 'was clever (and lucky) enough to get two holes in one in hislife.
It 'was a big Redskins fan - he watched the Redskins play almost every week since mid-1960 - which has over 40 years!
It was a huge fan of Baseball - In his youth he Sandlot baseball in New York - he was a pitcher. He threw a great slider, and tried to teach me that field when I was younger, but I never could master like him.
Close ...
It 's funny stories that you ...
My sisters and I playeda unique game with my father. It 'called "Dad takes his belt and chases the three of us around the ground floor of the house." You could even do the game. We would like to run, laugh and scream in fear of being killed on the legs of his belt. The touch does not occur often, but the thought of it made the game both exciting and frightening. Sometimes you would most chilling off the lights.
The year is 1971, my first year at W & M. If thewere not for my father, I would not pass Freshman English, a correspondence course that was mandatory for graduation. For those of you who are too young to remember, in 1971 there were no desktop computers, without Internet, e-mail or word processing power. The typewriter was. After failing my first works of different writing, I sent a draft of each new project through the mail to my father, who corrected and rewrote my paper, if necessary, and sent back to me. I, or should Isay that we raised the final evaluation of the C.
My father was a man of few words and not easily angered or disturbed. We used to play golf every Sunday at Front Royal. It would make driving the course in the morning, and I got home in the early afternoon. On a Sunday afternoon in the early 1970s, while I brought us home, my father took his usual nap. Well, I have fallen asleep at the wheel, because the next thing I know was the way in sidecar[Hands] down the grassy median on Route 50 in Chantilly. We hit a road sign and hit him on the hood of the car. hay and flew through the open windows and go to our heads. Spectators watched amazed at the fruit stand nearby. I finally got control of the car and stopped, then back on the highway. My father, who was awake and keep the seat of the high cost of living [Mani] cried in bewilderment, "What are you doing?" He replied: "II try to put us on the road again! "He never said a word.
[Pause ...]
My father and I had a great relationship. I respect and admire him. He is the man who most influence over the man who has become. He is the man who most influence over the man who has become. He is my hero.
And expand our relationship as father and son. We were good friends. We had the same interests and enjoyed each others company. Or spend a long weekendwith Nags Head or Williamsburg, or dine at our favorite restaurants, with Sharon and Sandi, or just quiet times at home, we had a lot of time together.
I love him and I miss it.
Thank you all for coming here to support Sharon, my sisters and their families and my family - and compared to my beloved father.
Thanks.
Thanks To : Thanksgiving Desserts